Helena
I was glowing all through the next week. It felt like Julie and I never touched the ground, working nonstop, and between the two of us, we had an… unusual network. It reached wide, to put it lightly. And we put in the work, building up for an industry event right under Krysten’s nose, and we wound up back at the apartment together every night—some days we worked alongside one another, some days we split up to cover more ground, but every day, we wound up back in the apartment, where Julie finally got her way one day and I let her make food for us. Only because the next day, I had a good excuse to reverse it and be the one to make dinner.
And more often than not, her clothes came off at the end of the day, too. I would have thought I’d be too tired for it, but I found at the end of each day, I was simultaneously exhausted and wired, and working it out on Julie’s body proved anexcellentway of decompressing. I got some of the best sleep of my life.
And more than that, even with this whole thing being so upside-down that there was no way it should have worked, I felthappy. Kept going to bed each day ecstatic waiting for the next one, and from the light in her eyes, Julie felt the same way.
Happy enough that I couldn’t hide it from Estelle.
We’d met up as the three of us a few times over the week, and this was one where it was only sort of the three of us—Julie and I were working split today, and we’d had an hour around one o’clock where both of us were free, so we’d grabbed lunch on my tab at the Chinese place where the owner talked to Julie and she was too friendly to tell him to shut up, and of course, Estelle joined us. Julie was off at the end of the hour to catch a friendly meeting with a couple of producers from Brooklyn, and with an hour still to go before I needed to be at the event in Midtown, Estelle took us to round out the meal with coffee from the Starbucks around the corner.
She was normally a little too good for Starbucks, but it was a sweltering June day today, and Starbucks had something the local places were hit-or-miss on: air conditioning. I was accustomed to breakroom coffee, so I happily drank the basic brew coffee as Estelle sat down at the table with me, a knowing smile on her face.
“You and Houdini are cute,” she said.
“Patronizing me? We’re very serious professionals.”
She rolled her eyes theatrically. “You and Houdini are very serious professionals who are clearly good at your job andalsomake a cute couple.”
“Ah, come off it,” I said, looking out the window. “We’re not a couple.”
“Come on. You cannot convince me you’re not doing it.”
“I didn’t say that.”
She laughed, eyes shining. “Yeah? Is she good?”
“What, are you looking to take her for yourself?”
She groaned, slumping. “Hellie, I’m not gay, I tried. Don’t rub it in.”
“She’s fantastic, thank you for asking.”
“So?” She leaned in, eyes shining.
“Yes, you were right,” I sighed. “As youalwaysare, which is getting annoying. It’s… good to have her back.”
She put a hand to her chest. “Thankyou. You know I love to hear it. But I wasn’t even asking for that this time, I was sayingso,you like her, right?”
I looked away, fussing with my coffee cup. “I’m not really big on dating…”
“So, what, does that mean you’ll never date anyone in your life? That just means you’re particular. And I think she checks your boxes.”
I tented my hands on the table. “And what boxes do you suppose those are?”
She counted off on her fingers. “She’s driven and enthusiastic, very creative, she supports your dreams, she’s a hapless little blushing bottom—”
“What—does everyone think I’m a stone top?”
Estelle gave me a shocked look. “There is no way she’s the top.”
I looked away pointedly. “Some people,” I said, “do both.”
“Does she?”
I cleared my throat. She smiled.
“That’s what I thought. So, the boxes? They’re checked, right?” She softened. “You’resomuch happier with her around, babe. It’s written all over you. I love getting to see you like this.”
