“If you want that,” she said, her voice not quite as casual as I think she was aiming for.
“No—I mean yes—I mean no, yes, of course, I—” I coughed again. I finally got my throat cleared. My face was hot, and I turned on her. “Are you, uh. Asking to be my girlfriend?”
“No,” she deadpanned, “I figured you were hooking up with Stephen Shale’s momma.”
“No… thank you. I mean, no to that. I, um.”
“I just figure we might as well make it official, after all this time,” she laughed, brushing my hair back from my face, her fingers curling around the shell of my ear as she tucked it back. “Unless I’ve been misunderstanding the situation.”
“I-I mean, if your understanding of the situation was that I wanted to be your girlfriend from the moment I first heard you laugh, then, uh, nope, bang on the money.”
She smiled sweeter than anything in the world, her eyes crinkling. “So that’s a yes?”
“You? Want to bemygirlfriend? I… is there no one else in the world?”
She laughed, brushing her fingers along my jawline. “Not when you’re in the room, Julie.”
“Holy shit.” I swallowed hard. “I mean, yes I want to be your girlfriend. You’re the best person I’ve ever known. I’m kind of obsessed with you. I don’t know if you noticed that.”
She touched her forehead to mine, her eyes shining. “Well, that goes both ways. I don’t know if you noticed that, either.”
“No,” I squeaked. “Honestly, I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.”
She laughed, kissing me. “You can take your time. I mean, we’ve got a whole weekend now for just you and me.”
“Oh my god, I forgot about that. I don’t know what todowith a weekend.”
“I told you I have plans for you,” she laughed, kissing my cheek, peppering me with soft, small kisses, almost likeshelikedmealmost as much asIlikedher,which was a whole fucking lot. “But for tonight, we’re celebrating you.”
“I feel really celebrated already,” I laughed, my voice a little shaky, as I slipped my fingers through her hair, over her cheek, just… touching her, softly. My girlfriend. Helena. I could justintroduceher to people like that?This is my girlfriend Helena?What?
“Unfortunately,” she said, her voice bright, “that means you should probably meet my family soon. They’re a bit uptight. But they’ll like you.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to be judged a bad girlfriend and made to disappear.”
“I’m not going to let them disappear you, Julie, relax. Just be you. I want them to meet my girlfriend as she is.”
I rested my head against her, laughing softly, losing myself in her arms. “Right,” I said. “Just be me. Okay. I can do that.”
Julie Branch. Yeah. I could do that. Girlfriend of Helena Warrick.
Holy fucking shit.
Epilogue
Helena
“Yes, I’m coming,” I said irritably over the phone, as Linyue chattered about the ride pulling up outside. I covered the mouthpiece and shot a smile at my stylist Lydia and a quietthanksas I pushed out the door towards the lobby. “I’ll be there in one second.”
“You’re not famous enough to be fashionably late, Ms. Warrick.”
“Then pray you don’t make me late, Linyue. I’m hanging up now.”
“Oh, one more thing—”
“Text it. Talk later,” I said, and I hung up, slipping the phone into my clutch as I turned the corner to the lobby and found my heart jump at the sight of Julie standing there by the doors, lookingextremelysmart in a well-fitted tuxedo, her makeup done beautifully, talking and laughing together with a woman from the studio team who she seemed to promptly forget about as soon as I walked into the room.
I was never getting tired of that. Julie looked at me like it was the first time she’d ever seen me, and she stared wide-eyedwith a growing smile, only realizing after a second that she’d missed something her friend with her had said. She laughed nervously, finally actually responding, but the staffer gestured to me with a joking comment that had Julie slightly red-faced, waving her off as I crossed the room.
