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“Always happy to help with the hustle,” Juno said. “Is this a branding thing, trying to shake the obvious comparison to Justin Theroux?”
Gabriel said, “I don’t look like him.”
Juno chuckled. “If you say so.”
On the surface, he most definitely did. I’d thought so when we met, but it was harder for me to see it now. I didn’t get bad boy vibes at all from him anymore. Even though I still hardly knew anything about him, I knew he was ridiculously focused on his work, so much so that he didn’t seem to have a life beyond it. It was like he didn’t want to, which made me feel a little sorry for him.
Connection to other people was everything. And Gabriel didn’t seem to understand that.
“What do you do for a living?” Gabriel asked Juno as the three of us headed in Chester’s direction.
“I’m a food influencer,” she said.
“You…work with restaurants?” Gabriel asked.
“Wouldn’t that be something?” Juno chuckled. “I make videos about food.”
“Who are you attempting to influence? What are you trying to get them to do?”
“Part of it is sales, where I’m given a product and I show people how great it is. The rest is trying to make beautiful, tasty recipes that connect with my audience.”
We reached the table, but Chester wasn’t here. He must have wandered off.
“So your business is marketing,” Gabriel said.
“And content,” Juno said. “It’s an all-in-one kind of job, where I do all the parts. Except Chester helps film.”
It surprised me that I didn’t feel a pang of jealousy over that. I guessed since I’d been actually writing, I hadn’t missed helping Juno in the same way I had before.
Chester slipped in beside Juno at the table and set down a tray of shots.
Gabriel gave him a nod.
Chester wiggled his fingers in hello.
“Are you happy?” Gabriel asked Juno.
It surprised me. I didn’t expect that kind of question to pass through Gabriel’s lips.
“Sort of,” Juno said. “Nothing’s ever quite everything you hope it’d be, you know?”
Gabriel gave her a small nod. “Excuse me a moment, please.”
He headed toward the bar. I eyed the shots on the tray. I couldn’t partake since I was driving. That was probably for the best anyway, or I was likely to do worse than throw myself on the ground.
Gabriel returned with a tall glass. Was it beer? There weren’t any bubbles.
I leaned over to give it a sniff—water. That was definitelynotgoing to loosen him up for fun group pics. But at least he and Juno seemed to be getting along so far.
“What about you, Gabriel?” Juno asked. “What do you do for a living? After I saw Lay’s post with you tagged, I did alittle digging. But I have no idea what any of the science jargon actually means.”
“I’m engineering an organism that will reduce inorganic matter buildup in waste depositories.”
I blinked at him.
“That’s amazing,” Juno said. “We’re taking pictures of cupcakes and you’re out there doing things that matter.”
We were doing things that mattered, too, even if not in the same way. My writing mattered to me. And I’d thought her food influencing gig mattered to her.
