𝑻𝐇𝐄 𝑵𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒━━ 𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘯𝘢𝘱

14

two days after peyton and i had went grocery shopping, i suddenly found myself swamped with work. i had to be at the actual company building every day, rather than work from home. my employees started to become worried because none of them had ever seen so much of me. it was like i was an actual ceo.

i hardly had any time to hang out with julian or peyton because the only times they had free were when i was working.

"so," dream started to say on the third night of me working nonstop, "why are you suddenly so busy with work?"

"one of the contracts fell through, a similar company is taking over some of our smaller businesses because they have a better marketing strategy and whatnot, and i have to plan this stupid fundraiser thing all by myself because my secretary decided her baby had to pop out three weeks earlier than expected," i said, rattling off the list of work i had to do as i continued to draw up the plans for the fundraiser.

"do you want some help?" dream asked.

"i'd love some help. do you know anything about contracts and loopholes or marketing?" i asked him. i turned my attention away from my laptop for a minute and gave dream a looked that probably showed my desperation.

"you could ask alex about the contracts," karl suggested. "he's studying law, right?"

i nearly jumped out of my skin when karl started talking. "holy crap! karl, where did you come from?" i asked.

"your mom," he replied, giggling to himself.

i couldn't help but smile. karl's happiness was too infectious. "didn't realize you were my brother," i said. "anyways, can you ask him if he'd help me?"

"of course," karl said as he pulled out his phone to text alex.

"can i look over your marketing stuff?" dream asked me.

i flipped through my notebook until i found the page where i had written down what we had done wrong and some suggestions of what we could do better. once i had it to the right page, i handed it to dream.

while dream was scribbling down notes of his own and karl was messaging alex, i started ordering some of the decorations we would need and called the owner of the venue to see when my team could actually go in and set everything up.

"i wrote down some ideas of my own," dream said into the silence. "but don't you have a department for this?"

"i do," i replied. "the only problem is, they came to me when they were struggling and as ceo, i'm supposed to have answers. ugh i liked it much better when i just occasionally did work from my bedroom. this is exhausting."

"hey, it'll be okay," dream said, moving beside me so he could wrap his arm around me. "breathe, thalia."

i took a few deep breaths and smiled at dream. "thanks. alright, julian's coming over soon so i'm going to quit for the day," i said.

ten minutes later, i was just finishing putting my work stuff up when i heard the door open and julian walked in.

"julian! i've missed you so much," i said as he walked into the house and came to give me a light kiss.

once he pulled away, he said, "i've missed you more."

"c'mon, i need some criminal minds therapy," i told him. i grabbed julian's hand to pull him upstairs, the sudden touch sending shivers racing down my arms.

once we were comfortable under my fluffy comforter, i turned on criminal minds and laid against julian, his arm around me and my head on his shoulder. as i watched the show, i felt all the tension and stress melt out of my body. i felt myself start to smile at how peaceful i felt.

"hey julian," i said quietly.

"yeah?" he said just as softly.

"i'm really happy right now." i turned my head up to look him in the eyes.

julian grinned down at me and said, "i'm glad you're happy because i am too."

i titled my head up more and pulled julian down until our lips met, my fingers moving to his hair as he moved his hand to the back of my head to hold me in place and deepen the kiss. i shifted so that i was partially propped on my elbow, and julian carefully pushed my hair out of my face. it was pure bliss for the both of us.

i never heard footsteps or the door open, so i didn't realize anyone was in my room until i heard nick say, "is this your hoodie, thalia. i found-" he cut himself off quickly as he caught sight of julian and i.

i pulled away from julian quickly and turned around. "nick! you scared me," i told him.

"i didn't realize you were doing naughty things in here or else i would have knocked," nick said, crossing his arms and giving me a look that reminded me of a big brother reprimanding a younger sister.

i rolled my eyes in response and said, "we're kissing, not getting down and dirty on a crafting table."

"first of all, you've been watching the smp too much. secondly, this is the second time i've walked in on you two sucking face. i'm going to have to bleach my eyes now," he said, adding a shiver loke he was disgusted.

"i've walked in on you doing worse," i pointed out.

"you have not! i've never even kissed someone in this house," nick protested.

"i'm going downstairs," julian said quickly. he jumped off the bed and left quickly.

nick and i ignored julian's sudden departure and i stood up off the bed so i wouldn't feel small compared to him. "maybe you haven't in this house but you did made out with melissa in my house when we were in highschool."

"i was fifteen! and we barely kissed twice," nick said. "i would in no way call that making out."

"well still. you were kissing her on my couch."

"because we were playing spin the bottle and it landed on her," nick reminded me.

i stopped short of that, suddenly remembering that day. he was right, it was because of spin the bottle. a game i had dragged him to, to make matters worse.

"okay, fine. you win this one," i reluctantly said.

"i always win," nick said as he slung his arm around my shoulders. "now let's go make sure julian didn't run away."

word count: 1097