(BlackHeart2) BLACKSOUL

Chapter 14

        I could see Julien waiting for me on the sidewalk. He looked handsome in his blue suit with a blue and white pinstripe button down and a patterned tie. He knows how to mix patterns without it being tacky or overwhelming. I guess being around fashion geniuses can rub off on a person. His textured curls were short up top, but the sides were lined up as his beard was.

"Is this coffee for me?" I smiled when I saw him holding two in his hands. He gave me his white toothed grin. "Nope, I bought it for Richard," he joked about a man who worked on Karl's staff. I snorted and shook my head at him while he was simultaneously handing me the coffee.

"How are you? I haven't seen you since the plane," he asked me. We were lingering on the sidewalk because nobody else had arrived yet for this casual meeting. "I'm good. I'm happy to see my brother and stuff" I took a sip of my drink. I paused when I noticed him staring so hard.

        "What?" I had to ask. "Nothing, just wondering if you were gonna tell me you'd seen anyone else," he was practically hinting at something. "Sophia," I added. His low chuckle made me curious about what he's feeling right now. "Dom," he asked. "Oh, I saw him in a room. We didn't speak" I explained. "Julien, why are you always bringing him up?" I had to ask.

    "You just always leave me curious, because you aren't forthright on the topic of the man, and I don't know...I guess I'm wondering if we're still doing what we'd been doing," he clarified.

"Sex?" I wanted to be sure. He seemed a little surprised at how forward I just was, but it slipped off my lips. "Yeah," he deadpanned after that. Did I still want to hook up with Julien now that I'm here in New York? Why shouldn't I? I guess I just haven't been in the mood the past week I've been here.

I never called Julien up for any of that. "We never really planned this out. It was casual as the opportunities arose. I don't want to confuse you into it being anything more than that. I want to be transparent with you. I've been given mixed signals and it sucks," I snorted at the end of what I said. "Right, I know that, and I'm cool with it. You're just sexy and I wanna put my hands on you right now," he lowered his voice and took a step closer, so he could tell me that. 

My cheeks felt a little warm at his words...but no raptures ever consumed me.

        I opened my mouth to respond, but at the same time the other members of the team arrived. We said hello and went into this cafe to talk some things through, about the upcoming events.

"Mia, you'll need to come with me to have a fitting, but other than that you're only expected to show up at the event this weekend. Very easy. You just walk around with Karl. No pressure," the woman assured me. I'm not even sure what part of the team she's on. I just know I have different people talking to me all the time. Maybe she's like an events planner I don't know.

Again, their French and German accents stand out more to me now that I'm in America. I had always been the one with the accent when I was over there. Now it's flipped around. Karl is German, so he does have a mix of people in a mix of languages.

"The dress is pink...with a lot of ruffles. Karl wants it that way. He's got a vision already," she warned me. I knew how it worked by now. We've worked together enough for me to get a feel for him when we did the campaign together. And again with the photos in more recent months.

After a little more shop talk the team was through with me and excused themselves.

        Julien and I stayed behind and switched to the counter seating to give up the larger table we were at when everyone was here. "Pink ruffles huh" was Julien's first comment. It made me laugh. "Anything Karl Lagerfeld wants is already a masterpiece in my eyes." Julien rolled his own brown eyes at me. "You fangirl," he teased. I scoffed. "I only fan girl in private," I corrected him.