The Hook-up

Chapter 5

"Cait...this is good?" Lauren asked standing in front of her mirror looking at the shirt he told her to wear with leggings and a short denim skirt.

"It's amazing, Elle..." Caitlin answered.

"Okay..if you....oh...." she gasped hearing the doorbell ring at 7:07pm. She shook her friend's shoulders freaking out before opening the door seeing him standing there in a grey fedora, a t-shirt with a plaid shirt over, dark skinny jeans and black matching shoes.

"Ready?" he asked her holding out his hand.

"Yeah...." she grabbed her purse waving to Caitlin closing the door.

"Are you ready to be amazed, Lauren?" he asked her opening the car door for her.

"Yeah...but....I've been there before. I know how amazing it is..." she told him.

"Oh...well...I know how to make it better..." he told her as they pulled up to the restaurant.

"Oh....Bruno...it's Saturday...they do karaoke...no...no...no....I don't think so." she told him.

"What? No way! You only live once, Laur!" he exclaimed.

"Plus...I'm not just a songwriter..." he told her.

"What?" she asked him as they walked toward the restaurant.

"Yeah..but you'll have to wait and see." he winked at her leading her to the table the waitress had set for them off to the side of everyone.

"Well..now I want to know!" she exclaimed.

"Let me see your phone..." he said looking at her iphone sitting on the table.

"What are you doing?" she asked him watching him press some buttons turning the phone to her showing her the cover art for Billionaire. "That's you!" she shouted covering her mouth knowing she was too loud.

"It's just one thing. I don't know how big it's going to be..." he said slightly defeated.

"What do you mean? I heard that on the radio this morning..it was catchy." she answered him.

"I just live for right now. I'm not worried about how popular it is. It was fun writing it and recording it and everything." he told her.

"Oh...I get that. The research and writing is my favorite part. Sure, it's nice seeing the finished product, but when I look back I remember the shit I went through trying to write a masterpiece." she told him. His face lit up as she explained her process.

"That's exactly it! I knew I liked you, Lauren!" he said seeing their food come to the table. "Like we're working on this one song now...and it's just complete crap. Like I just want to give up....and just start the whole album over again...but we put so much work into what we have...."

"What's holding you back from starting over agian? Buy a new notebook, forget about the past, just do it...." she told him. "Open a new word document...just start over..."

"You know what...." he said taking a bite of his sushi. "You're right." he said. "But I don't want to think about that now. I wanna go sing with you...." he said pointing to the person finishing their song.

"Oh...when I said no I meant it, Bruno." she told him finishing her sushi.

"Oh come on...." he pleaded.

"No!" she responded playfully feeling his feet move towards hers as he wrapped them around her ankle.

"I'll pull you under..." he said in a soft voice she couldn't resist. She threw her napkin on the table dramatically smiling at him.

"Okay. Fine. But I get to pick the song...." she said standing up watching him walk to the front of the restaurant pressing a few buttons.

"There are your choices..." he said pointing to Big Poppa by Notorious B.I.G. and California Love by Tupac.

"What is this?" she asked him.

"They said that's all they have tonight..." he told her. "Right, Ray?"

"Yep...that's it..." the DJ said. She pointed to the Tupac song taking the mic waiting for the music to come on. He saw her start to shake a little so he took her hand holding it tightly seeing her read over the words as she tried to rap the song. Halfway through she stood next to him trying not to laugh through the chorus. Through the bridge he leaned toward her ear whispering.

"You drive me crazy."

They finished the song and stepped off the stage to a ridiculous amount of applause, mostly for Bruno but she felt a little accomplished.

Bruno paid the bill and walked out of the restaurant with her. "Tonight wasn't half bad." she told him as he led her to the car.

"Hey...I'm sorry I had no idea who you were that night. I've just been in my own world for a really long time and working and everything...I know the guy next door to me and that's it...." he told her.

"Don't worry, Bruno. I only know the family that lives above us..." she admitted.

"Man...we're bad neighbors." he laughed.

"Yeah. We aren't the best are we?" he replied.

"Naw..but it's okay." she answered as they got closer to her apartment. She opened the door getting out smiling at him. He grabbed her hand pulling her close to him. "What?" she laughed at him as he tried to flirt with her. "I'm not drunk tonight, Bruno..."

"I'm not either...so....that's why I'm going to ask you very nicely if I can have your phone number so I can call you in three days...." he told her.

"Of course..." she told him taking his phone pulling hers out at the same time dialing her number."There you go." she responded with a slight smile kissing him on the cheek as she opened the door. "Good night, Bruno."

About an hour later, after telling Caitlin all about the date she felt her phone vibrate seeing Bruno's number pop up.

Good night, Tupac.