I was wide awake at six and annoyed that my body didn't want to sleep in. Lucy was still curled onto her side with the comforter tucked up to her chin so I didn't wake her. It should be weird to have her in my bed, but I think we were so exhausted last night that neither of us was weird about falling asleep next to each other. I slide out of the covers and snatch my toothbrush off the counter in my bathroom. I stride down the hall towards the guest bathroom and catch Fisher drinking an espresso at the kitchen island.
"Sup?" He asks me before taking another sip out of his tiny mug. "Where you going with that?" His chin points to my toothbrush and I glance back toward my bedroom door.
"Lucy is in there, I'm going to use the other bathroom." He stops sipping and his eyebrows furrow.
"Lucy? Your Lucy?"
I nod, "Her house was broken into last night. So she's gonna stay here."
"Fuck! Are you serious?" Fischer says and I use my hand to tell him to lower his voice. "Was she home?"
"No, it was while we were at work. Last night was a shit show," I tell him and then drop onto a stool at the island.
"I didn't even hear you come in," Fischer says and then he drops his cups into the sink. I notice he's about to leave but he doesn't rinse his cup out. He just leaves it in the sink for me or Mari to deal with. As usual.
"It was late. I forgot you were staying here, so Lucy and I just shared my bed."
"Did you get it in?" He asks with a smirk and I frown at him.
"No, we slept. That's it."
"You had Lucy in your bed and you did nothing?" I hesitate to tell him everything. I don't know where Lucy and I stand this morning. However, he catches onto my silence and adds, "Okay so not nothing then?"
"We kissed, I told her I was into her but that we needed to take it slow," I confess and a wide smile takes over his face.
"I didn't know you could take things slow. Is she into you?"
I nod, "Turns out she's had a crush on me for a while. Supposedly, she didn't put herself out there because she didn't think I'd be receptive."
"You may not have been depending on when she tried, or you would have just fucked her and broke her heart," he replies callously with a smirk. I frown at him but I know he's right.
"Well, everything happens for a reason. Maybe we are both finally in a spot to take each other seriously. I told her I wanted to take her somewhere fancy. Do it right."
"Somewhere to do it? This is a whole new Jack," he says with another shit-eating grin and he goes to grab his suitcase next to the counter. He rolls it a few feet and then looks to me, "Take her to the Biltmore, girls fucking love that place."
"That is fancy and would cost less than Paris," I murmur in agreement and he eye rolls me.
"You got the money, or use your daddy's credit card. They have firepits on the balcony. She'll have to fuck you," Fischer says and then continues to the front door. "I'll be back on Wednesday. Let's do a lake day Thursday."
I nod in agreement and then watch him leave. Booking a weekend at the Biltmore would be a great way for us to just focus on each other. I know Lucy needs money, so I can't ask her to take off too much work and it would be incredibly obvious to everyone if suddenly she and I took the same days off. I'd prefer to keep whatever this is from everyone at work but Lucy may want to shout it from the rooftops. She hates PDA but she might want everyone to know we're now an item. I'm not sure what she'll want to do. I'm not sure if I know what I want to do.
I push myself off the stool and get ready to go for a run. Putting myself out there with Lucy was exhausting and I need to run off the anxiousness I am feeling.
********
Lucy finally found me in the kitchen around ten. I had already run six miles, showered, went to Starbucks and checked her old place for anything we may have left behind. She's still in my clothes, but her dark hair is piled on top of her head with all the short pieces falling out of it. Her arms are folded across her chest and she gives me a small smile when she spots me at the kitchen counter with my laptop open. I look at her, "How did you sleep?"
"Like the dead," she answers with a grin. She stops at the counter, leaving the block of the island between us and she seems nervous. She keeps her arms wrapped around herself as she glances around. I can feel her nerves and it's clear we aren't quite sure how to act around each other yet. I want to walk over to her, yank my shirt off her and carry her back to bed but I know we aren't there. She then points to the Nespresso machine and asks, "Can I make me a cup? Or do you have coffee or something?" I stand from the stool and go to yank my refrigerator door open.
"I got you that nasty grass drink you like, but I do have coffee too," I answer and I pull out a grande green drink. I turn around and watch her eyes light up. I then realize I should have thought about food. I don't eat breakfast but Lucy may be starving. I have no idea what is in my pantry at the moment. I might have granola and...pasta?
"You got me a matcha latte?" She asks in awe as she happily grabs the cup from me.
"With almond milk," I add and I watch her smile as she brings the lid to her lips. "I didn't grab food though. Maybe we can go get something?"
"I'm good with my grass. You said you were gonna woo me and indeed you have," she says and I want to kiss her, but she's still keeping a few feet between us. Her eyes are looking at me in a way I haven't noticed before. I sifted through everything we said last night on my run and realized that Lucy said she felt the same way, but she didn't say those three words outright. I did. I said them while looking directly into her eyes but she didn't say them back. Not exactly. I'm just not sure how to organically bring all that back up again with her looking like she's tucked back inside herself. She blinks and then turns away from me.
"I called Steve," I tell her, bringing up a safe subject and she whips her head back to me.
"You did? What did you say?"
"I said I was going to call my lawyer if he didn't give you back your rent money and help cover the cost of what you lost," I tell her and her eyes widen.
"What did he say?"
"He said he'd Venmo you. He says he has insurance on the place but he didn't seem too upset about what happened. So let me know if he does and if not, I really will call my lawyer." She laughs and drops onto a bar stool.
"It is nice having your brother in your back pocket. Even if his specialty is environmental law," she says with a wink and I shrug, "Steve doesn't know that."
"Thank you for calling him. I'll check my Venmo and let you know if we need to pull out your crowbar again," she says with a smirk. She sips at her drink and I want to know where she stands from last night. We both confessed a lot, but she's back inside her head.
"Um, so I was thinking..." I start and she eyes me, her silence allowing me to continue, "I have this big ol' house and am hardly here, if you want to stay in the guest room, it's all yours." She sits up straight and then glances to the side of the house where the guest room is.
"Are you sure? That's...is that too serious? Having me here like, right after last night?" She asks and I try and display my confusion.
"What? No, I wouldn't offer if I wasn't sure. You can save money and this kitchen would be perfect for your videos." I watch as her eyes scan the space, but I already know she loves my kitchen. I have a massive island, two ovens and the white quartz countertops are the perfect backdrop for her pictures. She said so the last time she baked over here.
"I thought your parents didn't want you to have roommates here," she says and I move from the counter to sit beside her.
"My parents were worried someone would trash the place, they'll be fine if you're here," I reassure her but I already know Lucy. She's not going to accept until she knows for sure they are fine with it.
"Maybe run it by them first, and tell them I can pay the other half of the mortgage or whatever they want me to," she offers but I shake my head. I don't even pay half of the mortgage.
"Lucy, I won't let you do that. This is to help you save money, you'll be in a safe area and can focus on baking if you're not stressed over rent money." I tell her and she nods but she doesn't say anything. I reach my hand out to touch her shoulder and can tell her wheels are spinning. Lucy overthinks everything so I try and slow her hamster wheel down, "Just think about it okay? If you're not comfortable with that, just stay until you find a place."
"Okay, yeah thank you, Jack," she finally says. "That would be great."
"And I will text my mom to make sure she's fine if you take over the guest room," I add and she smiles.
"Thank you, and speaking of mothers..." she starts and drops her cup on the counter, "I saw a text from my mom this morning. Lauren is in town for spring break."
"She was able to take a break from being a neurosurgeon?" I ask and Lucy scoffs.
"I haven't spoken to Lauren since we had dinner in New York, so I think she's coming just to find out how I ended up back in Arizona."
"Your mom didn't fill her in?" I ask and she shrugs.
"My mother is on a need-to-know basis. She knows Blake cheated and I am in Phoenix."
"So I am guessing you're going to have to go see her then?"
She nods, "Yes, they are trying to coordinate dinner at my parent's house. In Tucson."
"When?"
"Thursday or Friday, and I am telling you this because..." she pauses and looks down at her hands.
"Because..."
"I thought maybe you could come with? No pressure, you can come as just a friend to keep it easy, I just don't want to walk into the lion's den alone. I'd kinda be bringing you to be a shield. They won't be so hard on me with you sitting there." I can tell she's nervous to ask me. She's picking at her thumb while her other arm is still wrapped around her waist.
"I can come as whoever you want me to be," I reply.
"I mean, I just don't want you to think that I'm like, trying to take you to meet my parents already. I mean, I want you to meet my parents but you also don't need the pressure to be like... introduced as like my boyfriend yet," she says and she's starting to sound like Ashleigh with how many "likes" just came out of her mouth. I shove the stool that's sitting between us out with my foot and use my hand to slide her stool toward me. She's going to combust from anxiety if I don't talk her off the ledge soon. I wonder how long she was in my room, figuring out how to ask me. I lean into her and say, "Lucy, I'll come have dinner with you and your parents as your friend or as your boyfriend. I am comfortable with whatever you are comfortable with."
"It's not too much pressure?" She asks, her eyes finally found mine.
I shake my head, "No. I told you last night I'm ready for this now. I was actually looking at trying to take you away for a couple days to just, figure us out away from the noise."
"So you weren't deliriously talking last night? Exhaustion wasn't making you say crazy things?"
I laugh, "Lucy, I am all in with you. I meant it last night and I mean it today. Let's do this, it's clear what we both want." She smiles and finally, she's comfortable enough to let me kiss her. I pull her chin towards me and plant my lips on hers. After physically reassuring her, she pulls away and then says, "A week ago I was wondering how I was going to make it through working with you and now you're asking me to be your roommate and I am asking you to meet my parents."
"We're not wasting any more time, there isn't anything standing in our way now, including our own stupidity."
She laughs and then says, "Well on that note, there is one more thing I wanna talk about if we're going to go full steam ahead then." I tuck a wild piece of hair behind her ear as I ask, "Oh yeah?" She nods as she presses her head into my palm.
"Yeah, I think we should keep this a secret."