"I don't know about you, but to me it sounds like they like you," I gasp at Jas' statement.
"Now that's just insane talk coming from you..." I rummage through her closet, trying to find a suitable outfit for her date with my other best friend tonight. Turns out Lucy has a little surprise for her. They couldn't decide who gets to plan their first date, so they settled on Lucy handling the first half during the later afternoon while Jas does dinner.
"Do you like them?" I drop the green crop-top to the floor, sputtering absolute nonsense to defend my rapid heartbeat at the mere idea of me liking them more than as friends.
"No." I pick up the top, throwing it on the bed with the rest of the forgotten clothing in my attempt to find something suitable for what Lucy has planned for her.
"So you do like them, gotcha," she falls onto her pile of clothes on the floor that slipped off the bed at some point, possibly due to my terrible aim, phone in hand as she starts giggling at something Lucy probably sent her.
I roll my eyes, choosing to subtly ignore the topic in another attempt to change the subject, "do you have any ideas on what she has planned?"
"Yeah, so I made this list based on the hints she gave me..."
Those edits that I always admired on my phone have a special place in my heart. Scrolling through my device, enjoying the satisfaction of the slow motion movements matching the pace of the songs. Actors from my favorite shows, attractive movements from my favorite artists on stage, models strutting down the runway and even animated characters during their most intense scenes. The edits created by the people working hard behind these fanpages are always an absolute joy to look at and I could scroll through them for hours at a time.
But never have I thought of seeing myself in one of those videos. A fanpage I just so happened to come across this morning on my secret private account, the one that has zero association to my workplace, is using some of the videos posted of me and a few behind-the-scenes clips they managed to find on our channel to create these incredible videos of me that I can't seem to stop looking at.
I teared up more than once at my desk this morning just remembering how much I always used to pretend I was the one in the edits, but now I'm not pretending anymore. I'm not even famous or anything, not even close to it, but to know someone likes me so much that they take time out of their day to create this is mind boggling to me.
My job here at the company was a lucky find to be honest. Getting my internship here was never a plan since my self-confidence lacked by a lot, I never thought I stood a chance. If it weren't for my parents convincing me to at least send them my application, I never would've done it. But it wasn't just them that managed to coerce me into at least trying...
"I really don't think this is a good idea, Ty..." my face illuminated by my laptop's bright screen as I stare at my documents that I'm required to send to Starlaxy in order to complete my application process.
"You've already shown your interest to a bunch of other companies in and around the area, may as well send this one out, you never know!" He squeezes both of my shoulders, leaning over to read through my 'why I chose Starlaxy' portion of the email again.
"But..."
"Nope, I don't wanna hear it, either click that send button yourself or I'll do it for ya," he already starts threatening me with his pointer finger grazing the enter button on my keyboard. I laugh, slapping his hand away and before I can even second guess myself for the tenth time this past hour, my own finger presses the button.
"I did it..."
"And we'll expect nothing but the best results, let's get some ice cream!"
"Cookies and cream?" I'm already fumbling out of my chair at the mention of that sweet and sugary goodness.
"You know it, but Baby..." he looks at me with an unmistakably amused grin and nervousness raises the steady beat of my heart causing me to frown.
"What-" I follow the downward movement of his eyes and realize that- oh... I'm not dressed.
"As sexy as you are in just those boxers, which are mine by the way, I don't think going out like that would be a good idea," he snickers, stalking over to me and grabbing my chin lightly.
"What would I do without you, Ty?"
He leaves a gentle kiss on my forehead, cheeks and finally a lingering one on my lips. "You'll always have me by your side."
"Promise?"
He closes the gap between our parted lips and I happily take that as his response.
"What if we had Noah and Lucy on the rooftop as the intro?" Sara asks and we all shake our heads at all of this back and forth. We've been stuck in this meeting room for an hour already talking about the same topic.
"Isn't this just a behind-the-curtains type of video for our Christmas party?" Lucy grumbles, "why are we adding parts that we don't even do on a daily basis? Like that snowball fight that gave us both the cold, might I add,"
I lean forward in my chair, "I mean, we're honored for all of this screen-time, but none of it has anything to do with the Christmas event and why is it always just us?"
"Because you guys have the most popularity in our videos and we're trying to put as many scenes into this as possible; people are asking for it." Florence, our videography team leader, explains.
"I'm sure they'd love to see us just as much as anyone else here," I argue.
"Ever heard of pretty privilege, Darling?" Jack, oh so kindly, adds.
In the end, the meeting carried on for another hour until we relented and agreed to their proposal.
"I'm terrified of heights and now they're making me stand on the edge of our rooftop just so they can get a cool drone shot for the intro?!" She throws her arms up in the air while we grab our things.
"I mean, deep down, you're actually pretty excited, right?"
"Obviously, I'm grateful they like us so much, but a fear of heights is no joke!" She pouts at me, wrapping her arm around mine once we reach the elevator. I place my head on the top of hers, trying to think of ways to calm her down when we stand on that rooftop on Monday.
"Hey, you won't be alone, besides it's the weekend now, focus on your date with Jas until then," I can hear her take a deep breath, calming herself down enough before the metal doors slide open.
Upon stepping out of the lift, we find none other than the three men who have regularly found themselves in my life along with Jas, chatting with an enthusiastic Cadence by the entrance. Lucy is already looking up at me through her blonde lashes while I simply shrug, I'm just as confused as she is. "Did you know they would be coming?"
I shake my head, watching them interact from the elevator doors, "not at all, I didn't even know Jas was coming,"
Truth is, Lucy has been having run-ins with Cadence quite a bit lately ever since Sara let us know that they would be keeping an eye out for one more person to create a private account for. It's already been publicly hinted at that my account is being opened soon and, thanks to everyone's excitement over it, Sara decided to give one more person the same opportunity.
Lucy's arm tightens around mine as we get closer with each step until we're eventually close enough to be able to decipher their conversation. "Seriously, you guys should come!" The pink haired woman cheerfully announces and that has me widening my eyes. Is she asking them out?!
Julian's the first to notice us and flickers his eyes in our direction from where he's leaning against one of the windows, "they're here!" His demeanor is suddenly a lot brighter and there's a smile forming on his beautiful face again once our eyes meet, making excessive heat reach my cheeks.
"About time!" Jas skips over and squeezes between us, linking her elbows with the both of us making me laugh and the other blush furiously. "We wanted to surprise you both by escorting you out of this place on this wonderful Friday night!"
"I'm guessing Ruby actually showed up for her evening shift?" She pulls us forward to join the group's circle.
"Shocker, right?" She nudges me, falling into a conversation with Lucy about their date tomorrow.
The lobby is somewhat quiet around this time, especially on Fridays. Our sleepy receptionist, Sam, is one of the only people wandering around the open space, besides us, right about now. "How was your day?" Asher brings my attention back to them, he's sitting in one of the lounge chairs wearing a fitted long-sleeve tan shirt and black jeans.
I pull my arm out of Jas' elbow, wandering over to him while Cadence continues chatting up the other two. They seem trapped as the blond remains in his stance with his back still on the window while the other stands across from him with crossed arms and legs spread apart. I notice their gaze on us, or perhaps more so on Asher, while I'm chatting away with the freckled beauty. Our conversation topic is about our day and how he's now somewhat comfortable working with Ruby now. I raise my eyebrows at him to make sure he's telling the truth, but it seems the two of them have come to a mutual agreement to start over.
Every once and a while, my focus would shift from those hazel eyes to bright blue ones, then back to another pair of taupe eyes before settling back onto Asher's as he talks about anything and everything. My gaze may be all over the place, but my hearing is solely focused on him. My ears taking in every syllable rolling off his tongue as he continuously leans further into me the more excited he gets. Tugging at the corners of my lips is a smile that I try to hide behind the front of my teeth as I listen to him.
"Jas and I came up with the idea to have dinner together and go to the Rooftop maybe after?"
"I'd love to-"
"Oh my goodness, that sounds like so much fun!" Cadence's cheerful voice cuts me off, but he hears my response first as he nods at me with a smile before looking over at her.
The group falls silent, everyone either staring at the floor or their phones. Sebastian and Julian seize the opportunity to walk the short distance to the adjacent lounge chairs and sit with us. "So, when are we going?" She ties up her hair, looking around the group as a sign of her awaiting a response.
"Um, we were hoping to go to our usual restaurant we made a last minute reservation at," Jas asks, glancing at all of us while we simply agree with curt nods.
"Perfect, let's get going!" Grabbing her purse in a haste, she waves at Sam, holding the door open for everyone, except Lucy and myself, "oh sorry, my hand slipped..." She turns away, walking with Julian and Asher at the front of the group. Lucy and I find ourselves at the back, voicing our confusion at her recent behavior towards us, gossiping if you will.
Jas eventually skips over to us and joins our conversation until we reach our destination. She ruffles both of our hair in a reassuring manner, receiving groans from us.
"Hi, reservation for, uh..." Sebastian looks at all of us, stopping at Cadence for a moment, before turning back, "7 under Julian,"
"Right, it says here you originally reserved for 6," the hostess scans her sheet, flitting her gaze back to us.
"Sorry, mistake on our part, we must've miscounted when we called earlier..."
She smiles at him in reassurance, "it's alright, just wanted to make sure," she gestures at one of the waiters, letting us know to follow him to our table.
Right as I'm about to pull back a chair, a larger hand rests beside my own to do it for me. I glance upwards at the feeling of someone standing behind me, my intake of breath halting at the sight of Sebastian sending me a breathtaking smile. His free hand gestures for me to sit down and I quickly do as told with a bright red face. A chuckle reaches my ears followed by the scraping of a chair beside me.
After quelling the rush of excitement in my veins, I look around the table, stopping at a nervous Julian who seems to hesitate before sitting in the only free chair next to the seventh member of this party. The generous Asher leans forward, motioning for him to do the same so he can whisper something in his ear to which he simply shakes his head at his words with a shaky smile.
Julian's usually a calm person in general, but his aura has this certain brightness to it that seems to be becoming duller as the minutes tick by.
Dinner went by surprisingly quick after that brief moment of awkwardness. Lucy and I were sitting on one end of the table, Jas sitting beside her with Cadence in the middle where Julian was on her other side. He was oddly quiet during our meal, only joining in the conversation when specifically spoken to. The broad man beside me definitely noticed as he addressed the frowning blond as much as he could throughout the evening. Asher held his hand over the table as he sat across from him as well. I hope he's alright...
Leaving the restaurant with satisfied stomachs, I stop the blond from going to far ahead to ask him if he's alright. „Hm? Oh yeah, sorry, I'm fine," he smiles down at me, running a hand over his hair as he falls into step with Asher who pulled him further back. My eyes leave them to give them privacy, although my ears did catch Cadence's name and some soothing words coming from the brunet.
We're on our way to the Rooftop, which is a pretty cool concept that someone came up with last year. It's a bar on the ground floor, but as the name suggests, you can go all the way up to the rooftop at any time to enjoy both warm and cold beverages. It's open 24/7, which is a nice way to enjoy a calm night out with friends and it even has an indoor section for the colder nights.
During our walk there, however, I do notice Sebastian holding Julian pretty close to him by his shoulders while they're chatting away quietly behind us. He seems much happier now, especially after his chat with Asher who ran ahead once their third lover joined. He's now leaning into the taller man with an unwavering grin and I nearly start laughing at how it appears as if they stepped straight out of a magazine.
The two of them have what I could only describe as a 'fancy' dynamic appearance wise. I face forward again before they catch me starting, noticing a fond expression on Asher's face while he watches his boyfriends from the front of the group where he's walking with Cadence. His eyes find mine briefly and his lips pull up at our prolonged eye contact until a certain someone grabs his attention again with a snap of her fingers in his face.
The three of them do seem to complement each other well, but my doubt of how well they seem to work out as a trio still lingers somewhere inside me that I can never seem to shake off. It's not really my business anyways though...
I take a deep breath, raising my gaze to the dark sky, stars hidden by the city's bright lights. Placing my shivering hands into my jeans pockets, I tune out the familiar voices surrounding me until there's a comforting muffle in my ears. My body relaxes at the feeling of having such wonderful friends around me, my mind finally resting from its usual running thoughts of both the past and present for once. Distant music coming from all directions, cars zooming past, laughter from the nearby strangers; I can't help but feel somewhat relaxed in this moment.
A nudge on my back breaks me out of my spell. Turning my head to see the two tallest of our group walking with me as they continue their talk about what they should grab for dinner tomorrow. The flow of their conversation right above me as their heads are just above mine and I find that oddly comforting.
They keep the dialogue between themselves despite me being sandwiched between them, not that I mind it at all. I easily get lost in my head, this being one of those times. I wonder if they noticed?
Whatever their reasoning is, I'm happy they're walking with me. Giving me their physical company is sometimes all I could really ask for. Their fragrances that differ from one another quite drastically mingle with each other and creates a mix of an addicting fragrance I can't get enough of. I inaudibly inhale as deeply as possible, listening to our synchronized footfalls as we make our way to our next destination.
I may have so much more to discover in my life, but right now... I'll simply enjoy this moment the way it is.
That's more than enough for me.