I let him go, but only because I know he’s good for it. He always takes short showers because he hates wasting water. I lie back on the couch, pull a pillow over my face and smile, because that’s all I want to do in this moment, and just as my cheeks start to hurt, I reach for Nate’s phone and click into the Postmates app. Driver is seven minutes away.

I lean my head back against the couch and the thought hits me like a blow to the gut, reality finding me again. I have to find a job. I can’t just sit around on my ass all day for the rest of the summer; it’ll drive me crazy. I need to be doing something. Learning. Creating. Something.

I’m sitting at my desk in front of my MacBook, searching on LinkedIn for anything remotely related to fashion that has an opening when there is a knock on the door. I glance down at the phone. It says the driver is still two minutes away. But maybe it’s a glitch.

When I open the door, my mouth opens.

What the hell is she doing here?

9

TAYLOR

The look on Brandi’s face when she opens the door is priceless. I don’t know who she was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t me.

Her hair is down; her real hair. She’s taken out her braids and thick, curly hair hangs to her shoulders, framing her face. Dark nipples poke through a sleeveless white Henley that might as well be nothing. She’s barefoot, her pretty white toenails the perfect contrast against her brown skin.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, her voice flat, uninterested.

“Where’s Nate?” I ask, looking around the place.

She stares at me, her eyes hard and still, like she is trying to decide whether or not to answer. “In the shower. He just came from the gym.”

“Oh. He’s been already?”

“New season’s coming up. He goes every day. Same time. He likes to...” She stops, changing course abruptly as if just realizing something. “If you want to see him—”

“I actually came to see you,” I say, meeting her gaze.

She blinks at me. Her mouth opens, but the words never come.

I move closer to her, beyond the threshold, and she takes a step back, confusion bringing the edges of her brows together. “What do you want?”

She shuts the door behind me and quickly locks it like we’re in the ghetto or wherever she’s from.

I wait for her gaze to meet mine again before speaking. “You already lost your interview and the internship. Do you want me to keep ruining your life? Because I can.”

My words hit her hard. It takes her a moment to recover and then her head moves side to side in disbelief. “I knew it was you.”