“She slapped me yesterday.”
“I would’ve too because you were being an ass.”
“Will you please stop taking her side?” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “You know what she did to me at the hospital. You were there and you witnessed it yourself. You even defended me.”
“She crossed the line that time but we were nineteen then. She was loyal to a fault and protective of her friend and besides, her anger was only directed at you and not at me,” José looked at me pointedly when he said that, “but it’s been five years since and we’re older now. Priorities change and maybe she just really needs our help for her company. Will you keep that in mind?”
I rolled my eyes and waved him off. “Whatever. Didn’t you tell me the other day that you have a blind date today? Girls don’t like it when their dates are late unless it’s me.”
José scoffed and punched my shoulder. “You’re going to find a girl that’s going to turn your arrogance into dust one day, Julian, and I can’t wait for that to happen.”
I let out a huff but then rolled my eyes, heading upstairs for a shower and then a change of clothes. I decided to play Mario Kart as I waited for Audrey to come back with my laundry and coffee and at some point, it bored me because well, it wasn’t as fun if you didn’t have anyone to play with and I think Dylan was still asleep from playing video games all night and I wasn’t sure if Carlos was still at home or if he ever went home from Bonnie’s last night.
With a sigh, I pulled out the notebook I used to write lyrics on for the songs that we made and then opened to the page, a blank page, one that had a tune and melody but still lacked the lyrics that I wanted. I’d wasted so many pages of the notebook that I had and even wasted notebooks for this song but I couldn’t really come up with the right lyrics so I only began to hum, closing my eyes and remembering the voice that I heard five years ago, with the lyrics of a song that inspired me to push through, despite the rejection that I underwent that time, despite Audrey throwing me out of the hospital and telling me that it was my fault that Amber tried to kill herself.
Tell me, brave heart
Can you chase after the wind,
Even when sunlight burns your skin?
Do you have the courage,
To pursue even if it breaks your heart
Continuously,
Over and over and over again?
The doorbell rang and echoed throughout the house but I ignored it, closing my eyes and then switching to another song, a song that’s been stuck in my head but was sung by a different artist. I knew the one ringing the doorbell was Audrey and maybe I should’ve given her the passcode of the house so she didn’t have to ring the doorbell whenever she came over. But I was in the middle of singing and the music trapped me in its warm embrace.
When I stopped singing and ended the last note on the guitar, I realized that the house was silent. There was no one ringing the doorbell over and over again or even knocking on the door. For a moment, I wondered if Audrey left because I wasn’t answering or opening the door and maybe that meant that she gave up on this job. I opened the door and then jumped back when I saw Audrey standing right in front of me, jaw clenched and her hands at her side, the coffee on the floor as well as my laundry.
My eyebrows furrowed in surprise. “How long have you been there?”
She blinked and looked at me, surprised to see that I was right in front of her. She looked a little dazed and she shook her head, as if that could bring her back to the present. She licked her lips and shrugged. “Carlos opened the door. You weren’t answering. I thought you left.”
I jabbed my thumb to the inside of my room, feeling a little awkward. It wasn’t that I felt awkward because she must’ve heard me singing since I worked as a musician for a living. I just felt a bit vulnerable when I was singing earlier. “I was just playing some songs.”
Audrey nodded her head and she seemed unsure of what she was meant to do. She crouched down to pick up the coffee and shoved it to me. “I heard. Here. Dark roast. Like you wanted. Did you sign the papers?”
She seemed a little bit out of loop, as if she was unbalanced or something like that. I walked back to my room and retrieved the pen and paper but before I walked back to her, it suddenly occurred to me why her reaction was familiar and just like that, whatever awkwardness I felt dissipated and I knew just what to say to annoy her.
“You liked hearing me sing, didn’t you?”
Audrey’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as she slowly backed away, her eyes fleeting to the folder in my hands. “You’re a little too full of yourself, don’t you think?”
I smirked as I stepped closer and Audrey continued to back away until her back was against the wall. I cocked my head to the side, my curls falling a shy above my eyes. “You have the same daze look as my fans do. Don’t you dare deny it, Audrey.”
Audrey turned away and huffed. “Did you even sign the agreement?”
I leaned closer to her and her eyes fluttered close and I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I put the paper against the wall and wrote another one to add to the list and then signed it, handing it to her and then stalking off, a satisfied smirk on my face.
6
Audrey
In the twenty-four hours that I have ended up having to be with Julian Hudson, I didn’t think that I could hate the guy even more. He was insufferable, demanding, insensitive and so arrogant that I wanted to murder the horse that he was on so he could get off of it. He made me do things that wasn’t even part of the job description of a personal assistant but he kept dangling the contract in front of me, using it to his advantage.
Don’t fall in love with me.
How dare he assumed that I would fall in love with a playboy like him? Never, in all the years that I’d known about Julian Hudson, did it ever cross my mind that I wanted to be with him in any way. I could barely tolerate the idea that I was meant to be his assistant even if it was only for a month and if they signed with us, that meant having to meet with them on regular occasions and I could barely wrap my mind around that idea.
Even a dumb fool could notice how much I despised the idea of being next to Julian Hudson and I could barely handle the fact that I have to step on my pride and ego just so I could be the one to run what was rightfully mine. But the nerve that the boy had to assume that I would fall in love with him made me want to punch him right there and then and fortunately, to be honest, it’s rather unfortunate if you ask me- I got a grip on myself.
“You look like you’re about to murder someone,” Theo said rather loudly as he placed our breakfast tray in front of me. We were in a breakfast café near the house that Julian and his bandmates lived in. It was 7 AM in the morning and I’d already done my usual routine so I called on Theo and asked him if he was up for a breakfast date. He was. He always was when it came to me.
I gripped the stylus that I was holding and put down the tablet in my hand. “Julian just told me yesterday that I better add into the list not to fall in love with him.”
Theo was sipping his coffee as I said that he almost spat it out as he stared at me in disbelief. “He really said that?”