Page 83 of Picture Us

But as they sat at their desk, tapping their finger, a text appeared on their home screen from Rose:

Got time to talk?

It was probably the vaguest message they had ever received and yet it tightened their chest like a boa constrictor squeezing its prey. They stared at the message for a long time, more time than it ever took them to answer a text.

After five minutes, Rose’s face appeared on their screen.Crap.She must know now, she must have gotten the courtesy call by now.

Rubbing their forehead, Drew couldn’t understand why they hadn’t just told her themself.

Now you hid something, idiot.They stared at the familiar green eyes on their screen. The call went to voicemail. And when Drew stayed frozen for another few minutes, a new text appeared on the home screen:

Not fucking cool Drew. Call me back.

Standing from their chair, Drew’s chest was on fire. They paced from one end of the room to another, pivoting on the ball of their foot hard on each turn.

The sound of the intercom ringing startled them from their haze.Fuck. Is that her?

Drew stared into space for a minute. Their phone buzzed again with another call from Rose. Then another intercom ring. They walk closer to the console, staring at the Enter button. Biting their lip, they hold the button down.

They have to face her at some point. As they waited by their door, the sun still shining into their loft despite it not matching the vibe of the day at all, Drew could hear Rose’s feet stomp up the staircase.

A few loud bangs signaled Rose’s arrival. Putting their hand on the doorknob, Drew closed their eyes and turned it.

30

ROSE

Standingat the top of Drew’s stairs, Rose caught her breath. This time it wasn’t from the insane amount of flights but instead the rage boiling in her chest. “Drew, open up. We have to talk about this.”

Just as the last word left her lips, the door opened. Drew was disheveled, exhausted. How long had they been awake?

Rose pushed past them, walking into the familiar apartment. When she reached the work table, she turned around and crossed her arms. “Really?”

Stone cold, Drew stared back at her as the door slammed behind them.

“I asked you for one thing. One thing to make me feel better about losing out onanotherjob. And you couldn’t put your ego aside to do that?” Rose shook her head. Of course she should’ve known better. It was everything Ellen had warned her about.

Flexing their temple, Drew shrugged. “No plans tomorrow, huh?”

Rose squinted. “Excuse me?”

“Drinks with Shan?” Drew walked closer. Finally it clicked for Rose. They were fucking jealous.

“That’s what this is about? You fucking snooped in my phone and saw a calendar event?” Rose shook her head. Unbelievable.

Drew raised a finger to defend themself. “I didn’t snoop, you left it on the table and I saw it by accident. But it doesn’t change anything.”

Putting her head in her hands, Rose laughed. “Please tell me that you didn’t ignore myonerequest because I was going to see Shannon?”

Drew shrugged. “I don’t know Rose. It seems like you want this to be casual. Because if you didn’t, you would think that I deserved to know you were meeting up with your ex.”

“First of all, we were just going to catch up. I have the complete ick for her and you should know that. But second of all, we never said we were exclusive, Drew. We said we didn’t owe each other anything!” Rose’s voice grew louder, bouncing off the brick of Drew’s apartment.

With a laugh, Drew nodded. “Exactly. We don’t owe each other anything. So why would I ask for permission to take a job I earned from someone who doesn’t want to commit to me?”

As she stood in the sunlight, the rays warming her neck, Rose felt her heart break. A part of her brain couldn’t understand how they had ended up here. Just yesterday they sat cuddled up at brunch with Diana. And now… now Rose knew she had to walk away.

“I don’t know that you’ve ever respected my work. And now you fucked it all up because you wouldn’t just ask me what was going on.” Rose shook her head, not even really talking to Drew at this point.

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