Page 53 of Waiting for Acceptance
“Oh my god, you’re chatty when you’re malnourished.” I roll the suitcases right inside the door and drop our carry-ons next to them before shutting the door again to lock it.
“Feed. Me,” she growls. I hold back a laugh and nod.
“Let’s go, gremlin.”
I walk in front of her and hear her mumble, “Oh you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
With Milano’s being within walking distance of my place, and one of my best-kept secrets of New York, we are at a table and eating within the time limit allotted before Lauren claimed she would turn into a corpse. Watching her put away three slices of pizza and washing it down with a diet soda is a sight to behold. I don’t think I’ve ever been so attracted to another person. Savage little thing.
“Pizza good?” I tease as she chews with her mouth so full she looks like a squirrel. She gives me a middle finger and keeps eating as if I never said anything at all. “Good.”
“I hope you know I am unbelievably pissed off at you.” I sigh and toss my napkin down on the table.
“Tell me, Sweetheart. What have I done this time?”
“I’ll never be happy with pizza from anywhere else. You’ve ruined me for all other pizza, you asshole. Ilovepizza.” I can’t help but smirk because I think she’s genuinely mad about this.
“I guess I’ll just have to make sure you get your fix every time we’re in New York then, won’t I?” She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms.
“That’s fair…I guess.”
“Ready to go?” I nod to the door and she nods in agreement.
“More than. I am desperate to wash the smell of airplane off myself.” I pause on our way out when the thought of Lauren naked in my shower invades my mind.
CHAPTER 28
LAUREN
“Home sweet home.” Fitz turns the key to unlock his apartment door and I’m suddenly brought to the realization that I’m going to be staying here. With him. As his girlfriend—well,fakegirlfriend. Although I must say I have been doing a hell of an acting job since we got off that plane. If real estate ever stops being fun maybe I’ll be an actress.
We walk through the door and I’m surprised by the way it doesn’t feel…cold. I half expected a couch that doesn’t look even remotely like it was made to be sat on, abstract black and white art on the wall, and something that screamsbachelor padlingering in the corner, like Joey’s big, white dog fromFRIENDSor something.
Instead, I’m met with warm tones of beige, navy blue, and rust. A painting of a farm with a single tree out in the middle of a field as the sun sets in the distance, as well as a plush area rug that Ginny wouldliveon. The entertainment center has one shelf full of books, one with DVDs, and another with records on display. I almost roll my eyes, thinking it’s all for show, then I see it. On the opposite side of an old wooden piano, a record player sits on the other side of the room, on a table with anothermassive stack of records. Not for looks at all, you can tell by the way they’re scattered about that they get used.
“If you’re done judging who I am as a person from the look of my living room, I can show you the rest of the place.” I look up to see Fitz standing against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, smirking at me with those stupidly perfect white teeth.
“I’m not judging.” I shrug, only partially lying. I am judging him, but in a completely different way than I thought I would be. I’m just too surprised by that fact and exhausted, to think of anything clever to say.
“Kitchen is here, obviously.” He points to the kitchen right across from the living room. “This is the half bath, right next to my office.” I peek inside and see the single desk in the middle of the floor, which is immaculately clean, with a black leather chair behind it. There’s no rug, no plants, not even any artwork. Just a filing cabinet in the corner and the desk. There is a small suede futon on the wall opposite his desk, but it’s still a lonely-looking office.
“What’s up there?” I point to the spiral staircase and look up towards a loft.
“Nothing, actually. Maybe some storage bins. I never really had much use for the extra space. I thought about making it a record room, but I prefer to have it in the living room. Easier to access when I’m in the kitchen.
Hmm. Interesting.
“Show me the shower next?” His relaxed features become more rigid before he leads me through the next door.
“Right this way.” We walk into his bedroom and I frown. “There’s only one shower. In the master bedroom.” I swallow past the slight discomfort of knowing I’ll have to shower so close to his bedroom and try to play it off.
“Makes sense.” I refuse to give him the satisfaction of knowing how painfully aware I am of how small of a space we’reabout to be sharing. No matter if it’s only for the weekend; if the plane ride and little stop at baggage claim were any indicator of how Fitz is going to play his part in all of this, I’m in for atension-filledweekend. Maybe it won’t be like that the whole weekend though. This whole thing is for show, right? Meaning things like that will more than likely only happen when watchful eyes are around and not when we’re behind closed doors.
We walk into the bathroom and he turns on the light, my eyes pop when I take in the massive space. “There’s room over here for your stuff, I don’t know how much you packed but I don’t use much so take all the drawer and counter space you need. Just leave me room to brush my teeth, would you?” I glare at the back of his head as he walks closer to the shower. There are two sinks in the vanity and the largest walk-in shower I’ve ever seen.
“No tub?” I frown as I voice my observation. When my eyes meet his again he’s just…staring at me. It takes him a moment to finally answer.
“No. But there’s two shower heads in there with excellent water pressure so hopefully that makes up for it.” I peek into the shower and see the two shower heads on either end.
