Chapter Twenty-Nine
Twenty-Nine
Although Stella was even more committed to not using Sparky, thanks to Effie’s high praise, Stella also didn’t actually want to be stuck in the office all week.
So on Tuesday, Stella switched her methodology. Instead of second-guessing herself, she started posting every idea she had, without hesitation. These ideas included:
“Tell Us Your Favorite Color, and We’ll Tell You What K-Drama You Need to Watch”
“Child Protective Services Should’ve Been Called on the Parents in The Parent Trap—Here’s Why”
“Twelve Song Lyrics That Make No Sense but Kind of Also Do”
“Ten Zodiac Sign Pairings That Should Totally Be Together—and Ten That Absolutely Should Not”
That last one was her favorite because she knew next to nothing about astrology so she made arbitrary guesses that probably made no sense. She was confident she’d get a lot of hate from that one, but clicks were clicks.
By Wednesday Stella was zooming, and she surprised herself by getting her twentieth post up right before five.
“Done?” Effie asked.
She’d finished her last post around noon but had stuck around to keep Stella company. Stella supposed she didn’t need to get new friends after all.
“Yes,” Stella said.
She shut down her computer and pushed away from her desk, the feeling of sweet freedom finally settling upon her. Stella had earned herself a four-day weekend, and she couldn’t even begin to decide what she wanted to do first.
Okay, that was a lie. She was going to text Max, obviously.
He had respected her need to focus and had only texted her a few times to wish her luck in the form of ridiculous motivational memes that made her laugh. They also inspired one of her posts, “Fifteen Memes to Get You Through the Week.”
“So shall we go celebrate?” Effie asked as they made their way out of the building. “Or are you going to ditch me for your boyfriend?”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Stella said flatly. “At least, I don’t think so.”
Effie turned to her. “You don’t think so?”
“We haven’t exactly put a label on things.”
Effie took Stella’s arm, pulling her back into the lobby.
“Stella, you have to DTR with this man.”
“I have to what?”
“Define the relationship,” Effie explained. “You cannot be…” She lowered her voice as two of their coworkers passed them on the way out.
“You cannot be risking everything for this guy and not even know where you stand,” Effie finished.
“I’m not risking everything,” Stella said. “I’m not risking anything. It’s not like we work together. There’s nothing untoward happening here.”
“Untoward? Really? Did you watch Pride & Prejudice again?”
“Perhaps.”
Effie rolled her eyes. “Please find a new period drama to obsess over. Perhaps a gay one.”
“But all the gay ones are sad,” Stella whined.
Effie waved her hands. “We’re getting off topic. My point is, this thing you’re doing with—”
She faltered and Stella supplied Max’s name.
“Right, him,” Effie said in a tone that indicated disgust. Stella thought this was quite dramatic, seeing as Effie had only met the guy once.
That thought gave Stella an idea.
“Why don’t we all hang out?” Stella said, cutting off whatever Effie was going to say next.
“Come again?”
“You want to celebrate,” Stella said. “And I want to see Max. So why don’t we all go out for drinks? Kill two birds with one stone.”
“I do not want to third-wheel with y’all,” Effie said.
“Invite Kira,” Stella said.
The words and Chelsea hung in the air between them, but Stella couldn’t make herself say them.
She and Chelsea had barely seen each other since Sunday.
Chelsea had been out the last two days when Stella got home from work, and each morning she was dead asleep in her room when Stella left.
Still, despite having squashed things on Sunday, Stella wasn’t ready to introduce Chelsea to Max yet.
Not when she could make some joke about Stella’s inexperience, something Max still didn’t know about.
“You want to introduce me and Kira to Max?” Effie asked.
Stella knew what she was really asking. Did she want to introduce them before introducing Chelsea? It would be a BFF violation. Stella knew that if Chelsea found out about this, she would be upset.
And yet.
Stella did want her friends to meet Max.
She wanted to know if there was at least a possibility that he could fit in her life in the long term, and more than that, she wanted her friends to tell her if Max was as amazing as she thought he was or if she’d been letting herself get swept up in the feeling of being wanted for once.
Basically, she wanted to know if Max was the real deal.
Effie and Kira, two of the most unfiltered people she knew, would tell her that without making her feel small.
Currently, she couldn’t trust Chelsea to do the same.
“Yes,” Stella said with more confidence than she actually felt. “Let me call him first, though. He might be busy and then this would be all for naught.”
Effie shook her head. “Seriously, leave the Old English in the past where it belongs.”
Stella ignored her as she stepped a few paces away and called Max. He picked up on the first ring.
“Hello.”
Stella faltered at the sound of Max’s voice. It was silly, but she’d forgotten what he sounded like. Now the deep vibration of that one-syllable word took her back to his bed, his arms wrapped around her, his hand between her thighs—
“Stella?”
Max snapped her out of her inappropriate thoughts.
“Hi, sorry,” she said. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” he said, although he drew out the word and Stella could her the twinge of humor in his voice. “And how are you?”
“Fine, good, great.”
“That was a lot of adjectives,” he said.
She could imagine him full-on grinning now, and she felt her face heat. She didn’t know what was happening to her. Why was she suddenly nervous?
“Right, well, I’m a writer, so you know that’s par for the course I think,” she said.
“Sure,” he said, and she was positive there was a hint of a laugh behind that word. “So what’s up?”
“Are you still at work?” she asked. “Do you wanna grab a drink with me and my friends?”
“I am still at work,” he said. “But I should pack it up, so I’d love to grab a drink with you and your friends. Where should I meet you?”
“Oh, hm, good question.”
Stella turned back to Effie, who was watching her with curious eyes.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Miti Miti,” Effie said automatically.
“But that’s in Brooklyn.”
“We live in Brooklyn!”
“I can go to Brooklyn,” Max cut in.
Stella jumped. She probably should’ve muted her phone, but it was too late now.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “That’s going in the opposite direction of your apartment.”
“True,” he said. “But I don’t have to go home after.”
“What do you—” Stella cut herself off as what he said clicked. He wanted to go home. With her. To her little apartment. Where Chelsea also lived.
Stella had never been in the position to bring someone home before, and she was blanking on the protocol.
Usually Chelsea just sent her a text saying she was going to have company over, and besides the sounds that she could sometimes hear through her noise-canceling headphones, Stella rarely ever noticed them.
Stella was not confident she’d be able to sneak Max into and then out of the apartment. Despite that, she heard herself say, “Okay.”
“I mean, if that’s okay with you,” he said. “I can always get myself home.”
“No, no,” Stella said quickly.
Effie was watching her with a tilt of her head, which made her look like a cat who knew too much. Stella turned again so her back was to her friend.
“We can figure that out later,” Stella said. “But we’re going to head to Miti Miti now, and you’ll meet us there?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Max said.
“Okay, cool. See you soon.”
“See you soon.”
They both hung up, and Stella made herself face Effie again.
“So this is happening, then?” she asked.
“Yep,” Stella said. “Can you text Kira? Maybe she can get there before us and let us know if it’s crowded.”
“Aye, aye, captain,” Effie said with a mock salute.
“Literally, why are you like this?”
“First of all, you say that all the time,” Effie said. “And secondly, you’re the one who’s been talking like a twenty-seven-year-old woman with no money and no prospects all day.”
Stella whirled on her. “See, you love it, too!”
Effie didn’t even look up from her phone. “Of course I love it. I’m not a heathen. Some of us can love things and not make it our whole personality.”
Stella flipped her off, but Effie didn’t even acknowledge it as they made their way to the train.