under the magnolia tree - dreamwastaken x oc

chapter 39 - without you

I had trouble sleeping because I kept trying to put my arm around Alyssa but she wasn't there.

~

I woke up the morning and my sheets were all messed up. I realized it was 9 and I only had an hour before we had to be at the workplace for a meeting.

"Shit shit shit"

My texts were filled with Eli asking where I was and one text from Clay.

For a minute I forgot what had happened between us but then it all came back.

I brushed it off and continued to get ready because I could not be late.

I put on checkered pants, a black top, and black heels.

My hair was wavy and I slipped on some natural lipstick and lipgloss.

I curled my eyelashes and quickly put on mascara and went downstairs to the main lobby.

"Alyssa where have you been. I've tried to reach you for the past hour. We were going to meet for breakfast but instead decided on coffee because you weren't here," Eli said frantically.

"I know I know I overslept," I said ranting.

"Well, I am glad you are here now. I didn't want you to miss the meeting and may I say you clean up nice for getting ready in 10 minutes," He said with a toothy smile.

I scuffed and rolled my eyes as I smiled back.

He handed me a coffee and we got into the back of a fancy black car. We started to drive off to a huge building and arrived after about 15 minutes.

We were going to a publisher place with about 13 other people and two books would get chosen to be published with the company.

We got there and each of us presented our ideas for our books.

Eli requested we talk a picture together just for memories. I agreed and we took some fun pictures and held our books up.

They said we would know by the end of today and so we all left.

Eli and Livvy were best friends before she moved to Minnesota so he knew his way around New York. He showed me a cute cafe where we decided to eat lunch.

He continued to keep looking at me and I finally gave in.

"What," I said with a wide smile.

"Oh, nothing. You are just very pretty," He said softly with a giggle.

"Why thank you," I said acting like the Queen of England just complimented me.

It started to rain and our hotel was at least 100 ft away so we didn't have that far to walk.

We ate our lunch and he paid for the check. We didn't have an umbrella and so he requested I used his fancy jacket for protection.

We got outside and I held the jacket to my shoulder and stuck my tongue out trying to get a raindrop in my mouth.

He called me names and we started to laugh.

We then started dancing in the rain and making a fool of ourselves. He spun me in a circle and pulled me close to him. I couldn't help but laugh and then we made it back to the hotel lobby. We were still both laughing so hard and we were soaking wet.

We had to clean up for dinner tonight and so we both went to our rooms and got cleaned up and changed again. Montgomery and his wife treated us to a fancy dinner and I had a gray sequin dress. It shined in the low moody lighting and after the rain cleared and the streets were dry we walked back to the hotel.

We continued to laugh and purposefully run into each other and bumped each other laughing so hard in the middle of the sidewalk.

We got back home and decided to celebrate our first night with a bottle of wine.

We were both talking and watching tv when the announcers were finally announcing who the winners were.

We both set our glasses down and listened to what the tv feedback was saying.

After a whole day of conferencing, we feel Alyssa Bryant's 'Meet me in Alaska' and Eli Losent's 'One Apartment Over' deserve to be published by our company. We are so excited to be working with them. They are both amazing and we are so excited for you guys to read their first books.

We jumped up in excitement and hugged each other.

"Oh my god Alyssa this is so big for you," He said jumping with me.

"Oh shut up this is amazing for you. God, I could kiss you right now," I said not thinking about what I said.

We both laughed and continued to freak out.

We both quieted down and he looked at me.

I looked at him and he pulled me in close from my waist.

I was shaking but I didn't do anything. He started to come in closer to my face and at that moment I didn't think of anything or anyone else.