Honeymoon Rivals

17| Lost

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Lost

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Chapter 17: Lost (Poppy's POV)

The entire time we spent at the museum, we never found Valerie and Jamieson. I got a text from him about ten minutes after we arrived that they had as well but they were having trouble getting tickets to get in. About twenty minutes after that, he told me they finally made it but had no idea where to start with the photography. 

As we left the museum, I messaged him, asking where they were and currently, we were still waiting for his reply. Josh and I stood in silence, taking a look around while I tapped my phone on my hand consistently. I took a peek at him, noticing his full-sleeve black v-neck with the black pants. He sure wore a lot of black. 

"Stop staring at me, Poppy," he said without even looking at me. 

"I'm just..." 

He turned to me, eyebrows raised. "Sure. What do you have to say now?" he smirked. "That I'm handsome?"

"I just... keep running out of excuses," I muttered under my breath, looking away from him. I was saved by the chime of my phone when Jamieson replied. I frowned, staring at the screen. 

More time alone with Josh. Great. 

"What did he say?" Josh asked, suddenly grabbing my arm and pulling me closer to him. 

When I looked up, I realized a man had been walking this way without looking and would have bumped into me had he not pulled me out of the way. My eyes dropped to his hold on my arm before he pulled away. I cleared my throat, "Um. He said they'll still be there for a while. So, he said we should head over for lunch and just tell them which restaurant we'll be at. They'll come there." 

He paused for a beat. "Are you serious? We can't just wait for them?" 

"I guess not, he's saying they'll take a lot of time. We can go back to the hotel if you want," I replied a bit half-heartedly. We were in New Orleans, just because we weren't the best of friends and didn't get along, we didn't have to make the whole trip so dull. 

"No, let's grab lunch." 

I blinked in surprise. I genuinely expected him to say we should just go to the hotel. "Really?" 

He looked down at me. "Why are you so surprised that I agreed to have lunch with you? We've had lunch together before, Poppy. Dinner too." 

"No, I know. I just..." 

He rolled his eyes and started walking towards the exit. 

I took quick steps and caught up to him. "I was expecting you to say no," I admitted. 

"Why?" he asked without glancing at me. 

"I don't know," I shrugged, "I figured you'd want to spend as little time with me as possible. That's what you said when we were told we'd be working together now."