Caught in the rain... {Juciy x female reader}

7. ᴄᴏɴꜱɪᴅᴇʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ

I woke up on a couch, with my head throbbing. I squinted to try and decipher the area around me, everything was just blurry. I heard a coffee pot brewing in a neighboring room. The aroma of the warm beverage was all that was made available to me. It wasn't apparent to me that I had spent the night at Gaege's, until he walked through into the living room with a cup of the drink I was smelling, and a cup of water.
     "Hey how'd you sleep?" He asked me. It took me a minute to answer.
     "I don't really remember..." I managed to mutter out. I could see he smiled a bit.
     "Well you were hammered, I couldn't let you drive." I sat up to look at him, holding my head.   He handed me the glass of water, and sat down next to me. I took a sip.
     "You know... you're so considerate." I complimented him, and bring the glass of water to my lips once again.
     "Well I feel it's just human decency." He said to me. "You can stay as long as you'd like, I don't have much to do today."
     I thought for a moment, then remembered my painting.
     "I've gotta go home get some work done."
     "Oh yeah you've finished your painting right?" He took a sip of his coffee.
      "Yeah I did, I'm waiting for responses, but I'm hoping that one goes through." I stand up and pick up my keys from his coffee table. As much as I really wanted to stay, I've got to get my dream in order. He stood up with me.
     "Okay, just know you're always welcome, I think it's safe to say we're friends?"
     Yeah.. friends.
     "I think that's a safe assumption," I smiled to him. He smiled back, averting his gaze.
      I walked out to my little black car, with Gaege following shortly behind me. I opened the door and got into the drivers seat, starting it. The radio started blaring, hurting my eardrums. I shuffled quickly to turn it off, raising the tips of my fingers to my temple and taking a breather. Gaege walked up to my car.
     "When you get home, take it easy please." He asked.
     "I will, no worries. Talk to you soon?"
     "Yeah, talk to you soon." He stepped away from the car, shutting my door for me. He walked backwards towards his house, waving goodbye to me as I backed out of the driveway. Before I started driving off, I watched him walk to his front door, with his head in his hands, as if he was regretting something, or contemplating something. I hope he's okay.

༺♱༻

As soon as I got home I'd figure I'd actually take it easy. I set my keys and phone on the counter, and went to my medicine cabinet to take some aspirin. I filled a cup with water and took the pills. My headache didn't instantly go away, but the illusion helps. Before I did anything I went to go check my computer for emails from art galleries. Nothing. I would be lying if I had said that I didn't feel a little discouraged, but there's still time. No rejection emails yet. I logged off and went straight to my bed to lay down. After last night, it was like laying in a cloud. I drifted right off to sleep.

     I was woken up by my phone, someone was calling me. Surprise, surprise, it was Gaege. My heart started to race, and I started to panic. I picked up drearily and hesitantly.
     "Hey is everything okay?" I asked with a worried tone. 
     "Yeah everything is fine, I was just calling to see how you were with your hangover and all." I almost swoon at his consideration.
     "That's sweet of you, I still have a headache but I took a little bit of a nap and it calmed down." I answered.
     "Well that's good, sorry to wake you up."
     "No no you're okay, I should be awake anyway."
     "Well Ive got an idea to pitch to you."
     "Shoot."
     "How about if you're up for it, me and you go to lunch tomorrow afternoon, just a friendly outing before I work."
     "Work as in YouTube work?" I smile through the phone.
     "Yes YouTube work." He laughs through his sentence.
     "That sounds interesting. Yeah I'm down to go." Lunch with Gaege sounded very appealing.
     "Great, I'll text you a place and time."
     "Okay cool, I'll see you then."
     "Sounds good, talk to you later then, bye."
     "Bye." I smiled and hung up. I sat up in my bed clutching my phone like an excited fan girl. Was this practically a date? I'm pretty sure we're just friends. I sat there for a minute gathering my thoughts. Then, I heard a ding noise from my computer. I went over to check what it was, and I had gotten an email from one of the galleries I emailed a couple days ago. I read it and my excitement grew. The email said that they were interested in my work, and are willing to view my latest painting tomorrow night. I nearly fell out of my chair from jumping up and down in it. I finally get a chance at my dream. I run to my studio to pack up my painting for a little trip tomorrow night. So many possibilities raced through my head, and all I thought about was Gaege's reaction to the good news. Finally.

༺♱༻

The next day I had tried to call off of work, but they're apparently understaffed so I need to go in. The latest I'm allowed to leave is around nine. They wanted me at the gallery at 10, so if I hurry I can make it. The place was only a 30 minute drive from my house, so it's an acceptable use of my gas.
       I had been getting ready for lunch with Gaege. I was supposed to meet him at this cafe he likes to go to. I was getting together my cross body bag, and getting together my outfit. I want to be well dressed, I want to impress him. I finally got everything together, and started out the door with my car keys. When I turned the key in the ignition I flashed a worried look at my dashboard, it didn't sound right. It started up, but something just seemed wrong. I shrugged it off as me just being paranoid and headed on my way to the cafe.
      The entire way there, by each mile, I felt more nervous than the previous mile. I was nervous see him. I have never really thought about actually having feelings for Gaege, I had only thought that it was attraction. But now I was deeply considering it. Being nervous to only lay my eyes upon him only proved myself further. Then I saw him. He was sitting outside at a patio table waiting for me. He saw me pull up and get out of the car. He met me half way.
     "Hey, great to see you!" He said to me, instantly making me smile.
     "Great to see you too, I've got some great news!" I exclaimed.
     "Here one sec," he lead me over to his table with two menus, he was waiting for me to order. As soon as we sat down a waitress came over to us, asking us what we'd like to order. We both had ordered coffees. He ordered a sandwich, and I ordered a salad. Then the waitress had left. She soon had come back with our drinks, and informed us that our food was being made. We gave her a nod and a smile as she went away. He took a sip of his coffee.
     "So what's this great news?" He asked. I smiled, and stopped for a dramatic pause before telling him.
     "I got an email from an art gallery, and they want to see my work tonight!"
     "Holy shit y/n that's great! Tonight?"
     "Yeah tonight! Around 9 I think."
     "Wait are you sure you wanna go out tonight? It's supposed to storm."
     "I mean, everyone drives in the rain, I'm sure it'll be fine." 
     "If you're comfortable with it sure, I'm proud of you." He smiled at me. I felt like he also knew I was finally achieving my dream.
      "I've also got some news," he said to me. I leaned forward, intrigued.
      "Yeah?"
      "Yep. Turns out my buddy Josh is in love with this girl." My face lit up. I knew exactly who he was talking about.
     "Ashley?" I sounded excited.
     "Yes Ashley," he smiled. "I'm happy for him, but he's too nervous to even ask her out."
     "Well Ashley is a straight forward woman, I'm sure it'll happen one way or another."
      "You think so?"
      "Oh I know so." I took a sip of my coffee. She's only been my friend since forever.
      "Maybe if we nudge them in the right direction... we can speed up the process." Gaege mentioned.
      "You want to help them get together? Is this highschool?" I joked. He laughed.
      "Nothing huge like a date or anything, maybe like another group hangout. I've never seen him like this before, I just want to help him out."
      "A hang out at my place could work, just me, you, Josh, and Ashley again, like that one time." He knows damn well what time I'm talking about. I'm not sure about him but I knew I wanted to kiss him in front of that window. He took a nervous sip of his coffee when I had said the words "like that one time".
     "That could work."
     "Sometime next week then?" I smiled.
     "Yeah that works out for me, just as long as I don't have any plans."
     "Well yeah." He smiled.
     I knew very well that there was a possibility I could be in love with this man.