Just Friends: The Sequel.

Part II: Chapter Seven.

 After a month of staying at Casey's I feel like I'm starting to get back to myself. Well, as much as I know myself that is. Justin and I still talk at least once a day whether he calls me or I call him. A part of me still holds onto him because he seems to be the only part of my past that I can't truly remember. I feel like I'm less stressed though, and I also feel like there's a lot less pressure on me because Justin and I aren't a thing. We're friends, but that's all I really want to be with him. Just friends.

"Reina," Carter steps into my office and closes the door behind him, a manilla envelope in hand. "I really enjoyed the manuscript you forwarded to me. You've got a great taste in novels."

"That's great to hear." I smile, still embarrassed from our encounter a few weeks ago. I haven't been able to talk to him much since then.

"Yeah," He smiles back, leaning against the door like he always tends to do. "Is that a new dress?"

Now my cheeks feel like they're on fire because he definitely pays attention to what I wear. This is a new dress, in fact I bought it the other day with Casey on our trip to the mall. I needed new outfits for work, and we had found this in one of those really fancy stores that I can't remember the name of. It's a plum colored bodycon dress with a gold zipper that starts at the neck and continues all the way down before it stops at the bottom of my spine. I loved it on, and I guess Carter enjoys it too.

"It is," I say. "Thank you for noticing."

"Kind of hard not to," He shrugs, opening up the door again. "You're beautiful, Reina."

When the door closes I have no idea what to do. I don't know what this feeling is going on inside of my stomach right now. It's like a ton of little butterflies are going off all at once and I can't seem to stop them. All I can do is smile so hard that I bite my lip to try and stop it but it's no use. I can't think about Carter all day, or what his comment meant, so instead I throw myself into my work to try and finish.

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It's ten at night when I'm finally done reading the last manuscript. I'm completely drained, and all my body wants to do is sleep. I'm digging around in my purse for the keys to lock my office up until I see a light on in Carter's office. He immediately looks up once he notices that someone else is still here other than him.

"Working late?" I ask.

"Unfortunately." He sighs, taking a sip of what I'm assuming to be coffee. "Lots of emails to be sent, lots of manuscripts to be edited, lots of everything to be done. You know?"
"Trust me, I know." I giggle, inching towards his office. He waves me in and directs me to sit down next to him in a chair, which I do. There's a thermos on his desk, and he takes a plastic cup from behind him and pours me a cup of coffee.

"Drink it." He smirks. "We both need it."

Doing a fake toast, he clinks his cup with mine and we both take a sip. There's papers all over his desk. He looks extremely stressed out and tired, the bags under his eyes slightly evident. I suppose that's because I'm analyzing every inch of his face right now, but it's kind of hard to ignore. He looks so sexy with his suit on. When he brings his hand up to loosen his tie to take it off, I take a large gulp.

"So I heard some employees talking about some sort of accident you were in a few months ago?" He asks. The look on my face must tell him that what he just asked bothered me because he clears his throat and says, "I mean, you don't have to tell me. Just figured I'd ask."

"It's okay," I say quietly. "Um, yeah. I was in a car accident and I lost my memory for a bit. I don't remember the last two years or so."

"Wow," He responds. "I can't imagine. That must be really hard to deal with."