I'm So Into You

Extra Mint

Brett looked up and met a disarming pair of the warmest brown eyes she thought had ever seen. After being caught off guard, it took her a second to take all of him in. It wasn't just his attentive eyes, the warmth of his palms, the width of his shoulders, and the dusting of a black goatee that drew her eyes to his strong chin that she noticed right away. His easy, genuine smile and his smell — somehow both clean and smoky, like tobacco mixed with just a hint vanilla —put her at ease and made her heart race, almost imperceptibly.

She'd normally have known exactly what her subject looked like and also probably most of the major details of their life, spending time to do diligent research and showing up to the interview with a copious amount of notes. Not only was she not prepared to get his life story, she was also visibly unprepared for how good-looking he was and needed to pull herself together. She stood up to greet him and put her hand out to shake the hand of his that was not currently on her shoulder. The touch electrified her entire body and made her present in the moment. She squeezed her eyelids together tightly and gave her head a tiny shake, summoning all of the professionalism she could muster.

"Hey Josiah, I'm Brett. Thanks so much for meeting up with me here," she said, nervously smoothing her curls.

"I know you had a game last night and you're still settling into the city, so I really appreciate you taking the time! What part of the city do they have you staying in?" she asked, sliding into the plush teal velvet of the booth and motioning for him to do the same. Professional Brett had finally decided to show up and she could feel herself slipping into the ease of her interviewer persona.

"I'm in the Upper West Side at one of the team's apartments right now, so it wasn't too hard for me to get here," Josiah said, pushing up the sleeves of his suit jacket.

"I've heard about this place from a lot of the guys, actually, so I was excited you picked this spot. I heard they treat their vegetables right," he said, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Oh, they definitely do. The brick-grilled carrots are absolutely beyond and you have to get the blood orange-glazed beets with pistachios. They're a personal favorite. Wait, are you vegetarian?"

"Well, not fully. During the season I eat plant-based as much as I can, I have a vegan chef and all that," he said, relaxing enough that his "press voice" started to wear off and his Long Island accent starts to poke through.

"Shit, I'm not recording," Brett said, fumbling in her bag for her recorder. "Sorry, I have been having a hectic couple of days and was trying to make sure my phone wasn't going to be going off during our chat. My life is usually much more together than this. Let me get that going and let's get the vegan chef thing on the record."

"Oh, I know about your past few days, I've done my research on you," Josiah said, lifting his eyebrows.

As Brett felt around in her bag for the recorder, he noticed her honey brown curls catch the light and her constellation of tiny gold earrings sparkle in the sun. When she heard him say he'd done his research on her, her cheeks flushed and she looked up and locked eyes with him. The way she gazed up at him with her big doe eyes, made him realize he'd thrown her and she was totally taken aback by his statement.

When she stood up to greet him, he had noticed her limited edition Off-White Nikes and her satin bomber jacket that did nothing to conceal the way the tank dress underneath skimmed her body, hugging every single curve underneath. He knew from a cursory Google that she was primarily a politics writer and cultural critic who had tweeted snarkily about "sportsball" — showing herself not to be a sports fan at all. That was just the way he liked his interviewers, actually, not just throwing stats and game highlights at him. He wondered if she tried to dress a little sportier to interview 'The Basketball Player'. Seeing her looking vulnerable and even a bit shy made his heart twinge a little bit, instinctively wanting to put her at ease.

"Take it easy, do what you need to do, and I'll go on the record with whatever you want when you're ready. Well, almost anything."

They both laughed and their shoulders dropped, the tension brought on by mention of Brett's professional life was cut. Josiah caught the server's eye, bringing him over to their table.

"Their housemade herbal teas here are amazing," Brett said. "We should definitely order a pot, if you're into that?"

"Definitely," Josiah grinned. "You're the boss"

"We'll get a pot of the lavender lemon mint. With extra fresh mint, please?"

The server nodded affirmatively and turned to walk away. "Excuse me!" Josiah called after the server, his voice somehow both commandingly and feather soft at the same time. "Make sure my girl gets her extra mint. She gets whatever she wants, okay?"

Brett's heart raced hearing the words "my girl" tumble out of his mouth. Maybe it was just the feeling of having someone willing to stick up for her over something trivial, like extra mint, or maybe it was the way the corners of his eyes crinkled as he turned back to her, sliding his palms off of the table and leaning back.

"Your recorder ready? Let's get back to this little talk of ours."