Secrets & Lies

Good Starts to Friendships| 29

"Girl the media is low key tearing you up!" Kayla screeched as soon as I answered the phone. "Hi Kayla. I'm great thanks for asking, how are you?"

"Sorry hi. The media is tearing you up, but kinda in a good way."

"Fuck the press. Tired of these fuckers trying to reach for stuff to publish. Goddamn." I grumbled.

I was once again in the media because of Sebastian. They were talking about me because of the Auction and someone took pictures of us as we were leaving. "They're calling you a mystery women and beautiful. But they also want to know how you were with both Sebastian and Javier. How all that drama played out. Those events aren't making you look good."

"Okay, publicist, what should I do?" I asked sarcastically. "Have Sebastian clear up the mess."

"How?"

"He's rich and well known. He does interviews. If you come up tell him to tell the truth about what happened and yall relationship or lack thereof and it'll all blow over soon enough." She shrugged. It wasn't a terrible idea. But for some reason I sensed that it would do more harm than good.

"Well he does have an interview with someone from Entrepreneur magazine."

"Alright. Well brief him in case you or what happened does come up. Even if it's not that kind of magazine, journalists still like to get details. If they don't use it in their own stuff they certainly will sell it." She said. "You're right. I guess your journalism and public relations study paid off."

"It really didn't I just know when to apply it." She laughed. I giggled and shook my head as I stood up from my chair. "I gotta go and do my job. I'm about to go on my lunch break. I'll call you back in a little bit."

"Aight, don't forget cause I need to know how your lunch date goes."

"It's not a date." I grumbled. She laughed before hanging up. I was supposed to be going out to lunch with Javier today. I finally had a little free time for it, so I called him this morning and he agreed.

I headed into Sebastian's office and dropped some files on his desk. "Can I help you with something else?" He asked with a bored expression when he realized I'd remained where I stood.

"Um, in case that interviewer from Entrepreneur asks any questions pertaining to me or our nonexistent relationship, can you please be very transparent. I'm tired of all the crap these articles are giving me."

"What exactly would you like me to say?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair. "Something along the lines of, "she's just my assistant and friend, I was looking out for her". I don't know, just make it as boring as possible and make sure people understand that nothing is going on between us please."

"...Would it be so bad if there was?" He smirked. I let out a little laugh and replied, "In your dreams and my nightmares, Romano."

***
After lunch, I returned to the office with Sebastian's food and chipper attitude. Javier seemed to be a bit happier then when I'd last sat down and spoken to him. It was nice to see. I was genuinely looking for to friendship.

The remaining five hours of my shift went by quickly, but I was working on editing an assignment for Sebastian and I planned on staying until I was finished. It was already 6pm but I didn't have anything else to tend to which is why I decided to stay.

When I got about 75% of the way through, there was a knock at my door. "Yeah!"

Sebastian poked his head in before stepping all the way inside holding two paper bags. "I got dinner."

I stopped typing and turned my attention to him. That was sweet of him. "Thanks. What'd you get?"

"Marsala from that organic place you like on Bleecker." He shrugged as he placed one of the brown bags on the desk.

"Ooh."

I pushed myself away from my desk and pulled my heels off while walking towards the couch. "You wanna stay?" I asked. "If you'll have me." He smiled.

I returned the gesture and waved him over. He and I ate and chatted a bit. We laughed more than anything. I was starting to see more and more of his sense of humor lately and I will admit that it was enlightening. I felt like I'd actually be enjoying the job I was technically forced to keep a lot more.