Black & White (Colorful Sequel | H.S)|✔️

35

E l l i e

"Thank you so much for doing this again," Laine repeats as he leans on the door frame. I stare at him from the reflection of my mirror and smile. My hoops dangle as I clip them into my pierced ears. My makeup is as good as I can make it without the help of Daff. I'm dressed in a dress that's a little skimpier than I'd normally wear, but it's the nicest thing I have that doesn't scream 'I'm here for work'.

I look good enough.

"Seriously," he says as he pushes himself up and stands behind me. He stares at me in the mirror with an adoring smile. "This means so much to me."

"Of course, Laine. I just don't understand why I have to come to dinner with your boss?"

Yes, Laine got the job! I'm beyond proud of him. And happy that he's finally going to start paying rent, of course.

"Because he's incredibly gorgeous but I'm pretty sure he's not gay and I don't want to make a fool of myself," he sheepishly admits, putting his hands on my shoulders. I put mine on top of him and silently let him know it's okay. "I'm just nervous. Besides, I doubt he'd be upset with another pretty face at the table."

"Are you talking about me or you?"

"I would say me but I don't want to put more money in The Jar," he grins before turning serious. "You look hot though. Don't hesitate to flirt with him tonight."

"What, so you can get a raise?" I joke.

He shrugs, pretending to consider it. "That would be a bonus."

I giggle as I smack his arm. "Alright, Romeo. Let's get out of here." He grabs my arm and we link them as we make our way downstairs.

Laine's dressed to impress. He went for a black tie look this time around. He says it's better to overdress than underdress, and I have to agree. Worst case scenario, we're overdressed together.

We decide to drive to the restaurant considering we look too good to sweat off our looks. Not to mention it's supposedly a high class place. I drive while Laine sits shotgun. He looks nervous as is and I don't want to die in an accident tonight.

His leg bounces the entire drive. I decide to distract him a little. "So, what's your company do anyway?" I'll be honest, I have no idea what his job is, except being an accountant.

"Everything," he laughs a little. "Mostly focus on construction but we dabble in other things like real estate. My boss is insanely rich so he likes to take risks."

"So is everyone else in California," I joke. He hums in agreement but his leg keeps anxiously bouncing. "Tell me about him."

He sits up straighter. I can tell his mind is already drawing up a million things to say, which is good. He needs the distraction.

The entire ride there, he goes on and on about his supposedly gorgeous boss. He talks about how young he is to be the owner of a company, but also how nice he seems. He focuses more on physical looks, which is normal. I bet it's rare for someone to actually come face to face with a CEO when they're working a desk job - especially someone who's supposedly super important and busy.

"... so he's having this dinner because apparently he wants to get to know his employees better. Something about his dad being a tyrant or something," Laine finishes off.

I smile at his still leg. "Well, you're lucky you were just hired then."

"Yeah," he hums in agreement as we pull into the restaurant. It's super duper fancy so they only have valet parking. I reluctantly hand the man my keys as I step out of the car. I hate the idea of having someone park your car for you. I'm fully capable of doing it myself, thank you.