Page 28 of September (New Orleans #9)

“I cannot believe you had them sing their stupid birthday song to me. It’s not my birthday,” she said as they walked out of the seafood restaurant Gwen had suggested.

“The look on your face when they brought out the cake with a sparkler in it and started singing…” Gwen pointed out, laughing harder than Juliet had ever heard her laugh. “I got the whole thing on video, thank God. Now, I’ll need all of your social media accounts so that I can tag you.”

“Oh, no way,” she replied, taking Gwen’s free hand, the one that wasn’t still holding on to her phone. “No!” she added and laughed as Gwen pressed play on the video. “Not again. You’ve already watched it twice.”

“Three times. I watched it again when you went to the bathroom.”

“You’re the worst,” Juliet said as she continued laughing. “I’ll have to find a way to get you back.”

“I don’t think you can. This was the absolute best. No prank can top your total confusion mixed with fear and then embarrassment.

Seriously, I’m tempted to print out a still shot from this and frame it.

I’ll just put it up on the wall behind my TV so that I can look at it all the time and laugh, and when people come over to hang out and ask why I have this weird photo hanging up, I’ll tell them the story and show them the video. ”

Gwen was still laughing, so Juliet took the phone out of her hand and tucked it into the pocket of her own jeans before she turned Gwen toward herself and cupped her cheek.

“Shut up,” she said seriously but softly.

She leaned in for a kiss, and when their lips connected, Gwen’s hands moved to her waist and pulled Juliet in.

Juliet wrapped her own around Gwen’s neck and slid into her hair, but she nearly knocked off the borrowed hat that Gwen was still wearing, so she lowered her hands back to Gwen’s neck as their lips danced together for the first time.

She moaned a little when Gwen’s tongue slipped into her mouth and deepened the kiss.

Juliet didn’t care that they were in the parking lot of a seafood restaurant that had zydeco music playing loudly behind them.

She kissed Gwen deeply and ran her hands over her back as Gwen did the same to her.

When the loud song playing from the outdoor speakers ended and they naturally pulled apart, they stared at one another for a minute before Juliet ran her thumb over Gwen’s lower lip, pulled Gwen’s phone out of her pocket, and handed it to her.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Uh… Yeah,” Gwen replied, looking a little out of it.

Juliet smiled at her and took Gwen’s hand again, walking them to her car, where she opened the door for her date to be extra chivalrous. She took Gwen’s hand back once they hit the road, and they drove in relative silence to Gwen’s place, where Juliet parked and waited to see what Gwen would do.

“So… You can come up,” Gwen told her. “If you want. I have coffee. Well, you already know that. Wait… Maybe you can’t. Carly.”

Gwen turned to her.

“Molly wanted to spend some time with her, and I told her that I was going out with you, so she took her for me.”

“You just got home. You should be with her.”

“Gwen?”

“Yeah?”

“Molly needed the emotional support, and Carly loves the attention, so it all worked out. I can go pick up my dog now and take her home, or I can come upstairs with you. We can make coffee together and not talk about my dog, which was your request.”

Gwen smiled and said, “Right. Yeah. Sorry. I think I got nervous all of a sudden.”

“Do you want me to go?”

“No, I want you to stay,” Gwen replied, taking Juliet’s hand. “I mean, stay , Jules.”

“Stay over?”

“Yeah, if you want,” Gwen said. “We could just sleep. I know it’s only our first date, but I feel like we’ve been on, like, seven dates already since we’ve talked so much.”

“And you only want to sleep if we’re on our seventh date?” Juliet teased.

“I’d like to curl up on the sofa with you and watch something or talk for a while. Then, if you want, we can go to bed. It’s an office day for you tomorrow, so you don’t have to be up super early, do you?”

“I’m usually in the office by nine,” she said.

“Could you stay tonight?”

Juliet nodded and replied, “I’d love to.”

They made their way up to Gwen’s apartment, and when they got inside, Gwen removed her hat and placed it on the kitchen table. Juliet took hers off, too, and placed it next to Gwen’s.

“Shame. I really liked that look on you,” Gwen said with a lifted eyebrow aimed at her.

“The hat?”

“The total tomboy look about you when you wear it backward like that. Like, I expect you to be wearing a sports bra under that shirt, and I love that sweater tied around your waist, too.” Gwen then pulled on her sweater until Juliet was inches away. “I can do this with it.”

“I can wear the hat for the rest of the night, if you want. And I am wearing a sports bra under this shirt.”

“What? Really?”

Juliet pulled back and lifted her shirt, revealing a white sports bra and hard nipples beneath.

“Jesus,” Gwen said, taking a step back and running into a chair. “You’re trying to kill me.”

Juliet laughed and let her shirt fall back into place.

“Honestly, I was just out of clean bras, but I had this one in my drawer, so I threw it on and went with the super casual because it justified the sports bra.”

“You don’t need to justify a sports bra to me.”

“No?” Juliet ran her hands through Gwen’s hair. “And you don’t need to do anything with this hair for me. I love it when it’s all the way down and a little messy and when you have it pulled back, too.”

“You do?”

Juliet nodded and said, “I also loved kissing you earlier.”

“Oh, I loved that, too,” Gwen replied.

“So, maybe we make that coffee and do that a little more instead of talking or watching something?”

“Can we skip the coffee, too?” Gwen asked.

◆◆◆

“And you didn’t sleep with her?” Molly asked.

“Molls!” Juliet whisper-yelled before she looked around the cubicles. “Hey, George. Good day so far?” she said when she saw George, who sat diagonally from her, staring at them.

“Yes,” he said, returning his attention to his computer.

“Sorry,” Molly whispered as she leaned over her desk. “But you didn’t?”

“No, I didn’t. It was our first date.”

“I just assumed when you asked me to take Carly for the night that it was because you were finally going to, you know, do it with her.”

“Finally? It’s been days.”

“It’s been days of you talking about her non-stop and texting me that she’s cute or sweet or great with Carly. You told me you talk to her for hours.”

“We have talked for hours, and we did that last night, too.”

“Last night, you had her in person, Jules. FaceTime is FaceTime, but you had the girl right in front of you. Did you at least kiss her before you went to sleep and probably spooned her all sweetly instead of jumping her bones?”

“Did you just say ‘jumping her bones?’ Really?”

“Whose bones?” Finley asked, approaching their cubes.

“Oh. Hey, Finley,” Juliet said. “No one’s bones.”

“So, no one is jumping anyone’s bones? Bummer,” Finley said.

“Yeah, sad,” Molly replied as she looked down at her shoes.

“Did you need something?” Juliet asked.

“Yeah, actually. I just hooked up the new printer, so you will need to add it to your computers before you print again. Just wanted to let you know since I was already here.”

“We got a new printer?” Juliet asked.

“Yes. The other one crapped out on me last week. I tried to fix her, but she was on her last legs. We gave her a funeral in the parking lot before the junk people came and took her away.”

“You did not,” Molly said, laughing.

“Well, I waved goodbye, at least. The old girl has been here since the beginning, so it was a sad day, but the new one is a kick-ass, state-of-the-art machine and can do everything you need, including making you a sandwich, I think. I haven’t tried that one yet, though.”

“Can we try now? I’m starving,” Juliet said.

“Want to go grab something with me?” Finley asked. “I’m on my lunch break.”

“Molls?” Juliet asked.

“Uh…” Molly glanced at the calendar on her screen. “Sure. I have an hour. Can we make it fast?”

“Sure. I only have an hour, too,” Finley replied with a smile.

“Oh, shoot,” Juliet said, pretending to look at her own schedule now. “I can’t go, after all. I’ve got a meeting in ten minutes.”

“You do, do you?” Molly glared at her.

“Yes. Sorry. Can you two go and grab something for me?”

“Liver and onions?” Molly joked, but the glare she was still giving Juliet told her that if the restaurant they ended up at served liver and onions, Molly would bring that back for her.

“Just whatever,” Juliet said. “I’m not picky.”

“Cool. Ready?” Finley asked.

“Is India going to come with us?” Molly asked, standing up.

“No, she’s in meetings all day.”

“Okay. Well, wherever you want to go is fine with me, then,” Molly said and glared at Juliet once more. “This conversation isn’t over, Juliet.”

“Can’t wait,” Juliet replied with a smile as they walked away.

Since she didn’t actually have a meeting in ten minutes, she went to the kitchen and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl they stocked daily.

That would hold her over until Molly came back with whatever food she’d gotten for her, assuming it was something Juliet would actually eat.

She knew she probably shouldn’t have suggested Molly go out with Finley alone, and she wasn’t ever going to encourage Finley to cheat on her girlfriend with anyone, especially Molly, who was the sweetest, but there was just something about Finley’s relationship with India that made her feel like it wasn’t meant to last. She wanted Finley to get to know Molly and hoped Molly would actually give Finley a chance to really see her because if it didn’t work out with India, Juliet hoped Finley would wise up to how great Molly was.