Melanie made a face, probably coming to the same conclusion as me. She was a smart girl. “Well, if you write anything like you cook, he wouldn’t be able to turn you down.”
She was good for my ego. “What about you?” I asked, feeling uncomfortable with all the talk being focused on me.
“What about me?”
“What are your grand plans for life after Leading Lady?” Pink spread across her cheeks again; she didn’t like to be the center of attention either. She seemed to be weighing whether or not to answer me. I hoped she did.
“I design clothes,” she finally answered. “I want to have my own fashion line.”
8
Melanie
I let the words linger in the air between us. Usually when I told guys my career aspirations, they thought it was a joke…or they made a joke out of it. I wasn’t sure why being a fashion designer seemed so silly to some people. It was a perfectly respectable career, look at Donna Karan or Alexander McQueen. Or Marc Jacobs or Tom Ford or Karl Lagerfeld. I didn’t delude myself into thinking I’d reach their level, but nothing was impossible.
I just had to try…
“That’s pretty cool,” Tyler said, and I relaxed. “What kinds of things do you design?”
“Right now, I’m just focusing on women’s clothes. I make some of the things I wear,” I said, gesturing to my outfit. It was another sundress, this one was dark blue with a contrasting dark pink neckline and halter top.
“Wow, you designed that? And sewed it?” He asked, surprised.
“Yep. I’ve probably designed most of the outfits you’ve seen me in.”
“That’s pretty awesome. I’d ask you to make me something, but I don’t know what.”
I laughed. “I’ll see if I can come up with something. I started with women’s clothes because that’s what attracted me to fashion when I was little, plus I could use myself to model it.”
“Well, you do a great job modeling it, Spice.” He was smirking at me, and it made my face heat up. I was probably bright red. That was also not the first time he called me Spice and I wondered why I’d earned the nickname.
“Why do you call me that?”
He looked away, then looked back. “It’s nothing bad, I swear. But can I tell you later?”
“No, now I’m even more intrigued.”
He sighed. “Your name…Melanie…there are two Spice Girls named Melanie.”
“So, you call me Spice because of the Spice Girls?” He nodded, and I could tell he was embarrassed. It was pretty funny, but I wouldn’t laugh at him. “My best friend is getting married and asked me to design and make her wedding dress.” I wasn’t sure why I shared that piece of information with him, but I did. I figured I owed him something after the whole Spice thing...like a subject change…and when I was with him, the words just seemed to flow.
“That’s awesome. I bet it’s difficult though.”
I nodded. “It can be difficult to make a wedding dress. Some designs have such intricate details that need to be hand stitched. Meredith—that’s my friend—she likes simple designs, so her dress won’t be as detailed, but the silk and lace fabrics are so delicate that I have to be careful. Doing something too fast can damage the fabric and cause me to have to restart the whole thing.”
“Wow, sort of makes me appreciate the undo button in Word documents.”
I laughed. “Yeah, it sort of does. I wish I had an undo button sometimes.”
“Make a lot of bad choices?” he asked, and my eyes shot up from my plate to him. He was smiling, making a joke.
“I meant on my designs,” I said, returning his smile. “But it could be cool to have an undo button for life stuff. Nothing major, of course, but for the little things? Like being able to undo sleeping through an alarm or answering the phone.”
“Missing the train,” he suggested.
“Yes! Or burning dinner.”
His eyes narrowed. “Is something burnt?”
“Not at all. Everything is great. What seasoning did you use on the vegetables?”
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” He had a drop-dead serious expression on his face, which made me laugh.
“Ah,” I said. “A trade secret. I completely understand. I’ve got some of those, too.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Secret stitches?”
I laughed. “I suppose. But mostly at the magazine.”
“What’s it like working for Brianna Heatherly? Is she as horrible a boss as Roger?”
I shook my head. “No, not at all. Brianna is a wonderful boss. She’s tough, but that’s why she’s the best. She doesn’t take any crap, and she doesn’t put up with crap either. She’s well respected at the magazine and in the industry.”
“She’s got that advantage over Roger then. I don’t think anyone at the magazine respects him.”
“I’m surprised he still has a job, honestly. Preston Parks doesn’t usually mess around with stuff like that. It’s why Brianna keeps everything so structured at LL.” Tyler looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself. “I’m sorry for bad mouthing your boss…”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, taking a sip of beer. “I can’t stand the guy. You can say anything you want about him.”
“I’d rather talk about something else,” I said, hoping we could talk about something other than work. “I listened to the tape.”
His eyes lit up. “Oh yeah? What did you think?”
I took another sip of my beer. The condensation made my hand wet, and I took my time drying it with a napkin. I was making him sweat and enjoying it.
“It was okay…”
“Just okay?” he asked, leaning back in his seat.
I grinned at him. “Better than okay,” I said. “I really liked it. I’d forgotten about a few of those songs.”
“Ha! I told you.” He said looking all proud of himself.
“Hey, now. I just said I liked the tape. I didn’t say it was better than the eighties.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “We’re not supposed to talk about decades.”
“You’re right, we’re not.” We’d agreed to that after our disastrous lunch date. “But first, do you have Spotify?”
“Yeah,” he said, drawing the word out.
“I made an eighties playlist for you.”
“I guess I’ll check it out since you listened to my tape.”
I made a face at him. “Thanks for your sacrifice.”
“Anytime.” He smirked.
We spent another hour talking about where we went to college, our favorite Manhattan restaurants, and what we liked about the city. It was surprising how much we had in common, and the conversation between us flowed easily. When some other people came up to use the grill, I helped him gather everything up and bring it back down to his apartment where he had cookies and milk for dessert. He seemed almost embarrassed by it, but I thought it was adorable. We sat on the futon—which doubled as his bed—and ate our dessert while having a surprisingly tame debate over which was the better of the two: cheesecake or carrot cake.
“I’d like to walk you home,” he said at the end of the night. We could have continued talking for the rest of the night, I thought, but we both had to work in the morning, and I couldn’t stop yawning.
“That would be really nice,” I agreed.
We only lived a few blocks from each other; we both chose tiny apartments close to our office building since our jobs often demanded so much of our time. For what we were paying for our tiny apartments, we could probably rent something spacious outside of the city, but who wanted to do that? Manhattan was an amazing place to live. He held my hand the entire way home, even in the elevator. I felt like I’d floated home on a cloud, just being with Tyler gave me a natural high. He’d given me a kiss on the cheek when he left me at my apartment after our escape room date, and I was hoping that tonight he’d give me a little more than that. I wasn’t ready to sleep with him, but a good kiss would have b
een a great way to end an amazing night.
We paused outside my apartment door, and I thought about inviting him in, but I didn’t say the words.
“I had a really great time tonight, Melanie.” He stood just inches from me, looking into my eyes.
“Me too,” I said, meeting his gaze. “Thank you for dinner.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it.”
“It was delicious.” Okay, this was getting awkward. Were we just going to exchange pleasantries?
“When can I see you again?”
“Any time you want.”
He smiled.
I smiled.
He leaned in.
I leaned in.
Our lips met.
My body lit up.
I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pressed me against my apartment door. He licked the seam of my lips, and I opened for him. I tasted his mouth, still tasting faintly of beer and something sweet…cookies. He was pulling away before I was ready for him to, taking the warm solidness of his body away from mine.
He rested his head against mine and sighed. “If I don’t leave now, I might never go, and we should both get some sleep tonight.”
The mental imagery I got from the promise of those words…
He was right, though. It had already been closing in on midnight when we’d left his apartment.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” he asked.
“Definitely.”
“Good night, Spice,” he winked. Then he landed a quick peck on my lips and turned away.
“Good night, Tyler.” I let myself into my apartment, closed the door behind me, and leaned against it.
If I wasn’t careful, I was going to fall for that man.
9
Tyler: What are you up to?
Melanie: You know I’m working…
Tyler: Yeah…
Melanie: Are you bored?
Tyler: Yes!! Want to entertain me?
Melanie: Wish I could but Brianna has a deadline.
Tyler: Where is your desk?
Melanie: In front of Brianna’s office??
Tyler: I mean where on the floor. Like when you get off the elevator, where do you go?
Melanie: Straight back, then to the left. Why?
Melanie: Wait! You can’t come here!! The last person whose boyfriend came and visited them at work got fired!
Melanie: And I didn’t say that meaning you are my boyfriend…just that you are my friend, who is a boy, and the semantics won’t matter to Brianna.
Tyler: I don’t want to visit you at work. Jeez, calm down. I was just wondering if our floors were laid out in the same way. I could be on top of you right now.
Melanie: What?
Tyler: That came out wrong.
Tyler: Sorry.
Tyler: So, do you want to be my girlfriend?
Melanie: We’ve only had 2 dates.
Tyler: We’ve had 3 dates, we’re just choosing to discount one of them.
Melanie: Are you seriously asking me to be your girlfriend? Like we’re in high school or something? Do people our age even do that anymore.
Tyler: Sorry, do you want to go steady?
Melanie: …
Tyler: What does that mean?
Tyler: What does … mean?
Tyler: Melanie?
Tyler: Spice…
Melanie: Sorry, Brianna had to speak to me.
Tyler: Did I get you fired?
Melanie: No.
Tyler: Good. Now, look. I don’t know what people our age say to indicate that they want to date someone exclusively. But I want to. Date you, and only you. So what do you say?
Tyler: Wanna feel my shirt? It’s made of boyfriend material. ;)
Melanie: OMG you’re a dork.
Tyler: I can’t believe you just used OMG. I retract my question.
Tyler: Just kidding, I don’t.
Tyler: Date me, please?
Melanie: Yes.
Tyler: Yeah?
Melanie: Yes, I will be your girlfriend.
Melanie: But, for the record, I cannot believe you asked me to be your girlfriend via text.
Tyler: Oh, come on. Give me a break. It’s not like I proposed via text.
Melanie: If you propose to me via text, I’m saying no.
Melanie: Not that you’re going to propose to me.
Melanie: Like ever.
Tyler: You’re adorable.
Tyler: Melanie? Where did you go?
Tyler: Mel?
Melanie: Who is this?
Tyler: Apparently the future Mr… What’s your last name?
Tyler: Mel?
Tyler: Was that too soon?
Tyler: I’m sorry.
Tyler: Can you at least send me a … so I know you don’t completely hate me.
Melanie: …
Tyler: Ah, thank you. I’d hate to break up five seconds after making it official. I didn’t even get a chance to change my relationship status on Facebook yet.
***
Melanie: You never told me! Did you like the playlist?
Tyler: I haven’t listened to it yet.
Melanie: What?
Tyler: Sorry, been busy.
Melanie: You’re such a liar. You told me at lunch yesterday that you counted all the fluorescent lights on your floor.
Tyler: That wasn’t me. That was Pete. Pete counted all the fluorescent lights. He wanted me to help, but I told him I was too busy. You must have misunderstood.
Melanie: …
Tyler: Are we back to that?
Melanie: …
Tyler: At least you’re still texting me.
Tyler: Melanie?
Tyler: Mel?
***
Tyler: I listened to the playlist.
Melanie: Did you like it?
Tyler: Just kidding! Gotcha!
Tyler: Mel?
Tyler: Come on…
Tyler: Fine…
***
Tyler: OK, it wasn’t so bad. The Beastie Boys are cool. They have some decent 90s music, too.
Melanie: So you listened to my eighties playlist and the only thing you got from it was that the Beastie Boys also had songs in the 90s?
Tyler: Journey is cool, too. That song was on Glee.
Melanie: …
Tyler: Some of the chick songs were OK.
Melanie: …
Tyler: This is why we weren’t supposed to talk about this stuff. We talk about music and I get the dots. I don’t want the dots.
Melanie: I gave your stuff a chance, Tyler.
Tyler: *sigh*
Melanie: Really? You are so dramatic.
Tyler: OK. I will do another listen.
Melanie: Thank you. I appreciate that.
Tyler: I’m always willing to compromise. And by compromise, I mean do whatever you tell me to do.
Melanie: What do you want?
Tyler: What do you mean?
Melanie: You’re after something…you don’t do whatever I tell you to do.
Tyler: I do so.
Melanie: No, you don’t. The other night, after we watched Golden Girls, every time you said something to me, you prefaced it with “picture it.”
Tyler: So I’ve adopted Sophia’s style of storytelling, what do you have against her?
Melanie: …
Tyler: Fine. My sister invited us to dinner on Saturday. Will you come?
Melanie: I’d love to. That’s so sweet of her. Can I bring something?
Tyler: Just your beautiful self.
Melanie: *blushing*
Tyler: I like making you blush.
***
Tyler: That Roxette song was in Pretty Woman!
Melanie: Yes, it was.
Tyler: That was a 90s movie.
Melanie: The song was released in the 80s.
Tyler: Were you even alive in the 80s? Shouldn’t you prefer the 90s by default?
Melanie: That’s irrelevant.
Tyler: I think it’s a pretty
good argument.
Tyler: Don’t give me the dots. Please.
Melanie: What do you want to do tonight?
Tyler: Watch TV
Melanie: What should we watch?
Tyler: Does it really matter?
Melanie: Of course it matters. I think we should finish Saved by the Bell.
Tyler: Whatever. We’re just going to end up making out, anyway.
Melanie: Maybe we won’t.
Tyler: What do you mean?
Melanie: Maybe we’ll actually watch the show.
Tyler: Um. My TV is broken.
Melanie: It wasn’t last night.
Tyler: It fell off the wall this morning.
Melanie: …
Tyler: I canceled my Hulu subscription.
Melanie: We can use mine.
Tyler: You don’t have one.
Melanie: I just subscribed. Just now. I downloaded the app and subscribed.
Tyler: You are such a dirty liar.
Melanie: *shrugs*
Tyler: Fine. We can watch Saved by the Bell.
Melanie: Thanks, babe. Way to compromise. ;)
Tyler: Told you…
***
Melanie: Are you sure I can’t bring something to your sister’s house?
Melanie: Dessert or something?
Tyler: No.
Melanie: I can bake something. I make really great oatmeal cookies.
Tyler: Oatmeal doesn’t belong in cookies.
Melanie: Excuse me?
Tyler: Oatmeal cookies would be lovely, but you don’t have an oven.
Melanie: I can use the communal kitchen.
Tyler: Do you have cookie sheets?
Melanie: Well, no. But I have aluminum foil and I can wrap the communal cookie sheet in that.
Tyler: …
Melanie: Don’t you dot me.
Tyler: You don’t get to have all the fun.
Tyler: …
Tyler: …
Tyler: …
Melanie: That’s not the way this works. That’s not the way any of this works.
Melanie: …
Tyler: I’ll see you in 2 hours. Just settle down. Hannah is going to love you. You don’t have to be or bring anything but yourself.
Simply Irresistible: A Totally Sweet Love Story Page 4
