The Design(21)

Later that afternoon, Beatrice dropped an employee handbook onto my desk with a meek smile. When I flipped it open, the dress code section was highlighted in bright yellow. Peter snickered from his desk, but thankfully Mark and Alan were too busy to notice.

Before I left that night—at 8:30 pm, thanks to Alan’s need to ruin my life—I dropped the handbook into a recycling bin and mentally ran through the pants in my wardrobe, trying to think of which one was the most fitted pair. If I had to suffer by looking at Grayson in his tailored suits, he deserved to suffer right along with me.

…



“Open up,” I said, hammering on Brooklyn’s condo door, desperately needing some semblance of normalcy in my life. I hadn’t eaten since 10:00 am since Alan had forced me to work through lunch, so I had plans to raid Brooklyn’s freezer and fill my stomach with Rocky Road ice cream. It’s healthy because of the nuts…

The door swung open to reveal a handsome-as-ever Jason Monroe. Damn. Sometimes I forgot how lucky my sister was. He wasn’t as handsome as Grayson in my opinion, but still, he was worthy of every bit of praise his fans bestowed upon him. I hadn’t seen him in a few days, but considering he was barefoot in my sister’s condo wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt, it seemed like everything was going pretty well between them. Two hot rock stars sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

“Cammie! Hey,” he said, holding the door wide open for me to step inside.

Jason always made a point to be extra nice to me. It probably had to do with the fact that I’d once sent him a poisoned grapefruit in a fruit basket because he’d broken my sister’s heart. It wasn’t one of my classier moments, but the truth is there wasn’t any actual poison, just chocolate laxatives. You don’t mess with my sister and expect to get away with it. Thankfully, he and Brooklyn worked out their problems, which left me with the awkward task of apologizing for “almost killing him”. I mean, c’mon. At the worst he would have had to trade his guitar for a roll of toilet paper for a few days. Big deal.

“Whattup J? Move aside, I’m on an ice cream mission,” I said, stepping past him and heading directly to the kitchen.

“Oh, no that’s okay! Good to see you too, sis,” Brooklyn called from the living room. I held up my hand in a lazy wave and then bent down to pull the freezer drawer open. GOLD. Gold, in the form of a pint sized container of Rocky Road, glistening in the freezer light like a diamond in the frost.

I pulled it out, retrieved a spoon, and headed toward the living room, kicking my shoes off as I went.

Brooklyn was sitting on the couch with her guitar resting on her lap. Jason’s guitar sat abandoned beside her. They must have been working on their album before I rudely barged in. Oh well, too late to leave now. I have a pint of ice cream to get through.

“Sing for me, mon petit fille,” I joked, pulling my feet up under my butt so that I could get into a comfortable position.

She raised a brow in my direction before Jason crossed in front of her, picking up his guitar to join her on the couch. Their fans would have killed to be in my position. I had a front row seat to an acoustic session with the two hottest rock stars in the industry. And all I cared about was ice cream.

It’d taken a while to get used to the fact that my sister was a pop star, but she’d been famous for a few years now. She had been a solo artist for years, but a few months back, her music label had slotted her for a Grammy performance with Jason Monroe—another notorious solo artist.

I knew from the start that they’d end up falling in love (I mean, seriously, their babies would look like stylish hipster angels, with combat boots instead of wings), but it took them a while to figure it out for themselves. Jason was quite the dick in the beginning, but my sister didn’t put up with him. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe she’d have some advice about how to deal with Grayson. Would Grayson come around like Jason had? All signs pointed to no.

I took another bite of ice cream as Jason began to strum on his guitar. I settled in, ready to relax after a long day, but then my phone vibrated in my pocket. Seriously? I reached to check it and saw Hannah’s name flash across the screen. She’d gone out with the other new hires after work. The three of them had walked toward the elevators at 5:05 pm, their laughter impossible to ignore as Alan informed me that I’d be staying late yet again.

I was slightly jealous that they were already bonding, but it wasn’t like I had a choice. Alan was my boss for the time being and I wanted to stay as much on his good side as humanly possible. By the time I left work, the last thing I wanted to do was meet my coworkers at a grungy bar downtown. My feet hurt and my brain hurt. I just wanted to sit on a couch and listen to good music.

I pressed ignore on her call and then watched Brooklyn and Jason play together. They were reworking lyrics they’d just written. Every now and then Brooklyn would tweak a phrase and Jason would scribble it down, adding his own flair. I knew I was taking it for granted, getting to see the two of them collaborating, but to me, it was just a normal night with my sister.

“I’m thinking about quitting my job in architecture to become a pop star like you guys,” I said when they set their guitars down to take a break sometime later.

“I’m not a pop star,” Jason argued, just as Brooklyn spoke up.

“Cammie, you’d hate it. Besides, you sing like a cat that just swallowed peanut butter.”