Chapter 72

“OK,” you said once the three of you were in the elevator. “Gemma, hi,” you kissed her again. “Sabrina, hello,” you kissed her again as well. “And now, I think we really, really need to re-review Rule 6 and stick to it.”

“I agree,” Gemma said. “Even if I don’t want to in the moment, we can’t have another day like yesterday.”

Sabrina sighed. “Fine, fine. It’s important, I know. We need to stay on task. No distractions.”

“Even by text,” you said.

“What?” Sabrina gasped, faking shock. “You think I would try and circumvent the rules like that?”

“You already have a queue of photos you were planning on sending him today, don’t you?” Gemma asked.

“I wouldn’t call it a queue, it’s just one or two.”

You rolled your eyes. “And what were you going to do after work when we weren’t going to meet up?”

The elevator dinged, reaching the office floor, and opened for you. You had remembered to press the button this time rather than getting caught in the elevator just sitting and talking.

“Film some content,” Sabrina said quietly. “The Fans are really taking to this whole DD thing. Half of the messages I get are asking who you are, and a bunch more are just asking for more.”

You sighed. “OK. I think O.F. conversation is off the table at work too. For safety.”

“Fi-ine,” Sabrina sighed.

The three of you went to the intern office, and Sabrina went off with Gemma to help deliver the coffees around the office while you got settled in.

The work day seemed to crawl by. As usual, Eric was only slightly obnoxious and generally spent more time on his phone browsing dating apps than he did working. You were pretty sure he was juggling three of four of them at this point. Andy fulfilled his requisite number of almost-falling-asleeps.

By the time lunch came around, you were antsy. You and Gemma and Sabrina hadn’t had your usual level of banter going on. Gemma hadn’t teased you once, and Sabrina was trying to bury herself in her work. You decided that if the three of you continued like this you might just explode and do something stupid, so you dipped out over lunch telling the girls (and guys, though they were less curious) that you needed to run a quick errand. Instead of just going into the bodega outside the office building, you jogged down the street and around the corner to the pharmacy.

You were back before the others, who were taking their time in the bodega, and quickly scribbled out the notes you wanted and slid your little gifts under the screens of Gemma and Sabrina’s closed laptops. When the four of them returned to the office, the guys didn’t question you but both of your girls gave you questioning looks as they saw you just had a couple of protein bars and a Gatorade for lunch.

Gemma was the first one to find her card, opening her laptop as she sat down to eat the salad she’d purchased. She cocked her head and smiled at you with a question in her eyes, and she opened the envelope and quickly looked at the front and opened it. Her smile grew as she read the note, and she barked a laugh which drew the attention of the others.

“What was that?” Eric asked, his face already half-stuffed with the sandwich he’d purchased.

“Nothing, nothing,” Gemma shook her head. “I just got a really good note, that’s all.”

Sabrina was curious and craned her neck to look at Gemma’s lap, where she noticed the envelope. She looked to you, but you played dumb and didn’t meet her eyes, just drumming the top of your laptop absently with your fingers as the only clue.

“What kind of note?” Eric pressed on with Gemma. “Wait, are you on Hinge? Or Bumble? Because they seem dead today but I don’t know if it’s just me and I need to update or something.”