into his chest to prevent him from making contact with my lips, it took effort to remember I was supposed to be angry at this man. “Anderson?”
“What?”
“I think I should continue to work with Alan.”
“This was all a misunderstanding. Jurnee, you know that we should work together on this project.” He took me into his arms, and there was no desire to fight him.
As we hugged, I asked, “What about after work?”
“We’ll do a lot more of that practice dating.” I closed my eyes and tried to pull away. Anderson held me tightly to his chest. “Actually, no more practicing. Have dinner with me tonight, for real.”
29
Jurnee
Every piece of clothing that I had brought for my month-long adventure in New York was spread out over the two hundred and fifty square foot apartment I was subletting. The sad truth was, even if I had all my clothes from my closet in Michigan to choose from, I’d still have nothing to wear on a date with Anderson Douglas.
Five pairs of pants fanned out with only a couple of inches separating them lay across the pulled-down Murphy table. Thirteen tops in the form of tanks, blouses, t-shirts, and workout tops were sprayed over my full-sized bed arranged by type, again with only a few inches separating them. A bookcase that held baskets filled with the belongings of the Spartan Alum who rented me the place now had four skirts tossed on top.
Jurnee - I have nothing to wear.
Derrick - Who are you, and how did you get into my best friend’s phone.
Jurnee - Date with Anderson
Derrick - Ahhhhhhhhhh
Jurnee - If you aren’t going to help… leave me alone to stress about this on my own.
Jurnee - Seriously! I’m kidding. HELP ME!
The ringing phone was met with a flood of relief and jeans being tossed in the air. Laughter was all I heard. I should be able to charge him for the level of entertainment this situation provided.
“I’m going to hang up.” The laughter on the phone got louder. “Or I’ll just wait until you’re done.”
“I’m almost done. You have to admit, this is hilarious.” His voice was muffled as I slipped my top on over my head.
“No. No, I don’t have to admit anything of the sort.” I removed the top and tossed it back on the bed.
“Jurnee, you’re the least clothes-focused person I’ve ever met. For you to be this worried–” He stopped mid-sentence.
“He’s…” Flopping on the bed, I caught my reflection in the mirror. “What can he possibly see in me?”
“You finally Googled who you’re dating?”
“No. But Soraya and Graham shared the information with me on Sunday after I went over to their house crying about the text Anderson mistakenly sent me.”
“And?”
I close my eyes and push out the words swirling around my brain since I got his text. “Derrick, I’m not good enough for him.”
“Jurnee Joplin Messer! I never want to hear those words come out of your mouth again. And clear them out of your thoughts as well. From where I’m sitting, it looks to me like Anderson Douglas is the lucky one.”
“Because my family is estimated to be worth over ten billion. That’s billion with a B.” I pushed all my hair back off my shoulders. “I can totally see why he would be the lucky one.”
“This is a side of you I’ve never seen.”
“I beg to differ. You’ve seen my insecure side a lot over the tenure of our friendship.” A heavy sigh escaped me.
“Insecure, sure, maybe. But dreadfully stupid is a whole new thing.”
“Remind me why I thought you were my best friend.” I glanced back toward the mirror.
“Because anyone else would let you sit in your dumb thoughts of not good enough, and I won’t. If this was about money, Anderson would be taking someone else out tonight. But he–”
“He could–” I tried to interject, but Derrick wasn’t letting up.
“Anderson is into you, and that is scaring the shit out of you. You’re searching for reasons to make this fail before it even starts because of past hurt. I’m not going to let you sabotage the best thing that has happened to you since I met you. Your fears have nothing to do with his family money, nor your lack of family money. It has to do with you being completely smitten by someone who is equally smitten with you.”
“But–”
“So, put on the soft pink blouse that ties in the back with your black slacks that zip on the side. Then slip on the