Page 71 of Unconventionally, Elle
"Elle, you're worrying me. What's wrong?" he asked quietly.
"Do you know anything about computers? I tried to open my most recent version in Dropbox, and it's gone. My last chapter is nowhere to be found, and I don't know what to do! It's due today. Oh my God!" I threw my hand over my mouth and hunched over, squeezing my stomach. My latte was not sitting well with this influx of anxiety.
He grabbed my arm and patted my back forcefully, murmuring that it would be all right.
"Let me see it." He took my computer and messed with it for what felt like an hour.
"Is this it?" he asked, pulling up a Word document from Recent Projects.
I scrolled all the way to the last page. "The End."
"Yes. Oh my God, John, you did it!" I screeched. "Oh, thank you. Thank you!" I leaned over and gave him a huge kiss on the cheek. His face went bright red, and his hand went right to where my lips had touched his face.
He couldn't speak. He just nodded with an impish grin and got up to go back to the coffee bar. I scrolled through to makesure everything was all right. Finn and Jackson walked in and rushed over to my booth to sit by me.
"Did you get it back?" Finn asked, looking at me and then my screen.
"I think so. Look, John did it." I squealed and pointed at the ending on my screen.
"Oh, thank God! Well, that will make tonight even more fun."
Confused, I looked up from my spell-check and raised an eyebrow. "What's going on tonight?" Finn's lips pressed together in a smile, and his nose crinkled as if he was trying to hold in a secret. I couldn't handle the anticipation. "What is it, Finn?"
"Okay, so before our minor heart attack this morning with your missing words, Jackson and I made spontaneous plans to go into New York tonight for New Year's! It's ridiculous, I know, so many people, but I don't know, we were feeling it. Aaaand, we want you to come!" He had the biggest smile on his face, and Jackson was cheesing right next to him. I was too stunned to respond. First, I'd forgotten it was technically New Year's Eve, and second, what about Barrett and Louie?
Finn continued with excitement radiating from him. "The train leaves around five. And remember, we still need to celebrate the fact that you finished your first draft of your first ever book! Submitting it is the cherry on top. We're so proud of you, Elle." Jackson nodded along as Finn pulled me into a hug.
"Okay, okay. I'm in. I think after I hit submit, I'll need a stiff drink anyway, right?" I smirked at the two boys, who were overjoyed with my acceptance. "But I still need to ask Emma if she'll watch Louie for me. Barrett is in Miami."
I noticed Finn's sideways glance to Jackson. "Wait, Barrett left for Miami?"
I tried to act as if it was okay. I mean, it was. He had to get this deal done. I was a little bummed we wouldn't have our first New Year's together, but there would be plenty more.
"Who's going to kiss you at midnight, girlfriend?" Jackson probed.
I shrugged. "Well, I was thinking Louie, but now that I'll be out, I'll have to get my puppy kiss when I get home."
"You didn't answer me, Ellz," Finn replied.
"Oh, right. He left this morning, like around four a.m. It was a brutal wake-up call. Actually, I'm pretty sure he was sleepwalking out the door."
"Elle, that's bullshit. It's your first New Year's together. Couldn't he leave a day later?"
I felt heat flush my cheeks. Finn had a point, but also, he didn't see what Barrett was going through. The baby, the Miami deal, settling into his new role. I didn't want to make anything harder on him. We still hadn't truly discussed children and the baby because he'd had a string of panic attacks since the funeral, and I didn't want to cause another one.
"It's okay, Finn. Seriously. He's got a lot going on, and you know me, I'm a homebody. I was totally fine staying with my baby Louie tonight and watching the ball drop on TV. Honestly, we're kind of crazy going into the city tonight. Like, I refuse to wear a diaper. That's not happening. I won't be in Times Square."
Finn and Jackson both reeled back together. "Oh my God, eww, Elle. We would never take you to Times Square for their shenanigans." Jackson still had a look of disgust on his face as he nodded along with Finn's words. "We have a friend in the hospitality industry who got us on the list for a hot club tonight. We told him we'd have a group, so I would have tried to convince you to come regardless of your response." He laughed, proud of himself.
"Where are we staying?" I asked, realizing they'd never mentioned the full plan.
"Oh, duh, forgot to say." Finn waved his hand like it was a minor detail. "One of our friends lives in Dumbo, so he said we could crash there at the end of the night. He's in Paris with his boyfriend tonight, so the apartment is free."
"Paris? Damn, we should go there next, ha." I continued to click through changes on my spell-check tool.
"Seriously," Jackson said, and Finn nodded in agreement.
We sat together for another hour or two, ironing out details as I spell-checked and did a final once-over of my manuscript.
