Page 21 of My Rock Star Neighbor
“They’re obviously friends,” Nemesis says.“I mean, if they were something more, would she be wearing bunny slippers?That’s clearly killing any sexy vibe.”
Point for Nemesis.Those slippers need to go.
“Yeah, you must be right.I mean, if the photographer had caught them kissing,Varietywould have published that.Plus, I mean, Maddie doesn’t seem like the type to attract a guy like Nick Devlin.”
Yup.Another reason why it’s better that Nick finds another woman to fake date.
I lean against the wall.I should leave.Haven’t I learned my lesson from when I was in middle school?Listening to gossip about myself only hurts me.
“Seriously.She’d bore him by geeking out over the latest City Council hearing,” Nemesis says.
“What are you listening to so intently?”Jing whispers.
I nearly jump a foot.I put my finger to my mouth.Jing presses against me to listen in too.
“There’s no way they’re dating,” Nemesis says.
Jing frowns and looks like she’s about to give them a piece of her mind.
I shake my head.
“Well, if she is, we should cover it for Page Six.”
Uh-oh.I need to get out of here.I pull Jing away from the office kitchen and back to my desk, where I grab my coat and my phone.
“I’m going to meet with my contact at City Hall about this new story I have,” I say.“She agreed to meet at the back steps in half an hour.”
“I’ll come with you.I need fresh air after listening to that,” Jing says.
We leave our floor by the fire stairs, rather than the elevators.It’s rare you meet someone in the stairwell.
“Don’t let Sarah get to you,” Jing says.“Nick doesn’t date, but if he did, I bet you’d be top of the list.And Nemesis would be the absolute last woman he’d date.She’s like his last girlfriend.”
Like his last girlfriend.That definitely doesn’t make me feel better.
Nemesis is his type?
Ugh.
Definitely not someone like me.Nail-bitten fingers, one currently still decorated with spots of brown paint from some miniature hot chocolates I made this weekend.I took a break from needle felting animals and decided to try this tutorial to de-stress.
As we push the glass doors open to exit, the cold air hits us.Our office is located two blocks behind City Hall.As we hurry away from the office, the back of City Hall is visible to the right through a chain-link fence that surrounds a parking lot.We turn and walk down the narrow side street.
“Who are you meeting?”Jing asks.
“This woman who heads up the call center.It turns out that the New York Infrastructure Department has a number to call to schedule a repair request.It assigns the caller a ticket.I’m hoping I can get access to more of those tickets and talk to those people to see if they had repairs by someone competent.If someone senior in the Infrastructure Department is involved, then it must be more than this one building.”
“That’s a good lead,” she says.
“What are you working on?”I ask.
“An article on solar panels that you can plug in to generate your own electricity.It’s cool,” Jing says.She works on the business section of the paper.
“Should we get a coffee?I have some time to kill,” I say.
Jing nods, and we make a wide loop around City Hall, since it’s cordoned off by police barriers, and enter City Hall Park.
We stop to get a coffee at the corner food cart and catch up with Frank, the vendor.He just had a baby.
