Chapter 1

“Boy, am I beat!” Brooklyn said as she entered her apartment.

 “Addy! Shea! I’m home!” she called out to her two best friends and roommates as she hung her purse on the coat rack by the door and pulled the hair tie out of her hair, causing her long blonde hair to flow down her back. 

She shook her head to loosen her hair, kicked off her shoes, and took out her phone to check her texts as she walked over to the couch and flopped down on it, stretching out and putting her feet up on the cushions. 

 “At least you take your shoes off before you put your feet on the couch.”

 Brooklyn looked up from her phone to see Shea coming out of her room. Her friend and roommate wore a blue striped halter top, which matched her blue eyes, with a denim miniskirt. She had pulled her curly light brown hair up into a high ponytail but left a few strands hanging out to frame her face. Her light brown skin glistened with a golden hue from the sparkly lotion her friend liked to use when she was going out. 

 “Why are you so dressed up?” Brooklyn asked her friend.

 “We’re going out tonight,” Shea told her. 

 Brooklyn sat up and shook her head, setting her phone down beside her. 

 “Nuh-uh,” she said. “No way, Shea. I just got off of a long shift at the coffee shop, and I’ve got an article due by the weekend, which I’ve barely started. There is no way I’m going out tonight.”

 Shea stuck her lower lip out in a pout and said, “Come on, Brooklyn! I told the guy I’m meeting to bring friends for you and Addy, and if I don’t show up with the two of you, he might just call the whole thing off, and believe me, if that happens, you won’t have a happy roommate.”

 Brooklyn rolled her eyes and asked, “And Addy is going along with this?”

 Shea bit her lip and glanced to the side. 

 “She’s, uh, not home yet,” she said, not looking at Brooklyn.

 “So, she doesn’t know about it then?” Brooklyn said, raising one eyebrow.

 Shea looked at her for a moment before shaking her head.

 Brooklyn burst out laughing, then said, “You are something else, my friend.”

 “Does this mean you’ll go?” Shea asked, hope written all over her face. 

 Brooklyn sobered and looked at her friend for a moment before sighing. 

 Getting up off the couch, she said, “Fine. I’ll go, as long as Addy goes, too.”

 “She has to,” Shea said. “That’s all part of the plan.”

 Brooklyn shook her head at her friend and added, “Let me get a shower first. I need to get the smell of coffee off of me.”

 Shea looked at her with horror and said, “Of course, you’re taking a shower. There is no way I’m going out with you looking and smelling like that.”

 Brooklyn gave her an exasperated look and said, “Thanks, friend.”

 With a relieved sigh, Shea nodded and said, “Anytime, Brooklyn. Anytime.”

 Shaking her head, Brooklyn walked around the couch to go to her room, where she’d clean up in her bathroom. She stopped as the front door burst open, and their other roommate rushed into the living room, leaving the door open behind her. 

 Her dark red hair flew around her face as she came to a stop and looked at her two friends. Her hazel-green eyes sparkled with excitement, and an enormous smile lit up her face. 

 “Am I glad to see you two are already here,” she told them. “I don’t know what I’d do if I had to hold this in any longer.”

 Brooklyn and Shea looked at one another, then back at Addy. 

 “What’s going on, Addy?” Brooklyn asked. 

 “You two know Barto Luciani, right?” she asked. “Well, he just hired me to work for him!”

Brooklyn and Shea looked at one another, then back at Addy. Both girls shook their heads. 

 “I’m afraid I don’t know who he is,” Brooklyn said. 

 “Is he that guy who owns the sub shop across town, next to your store?” Shea asked, then turned to Brooklyn and added, “You remember those subs Addy brought home a few weeks ago?”

 Brooklyn nodded, her eyes wide, and grinned. 

 “Oh, yeah, those were good,” she said. Turning back to Addy, she asked, “When you start working there, will you be bringing home subs for us?”

 Addy sighed and shook her head as she rolled her eyes. 

 “I can’t believe you two haven’t paid attention to what I’ve been talking about for the past week,” she told them, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at them. 

 Brooklyn and Shea gave each other guilty glances. Brooklyn raised her eyebrows and jerked her head toward Shea. Shea shook her head, frowning. They both looked back at an irritated Addy. 

 “Look, we’re sorry, Addy,” Brooklyn said. “I know this is exciting for you, whatever it is. Why don’t you tell us what it is so we can be excited for you, too?”

 Addy stared at them for a moment before softening. 

 “Fine,” she said, letting her hands dangle from her sides. “Barto Luciani. Does that name ring a bell?”

 Once again, Brooklyn and Shea looked at each other, then back at Addy, and shook their heads. 

 Sighing, she looked at Shea and said, “I’m surprised you, of all people, don’t recognize the name, what with working at the boutique.”

 Shea tilted her head as her face scrunched up in concentration. After a moment, her eyes lit up, and she smiled. 

 “Now that you mention it, that name does sound familiar,” she said. “I think I put one of his scarves on a mannequin at the boutique the other day.”

 “So, he’s a designer?” Brooklyn asked, looking at Addy.

 Addy’s eyes opened wide, and her mouth dropped open. 

 “‘He’s a designer?’ she asked,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s the designer right now. His current line is selling out as fast as the stores can stock them.”

 Shea nodded and said, “That scarf I put on the mannequin sold almost as soon as I walked away.”

 “And he’s offered you a job?” Brooklyn asked, her eyebrows raised.

 Shea grinned from ear to ear as she nodded. 

 “I had submitted my application and portfolio a few months ago, and when I hadn’t heard from him, I gave up hope,” she told the others. “But then, on the way home from the shop, I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize. It was his assistant, and she told me that he liked what he saw with my work. She offered me a job for the upcoming season!”

 Her two friends grinned and rushed forward to wrap their arms around her in a huge hug.

 As they wrapped her up between them, Shea said, “That’s wonderful!”

 “It’s what you’ve been dreaming about all your life,” Brooklyn said.

 Addy nodded and said, “I start next week, and I can’t wait!”

 “Oh, my gosh!” Brooklyn said, her eyes wide. “Do you have a lot to prepare for it?”

 Addy shook her head and said, “I’ve got a new outfit just waiting for a big reveal. I’ll wear it on my first day there. Barto Luciani won’t know what hit him!”

 The three friends giggled, then Shea brightened up.

 “Do you know what this calls for?” she asked.

 Brooklyn groaned, but Shea ignored her. Addy was too focused on her friend to pay attention to Brooklyn and shook her head.

 “No,” she said. “What does this call for?”

 “A night out!” Shea said, stepping back and throwing her arms up in the air to shimmy her hips.