Night's Not Over

It was seven AM when Gemma had to wake up from her four hours sleep, get dressed and go to NYFA for orientation. She was having bacon and eggs for breakfast when Nick’s sister Celine joined her at the kitchen.

“Good morning,” she chirped, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“Morning,” Gemma smiled.

“How was last night? How was Nick’s band?”

“Last night was great, the band was great too. He introduced me to them and I like them a lot. I find one of them really cute, too,” she smiled at the thought of Julian.

“Oh, let me guess,” Celine leaned at the kitchen counter, “Julian?”

From the way Celine said it, Gemma took it that Julian had always been the one that girls liked the most. “Has he always been the cute one in the band?”

“I personally like Albert more, but yeah Julian has always been the cute one. He has a bit of reputation, too.”

“What kind of reputation?”

“The player kind of reputation,” Celine sipped her steaming coffee and pulled back when her tongue said the liquid was too hot to be consumed now. “He’d date a girl, get bored, find another girl, dump the first girl and so on and so forth.”

Gemma’s face fell. “Oh.”

“But you know, you could go for it if you want. Who knows he’s different to you?” Celine suggested. “I’m going to bring my coffee upstairs. I’ll see you at dinner later?”

“Sure.” With that, Celine was gone upstairs but a few moments later, a very hungover Nick dragged his feet into the kitchen and went through the refrigerator. “Good morning, dancing queen,” Gemma sang, referring to last night.

“I don’t remember half the shit I did last night,” Nick mumbled, drinking milk straight from the jar.

Gemma scrunched her face in disgust. That was very unhygienic of him. She made a mental note to buy some milk for herself later. “Of course, you were really drunk,” she answered, putting bacon into her mouth.

“Please don’t tell me I flirted with the gay bartender again.”

Flirting with the gay bartender again? Did he do that often when he was drunk? “I didn’t see you flirting with anyone last night. Instead you were singing Bee Gees and ABBA very horribly.”

Nick sat across her, his head on the table. Gemma noticed he was still wearing clothes from last night. “Would you make me some breakfast, please? Help out a hungover cousin?”

Gemma glanced at her watch. “As much as I’d like to, I already have to go for my orientation.” Nick groaned in disapproval as she stood up. She grabbed her bag and patted Nick’s back as she walked past him to leave. “À toute à l'heure!” (I'll see you later!) Nick just grunted in reply, too tired.

∙ ∙ ∙

Gemma was just stepping out of NYFA after student orientation, when someone called her name across the road. She waved back at Julian, who was now crossing the road.

“Orientation done?” he asked.

“Yes. How did you know I was having a student orientation? And it seemed like you were waiting for me. Are you stalking me?”

“Shit, you got me,” he joked. Gemma giggled. “Do you want to grab some lunch? I know this place that has really good sandwiches.”

“I hope it’s not Subway,” Gemma said as they started to walk side by side. “I’ve had too much Subway’s sandwiches since I got here.”

“Nah, it isn’t. Believe me; once you try their sandwich, you’re not going back to Subway. That’s how mind-blowing their sandwiches are.”

“What if you’re wrong?”

“I’m never wrong,” he said, pulling out a stick of cigarettes from its pack, “I’m Julian fucking Casablancas.”

Gemma laughed. Julian thought he heard music. “Getting pretty cocky there.” He lit the cigarette between his lips. Gemma watched, and it felt like her vision was focused on his lips.

“That’s why the ladies love me,” he blew out smoke.

Gemma looked away, reminded of what Celine said about his reputation. Eh, fuck the reputation, she could still try. “I’m not sure if I like the cockiness.”

“Why not?”

“I just don’t, sweetheart.” Julian grinned at what she just called him. Sweetheart. It sounded slick coming out from her mouth, like it was right. Like she was supposed to call him that.

After a few blocks of talking and two more cigarettes for Julian, they finally reached their destination. Gemma read the sign above the large window. Spinelli. It was a nice, simple diner on the corner with booths next to the windows, counters near the kitchen and cashier, tables in the middle of the room, and the ceiling had electric fans. They chose to take the counter, sitting on the black stools.

“So what do you recommend?” she asked, holding the menu.

“Well, they have a really good BLT—“

“That’s it, I’m going for the BLT,” she placed the menu down. Julian stared at her with an ‘are you sure?’ look. “You had me at BLT. I love bacon.”

He smiled. “That makes the two of us.” They ordered BLT sandwiches, beer for Julian and some iced tea for Gemma.

“I just had bacon for breakfast, I hope I’m not going to turn into a pig.”

Julian laughed. “With that body?” he referred to her fatless legs arms. “It’s going to take centuries.”

“Thank you. I still feel I’m going to be a pig.” The waitress placed their drinks and left with a ‘you-are-so-good-looking-I-want-to-fuck-you’ smile, directed at Julian only. He just casually smiled and sipped his beer. “Do you get that a lot?” Gemma asked.

“What?”

“That smile the waitress just gave you. Do you get that a lot?”

“Err, yeah. I don’t know. Maybe.” She gave him a look. “Alright, I do.” She just smiled and played with the straw of her drink, the ice cubes clinking against the glass. He noticed her change of mood and all he could think was that maybe she was jealous. “So,” he cleared his throat to change the topic in hopes that it would change back her mood. “How was the orientation?”

“It was okay. I met a bunch of interesting people – most of them are quirky, which is okay. I like being around weird people, it makes me feel normal.” She sipped her drink. Julian mentally sighed in relief once he felt that her previous mood was back. “By the way, how did you know I had an orientation?”

“You never called me so I decided to ask around so I could find you to ask you out.” She smiled at the lame joke.

“It hadn’t even been 24 hours since you gave me your number.”

“I know, I just missed you.” Gemma knew he wasn’t serious, but she had to admit that it gave her some butterflies. Julian found her shy reaction to it (looking away and sipping her drink) really adorable. “Anyway I have a friend who also goes to NYFA. He told me there was an orientation.”

The same waitress placed their BLTs in front of them and left with the same smile again, but this time Julian didn’t smile back. He didn’t even look her in the eye. Gemma acknowledged this and in her mind she was taunting and yelling to the waitress, “TAKE THAT, YOU! I WIN! HA!” She tried not to smile in satisfaction.

“Go ahead,” Julian motioned at her BLT.

“Oh, it’s not complete yet.” She took the top bun, grabbed a bottle of chilli sauce and pressed it, its content landing on top of the bacon. “I like my food spicy,” she smiled, placing back the top bun and then took a first bite. Julian waited for her reaction. She chewed and swallowed, but her expression remained the same. “It’s good.”

“Good? What do you mean good? This sandwich is like the master food porn – it’s more than good! It’s mind-blowing!” he argued, biting his sandwich.

She giggled. “I was just kidding. It really is the master food porn. Thanks for bringing me here.” Julian melted at her giggle and decided to chew a little bit calmer.

They kept talking and they finished their sandwiches. They paid for their food and left. “So did you ever visit New York before?” Julian asked as they walked down the sidewalk.

“I did once... when I was ten. I don’t really remember.”

“Do you want a tour around this city by yours truly?” he offered, grinning.

“That depends on the places you have in mind.”

“Come on,” he laughed, “I just showed you the best place to get a sandwich, why do you doubt me now?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s the shirt.”

He stopped walking, looking down at his blue shirt that had flowers on it. “Hey, no hating on the shirt.” He looked back at her and raised his eyebrows. “So, yes or no?”

She tried to force back a smile but failed miserably. “Okay, fine. Let’s start the tour,” she said, linking her arm with his.

Julian showed her the best places in New York City. The place with the best beer, the place where they could find vinyl records at the lowest price, the place with the greatest sundaes, the street filled with kickass second hand clothing stores and charity shops, and the stand that had the best hot dogs and pretzels.

The sun almost set when Julian walked her home. Gemma had a lot of fun, and she couldn’t remember the last time she felt so comfortable around the opposite sex.

“Thanks a lot for the tour,” she said as they reached the Valensi’s porch. “I really had fun.”

He chuckled, shifting his weight from one foot to another. “I did too.” She leaned in, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugged him. He hugged back, his arms around her waist. They pulled away and she left a peck on his cheek as they did so.

“I’ll see you around,” she smiled and went inside. Julian walked away, heading to his house that was only a few blocks away. As he reached the sidewalk, he let go his goofy grin that he had been holding back and punched the air.

Gemma could still see him through the window from her room upstairs. She giggled when she saw him spinning around and started dancing as he walked away. She jumped a little when Nick knocked at her door.

“I’m sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” he said after she turned around. He leaned against the doorframe. “You seemed like you had a good day.”

“Oh, it was great,” she grinned, sitting on the bed.

“Yeah? Tell me about it.”

“Julian just gave me a tour around the city, that’s all.”

“Julian?” He went silent for a moment, thinking. “Do you like him?” She shrugged, still smiling. “Look, Gemma, you can like anyone you want, but not him.”

She scoffed. “What the fuck, Nick? He’s your best friend.”

“And that is why I’m telling you,” he took a step closer to her, “I know what kind of guy he is.”

“And I do too – Celine told me about him.”

“And you still want to go out with him?”

“Well you can’t just decide to whom you have feelings for,” she stood up and walked out of the room, heading downstairs.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt!”

“Whatever, Nick,” she shouted from downstairs. Nick just sighed. He really cared about his cousin that was only a year younger than him and he had been looking out for her for as long as he could remember. To Nick, Julian was another material he needed to protect her from.