If she didn't reply to Harry's drunk text last night, the boy wouldn't call her in the middle of the night. If she didn't pick up the phone call, she wouldn't need to tiptoe to the balcony. If she didn't go to the balcony, she didn't have to have the convo with Luke. But Alas, she did reply to Rose's boyfriend. One thing led to another, and she went back to bed after four but managed to fall asleep at around five, with Georgia's soft snore in the background.

That's the reason why she and Georgia are sitting in the hotel restaurant an hour before breakfast time is over, thanks to Luke who rang our room intercom at 9 A.M. Surprisingly, they aren't the only ones who came in the last hour. The humming of people conversing over meals and the clinking sound of cutlery hitting the plate echo from every corner of the room, while they sit by the window, enjoying their breakfast. It's amusing for Cobie to see how much Georgia can eat, but the girl puked out her dinner last night. She must've woken up hungry like hell this morning.

"Why was Luke on our balcony last night by the way?" Georgia smears butter on her bread while glancing at the restaurant entrance, probably checking if Luke comes to join them. He went down earlier this morning when they both were still in bed.

"He took you to our room, remember?" Cobie replies, leaving the part he went back to his room afterward and then jumped onto their balcony. Well, Georgia doesn't need to know.

"Thank you for calling him." The secretary smiles. "You could have asked the bellboy to bring me up, or just slapped me awake. It happened before."

Cobie laughs. "And waking up with a blue cheek? That would have been scandalous." She chugs down the rest of her orange juice. The alcohol from last night still leaves the dryness in her throat. She's never used to drinking.

"So, Luke stayed there with us for a while to make sure I was fine? So sweet of him," Georgia says, sighing. "He's always been this sweet to me, and I love him for that. I think that's how people think we're dating secretly."

Cobie nods, her mind jumping to last night's convo. "Yeah...Luke is sweet. Plus, he's known you for a while and he knows your brother. I bet you're kinda special to him among people in the office."

Georgia stops munching on her bread. "How did you know about this? About my brother?"

"Uh." Looking at Georgia's expression, Cobie assumes the topic isn't for public consumption. Why did Luke tell her last night, then? "I think I heard it somewhere before."

"Do you mean people at work know about this?" Georgia's eyes widen.

"No. I don't think so." Cobie frowns, looking for a believable answer without ratting Luke out. "Maybe Luke accidentally mentioned your brother during our meeting, and I thought your brother's last name was familiar, so I did my homework. You know" —she swats her hand in a dismissive gesture— "how I am when it comes to digging for information. Blame my job."

Georgia nods, looking convinced but the frown on her face stays. "People can't know about this, you know. They'd think I got the position through nepotism."

"My lips are sealed."

"Because it wasn't Luke who hired me in the first place," Georgia adds.

Cobie raises a brow. "Oh? Who then? I believe he was already working for the company when you joined in."

"I know. But it wasn't him who took me in. It was Jasmine."

"Jasmine?" Cobie racks her brain, trying to recall anyone called Jasmine at work. "I don't think I know her."

"She's moved to another competitor, but I'm surprised. You've heard about my brother from Luke, but not Jasmine? Wait." Georgia got up, extending her hand to Cobie. "I'm going to grab some more sausages. You want some too?"

Cobie hands her plate to her. "Sure." Once Georgia leaves the table, she takes her bag and checks her phone. There is only a message from Rose, informing her that she's driving with Mom to aunt Martha's house, which is good. She hopes that the trip can take Rose's mind off Harry temporarily.

On the other hand, Harry hasn't texted or called her again since she hung up on him last night. Maybe he's still passing out in the frat house's living room at the moment. She will give it some time before she calls him for a serious talk, and he needs to be sober for that.

The clank of two plates being placed on the table in front of her brings her back to the hotel restaurant. Five mini beef sausages sit on each plate, glistening with oil since they were taken freshly from the griller.

Georgia plops down on her seat and gulps her juice. "So, Jasmine," she starts. "She's Luke's girl."

Cobie stops short, her knife hovering over her sausage. "Come again?"

"Well, not exactly Luke's girl," Georgie corrects her statement while elegantly cutting her sausage. "They joined the company around the same time, but in different departments. They both were ambitious but it's how they were attracted to each other perhaps. Long story short they went out but Luke never called it a relationship. He just got out of a bad break up by the way."

"So Jasmine was like a rebound girl?"

Georgia shrugs. "Maybe."

"Okay..." Cobie brings her fork to her mouth, and the sausage tastes differently all of a sudden. "So, you said Jasmine was the one who hired you. How did she know you?"

"One day, when I was still in my last year of college, my brother and I bumped into Luke and Jasmine in a supermarket downtown. Well, I didn't like her straight away because, well, Luke just broke up, I don't think it was good for him. And come on, he could have dated me instead."

Cobie almost chokes at Georgie's last line. She will never get used to her boldness. "Then why did you want to be hired by her if you didn't like her?"

"I just finished my diploma and I needed a job. She needed an admin staff in her department at that time. And George thought it was a good idea if I could work at a company where Luke could watch over me."

George must be the name of the brother, but Cobie doesn't want to ask because she gave the impression that she knew her brother's full name. "I see."

"So yeah. I joined in while keeping an eye on her. You know the saying: keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. I wanted to make sure Luke didn't fall for her."

"Did he, though?" Cobie regrets it already once the question slips through her lips. It's not her business, and knowing this would not do any good. If anything, she needs to get Luke out of her system ASAP.

"I learned later that they were just seeing each other casually; no label. But she was also a very easygoing girl. She also talked to other guys while seeing Luke, and Luke laughed it off when I told him about it. Maybe he knew it all along and never gave a fuck."

"Okay." Georgie's story reminds Cobie of their topic from last night's talk. He mentioned he was seeing someone casually. Did he talk about Jasmine?

"When Jasmine got an offer from a competitor and resigned, Luke took me under his wing."

"Is Luke still seeing her now?"

"That's what I heard, but Luke has never talked about her since...I made a stupid move on him."

"It's the part when you kissed him?"

The color drains from Georgia's face. "Who told you that? Damn, woman, you know so much about me more than I'm prepared for. It's creepy!"

"You told me last night in the taxi." Cobie gives her a deadpan look.

"I...what?" Georgia huffs. "I did, didn't I? Dammit."

"You were drunk; you couldn't help it. But don't worry, I won't tell a soul."

"Thanks, I appreciate that," Georgia says, but she doesn't look worried at all about someone finding out her little secret. Cobie would have panicked like shit if she were her. "So," Georgia continues, "I'm just hoping I will be his hot best friend's sister, you know, like in those teen movies?"

Cobie chuckles at her words. "You watch too much soap. Life is nothing like movies."

"You're just being cynical like always."

"It's called being realistic."

"Nuh-uh," Georgia replies, shaking her head. "Everyone will have their happy ending, so it's always good to keep our mind positive while waiting for what life has in store for us."

Cobie disagrees with that statement wholeheartedly but she chooses to keep her opinion in her head. Georgia might be the lucky one who grew up in a healthy environment with loving parents and a protective brother. Even Luke looks pretty caring for her, and Cobie can't blame him. Georgia is easy to like despite her boldness.

"I don't know, Georgie. To me, life is just" —Cobie tilts her head, thinking of the correct word to finish her line— "life. It has its happy moments or not-so-happy ones, and they come and go randomly. And we never know if we die when we are happy, or when we have so much pain to endure." The delicate face of her mom flashes in her mind, sending a soft jab in her chest. She shakes her head and shoves the sad thought to the back of her mind. "All those movies happen to end during the characters' happy moments."

Georgia seems to take in her every word as she mindlessly cuts and eats her sausage. "You know what?" She shifts her gaze to Cobie. "If we see it like that, then I better find out about where my movie ends. I need to find out if Luke actually has feelings for me but holds back because of my brother, or if he just sees me like a little sister. Nothing more, nothing less. Then I will know what movie I will go to afterward."

Georgia's enthusiasm and her bravery to face the truth, ugly or not ugly, amazes Cobie even more. Deep down, she can understand if Luke one day will fall for his assistant. What's more to ask from a woman? She's fun, very honest with her feelings, and her figure is such a sight for sore eyes.

"I see you two made it on time." Like a pair of thieves getting caught in the act, they both jump on their spot when Luke's voice pokes their daydreaming. "Oops, I'm sorry for startling you, ladies."

"We were just talking about you, and you suddenly popped up out of nowhere."

"That's not entirely true. I'm no wizard. I came through the entrance door." He takes the seat between Cobie and Georgia. "So, you were talking about me. What exactly?"

Georgia stabs her last piece of sausage with her pork, smiling sweetly at Luke. "Bold of you thinking that we will tell you."

"A man can try."

"Are we going to leave with the same taxi to the airport?" Georgia asks.

"I'm afraid not. I just got an update that my flight is delayed. I'm going to hit the city before taking the taxi to the airport. I need to buy a little something for my parents anyway."

Luke is visiting his parents after the business trip which makes them fly on separate flights, and Cobie has never been so glad to not have him around like now. And honestly, Georgia is kinda fun to be with, surprisingly.

As the two are talking, she keeps her gaze on her sausage to avoid eye contact with Luke. After how they ended their talk last night, she still doesn't know how to act in front of him. She might have overreacted a bit but Luke should have dropped it after she showed her discomfort with the topic. No one is allowed to go that far into that part of her life.