Chapter Nine

By the time we got back to my place, I’d already texted Katie and my mom asking them both to come over.

Of course, when I made my way into my apartment, Katie had let herself in, and her spare key was sitting on the counter. She looked up from the book she was reading.

“What was the emergency?”

Dean stepped into the kitchen carrying four bags of everything that I could think of that we might maybe need.

“A potential investor,” I said, without realizing that wouldn’t give her all the information she needed. She stared at me blankly. I sighed and started over. “Dean has a friend who has been thinking about investing in something food related, like a hot chocolate business.”

Katie’s jaw dropped. “Oh, my God. You’re fucking digging me, right?”

“Nope.” But I glanced at Dean just to be sure of it. He laughed softly.

“No, I’m not fucking kidding. I would not have let you go buy all this crap if I was kidding.” His eyes shone as he shook his head. “But thanks for having faith in me you two.”

He didn’t sound upset; he sounded more like he was teasing us. My cheeks flushed, but Katie laughed.

“Alright, what do you need help with?”

I paused, looking at my best friend. What did I need help with? I bit my lip trying to figure it out.

“Statics.”

“What?” both Dean and Katie said together.

“I need statics.” I liked them. “I need you to find out some stuff for me to include in my pitch.” I wanted it to be interesting—and yes, I thought statistics were interesting.

I rushed over to where Dean was standing with the bags of ingredients we’d just bought. I was going to pretty much start from scratch, but that was okay. I would make it work—right?

Of course, you will, I told myself.

I pulled out a bunch of the stuff and drew in a deep breath, looking it over. If I started with modifications to the base, that would be the best way to go; after all, you couldn’t have a crappy base and good anything else.

So, I grabbed the cocoa powder—the expensive stuff that Dean had insisted that we buy—and crossed over to the counter where I pulled out a bowl for mixing.

Knock, knock.

“Will you grab that?” I glanced at Dean and then towards where Katie sat in front of a computer already making notes.

I grinned, I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“What’s wrong?” my mom asked the second Dean answered the door. “Oh, Dean. I’m sorry, I didn’t think … I thought it would be Becca who answered the door.” She stepped past him and rounded on me. “What is going on?”

I took a deep breath and in under 60 seconds explained everything to my mother. When I was done, she just stared blankly. “So um, I needed someone else to come help test. I mean, it has to be perfect, right?”

She nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry … that’s just … amazing.”

Yea, that was one word for it. I bit my lip, breathing deeply again as I fought back the urge to have a fucking panic attack. I inhaled deeply and exhaled. Just like I’ve been doing all my life, I told myself.

“So, how can I help?” My mom looked around.

I glanced at Dean. “Honestly, I just need someone picky to tell me if it is actually good or not.” My mom snorted.

“Gee, thanks.”

“Anytime.” I gave her a wide smile before returning my attention to the mixture in front of me.

By 4:00, I had almost everything ready. Dean had even managed to find a cute DIY way to package everything in nice single serving packages, and we had over three dozen samples of three different flavors. Thirteen of each, to be exact. I bit my lip, looking everything over.

Alright, now that it was ready, and everyone had told me a couple billion times that everything was actually really good, I had to get myself ready. I was covered in cocoa powder and reeked of vanilla. The vanilla I could stand, but I wanted to be sorta clean when I met this girl, and so I excused myself and went to my bedroom. I was thankful when Dean didn’t follow me in there.

I heard their hushed voices talking—probably about me because it was quiet enough that I couldn’t hear them, and honestly, I was glad. I didn’t want to know what they were saying right now; I just wanted to focus on myself.

I changed into stockings, a black shirt and a green blouse. I knew I had to look professional and modern at the same time because let’s face it—no one was going to want to go into business with someone who either looked outdated or sloppy.

Nervousness tugged at the pit of my stomach. I tried to ignore it, just like I had been doing all day, but it wasn’t working. I felt like I was about to puke, and if I did that, I wasn’t going to be getting out of the bathroom. If I allowed myself to be that weak, I wasn’t going to be able to do this. So I took a deep breath, put a pair of earrings on and looked around, mulling over whether or not I should wear any of my rings.

I decided against it, grabbed a pair of pumps and headed to the bathroom where I applied a quick coat of makeup before returning to the living room.

The second they saw me, everyone fell silent.

Dean looked me over. “You look great; I’m sure she will like what she sees.” He smiled widely.

My mom seemed about to cry. “This is such a big deal.”

“Gee, thanks for reminding me.” I gave my mom a soft smile. “So, I’m going to have to bail on that dinner tonight.”

She actually laughed. “I figured.”

“I’m sorry. Gail is very hard to get hold of; she doesn’t give her time to many people. I didn’t want to try to reschedule with her on this,” Dean said.

My mom waved it away. “If this is what my daughter wants to do with her life, it’s more important than a dinner we can do any other time.”

“Thanks for understanding, Mom.” I pulled her into a hug, and as I pulled away, I looked at my best friend. She handed me a sheet of paper.

“I um, took the liberty of crafting a couple options for you. Of course,” she glanced at Dean. “I had help.”

“I can’t put into words how amazing you all are.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what I would do without you guys.” I really had no clue. They were all so incredibly supportive. I cleared my throat before I started getting sappy on everyone. “So,” I turned to Dean. “When do we have to meet this girl?”

“7:00.”

“Alright.”

I wished it was sooner, but there was nothing I could do about that. Again, I looked around the room and felt the urge to cry. I knew I couldn’t be here without Dean’s help. I’d never have the chance to talk to this person without him, but the truth was, it wasn’t just him who was a major factor here. I laughed softly, turning away from everyone. “So, Katie, how’s life?” We’d hardly talked at all recently between everything going on with Dean and I, and, of course, us both being busy with our own day to day life shit.

“Well, nothing too crazy. I’m still … sorta seeing that guy I told you about.”

“Only sorta?”

She looked at me with a blush on her cheeks. “Yea, some shit happened.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

“Let’s just … have a girl’s day sometime soon, okay?”

“Sounds perfect.” That was a promise I was going to have to fulfill, along with dinner at my mom’s to meet her new boyfriend.