<h4>Chapter 616: Chapter 616 : Red Lipstick</h4>


    *Caterina*


    I flopped over on my bed, tossing the magazine I was reading onto the floor. I quickly realized that finishing out the semester online was not nearly as time-consuming as I had thought it would be. Or maybe it was just the fact that my life here wasn’t nearly as time-consuming as my life in New York. Without the distraction of the city that never sleeps, I found myself finishing my work before lunch most days, and I quickly realized that it was a lot harder to make new friends when I wasn’t going to sses in person.


    I really needed to get a hobby to upy my time, or maybe a job. Anything would be better thanying around in my room for half the day.


    I pulled out my phone and called Anna to see if she was free to hang out. I had thought that being home would be easy, that I would just reintegrate to my old friend group from high school, but it turned out that a lot of my old friends had either moved away or drifted too far apart for me to feelfortable getting back in touch. Thank God I always had Anna by my side.


    “Hello?” She answered quickly.


    “Hey, what are you doing?” I asked, wishing I had something interesting to talk to her about.


    “I’m walking to ss. What are you doing?”


    “Damn, I was hoping we could hang out,” I exined. “I’m so fucking bored!”


    It was such a relief to have a friend who I didn’t have to pretend for. I loved my friends back in New York, but I never would’ve admitted to them that I was just sitting around bored in my house. I knew they all prescribed to the philosophy that ‘only boring people get bored.’ Most of them had grown up in the city and had no idea what it was like to live somewhere where there wasn’t something to do constantly.


    Annaughed. “Come to ss with me! My professor is actually really cool. I know she wouldn’t mind if you sat in.”


    I loved spending time with Anna, and I was sure her professor was great, but going to an extra ss was not my idea of fun. With my luck, I’d end up being confused about what information I’d learned in my own sses and what I’d gotten from hers. Thest thing I needed was to make school harder on myself.


    “No, thank you. Will you call me when you’re free?”


    “Sure thing, but honestly, school is going to have me pretty busy for a while,” she said, sounding apologetic.


    I felt guilty for bothering her in the first ce. I didn’t want her to feel like my decision to move back home for the time being meant that she needed to spend all her time entertaining me. It wasn’t her fault that I hadn’t bothered to maintain any other rtionships here.


    “No worries. I’ll talk to youter. Have a good ss!”


    “Thanks, girl,” she said.


    We hung up and I flopped back on my bed again, my mind going in circles as I tried to think of what I could possibly do to fill up my day. I decided to go see what my mom was up to. Maybe she’d want to go for a walk with me.


    I knew that out of everyone, she was the most excited that I had decided to finish out the semester here at home. She still didn’t understand why I’d felt the need to so strongly distance myself from home after leaving for college.


    I wasn’t sure I understood it myself either. I just knew that our home had felt so stifling for so long, and once I’d tasted the freedom of being in New York, I hadn’t wanted to give it up, even for a short time. But now, I was finally ready toe back. It felt right.


    I wandered downstairs to find my mom, hoping she’d be free, but she was already in the kitchen pulling on a set of high heels. She was wearing her usual cks and blouse that she wore to the office. I guessed we wouldn’t be going on that walk.


    “Hey, honey,” she said. “I’m sorry. I got called in for an emergency meeting. One of the actors is throwing a hissy fit over a line we wrote for him, but it’s really central to the overall storyline. We have to go in and write something he’s willing to say withoutpromising the story, or else there’s going to be at least two days’ worth of reshoots,” she exined in a rush as she stood up and grabbed her briefcase.


    I frowned, very aware of the fact that I was on the verge of full-blown pouting. It just sucked to be here specifically for the purpose of spending more time with my mom, only to realize that she was far busier than I was.


    I felt like a loser for having absolutely zero ns when everyone else in my life seemed to be constantly on the go, and I hated that it was bringing back some of those negative feelings from my teenage years that I had worked hard to suppress.


    My mom was an amazing woman and fantastic mother, but it still hurt that she had to work so much. What made it all the worse was that I felt selfish for being hurt by it because I knew that it was a miracle that she had been able tond her dream job while being a single mother.


    “Okay, I’ll see you when you get back,” I said, trying to keep myself from whining.


    She pulled me in for a hug and kissed my forehead, just like she’d done when I was a kid. “I love you. I’ll be home for dinner. I promise!”


    And with that, she was out the door, and I was back to square one. I reconsidered sitting in on that ss of Anna’s, but a nce at the clock told me it was toote. No matter how cool her professor was, I was sure she wouldn’t appreciate me trying to get into her ss over twenty minutes after it started.


    I wondered what Elio was up to. Ever since our kiss, I had been adamantly trying to avoid thinking about him, but thinking about observing Anna’s ss gave me an idea. Before I could second guess myself, I called him.


    He picked up so quickly I wasn’t even sure how his phone had had a chance to ring.


    “Hey, Cat,” he said, his voice sounding deeper than normal.


    “Um, hey, look,” I stammered before managing to get it together. “I was wondering if I coulde and shadow you for a day at your job.”


    “Really? I’ll be honest. That surprises me after you ran off the other day,” he said with a tense chuckle.


    I swallowed nervously, really not in the mood to discuss what was going on between us. My feelings toward Elio were so confusing that I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to untangle them, and I was certain that talking to him about it would only make everything worse. I was desperate to just forget everything that had happened.


    “Yeah, well, I’m really bored, so I figured hanging out with you must be at least a little better than watching paint dry,” I attempted to joke.


    “Whatever you say... I just wanted you to know that I can’t stop thinking about it.” His voice took on a husky tone that made my stomach do flips.


    “Anyway, I’ll be there soon, okay?” I said, refusing to acknowledge what he was talking about.


    “Sure thing,” he answered.


    I hung up before he could say anything else that made me question myself. I was not developing feelings for Elio... absolutely the fuck not. He was just an old friend who I was enjoying reconnecting with, and nothing more.


    I continued my train of thought as I went upstairs to change, ignoring the fact that there was no real reason why I needed to change out of my leggings and T-shirt and into a ck sheath dress that I really only owned in case I needed to interview for an internship or job.


    I told myself that it wasn’t because the sheath dress hugged my curves in a way that was both professional and sensual. I reminded myself that Elio dressed in suits at work, so it made sense for me to dress up as well. Even though I wouldn’t be seeing any clients, I didn’t want to look underdressed.


    And since I was wearing a nice dress, it only made sense to put on some makeup and put a few quick curls in my hair. If I happened to add a bolder red lip than normal, that was just because I was excited to be leaving the house.


    It certainly wasn’t because I wanted to draw Elio’s attention back to my lips, the lips he had handled so expertly with his own...


    I pulled away from the mirror and shook my head slightly to try to stop where my thoughts were headed. The red lipstick looked nice with the ck dress. That was it. End of story. I was not dolling myself up for Elio, dammit!


    I finished up my lipstick and looked at myself in the mirror, admiring what I had done in a short time. It really was nice to have somewhere to be. I promised myself that I would enjoy the day and stop dwelling on the kiss. Grabbing a ck purse that matched my dress, I headed downstairs.


    I stood staring at the small pile of my shoes that had built up by the back door. It was a tough decision to make between my red heels that perfectly matched my lips and a pair of leopard print ts that probably looked more professional.


    I picked up the ts, but as I was about to slip them on, I shed back to that kiss—damn, it was such a good kiss. Fuck it. I dropped the ts and pulled the heels on instead. It was just so I could feel more confident, I told myself. It had nothing to do with Elio. But the smaller, more honest part of myself knew that it had everything to do with him.


    I walked outside, ready to drive myself to Elio’s office, but a ck sedan was waiting in our driveway. The driver rolled down the window.


    “Miss Caterina?” he asked.


    “Um, yes, that’s me,” I said.


    “Mr. Elio sent me. I’m his driver.”


    With a small smile, I tucked myself into the back of the car. It was nice to be taken care of, and I knew that Elio loved taking care of me.