My eyes cracked open when I heard the banging going on downstairs. For all of my brother's good qualities, being silent in the morning was not one of them. I stayed in bed for the following half hour, hearing him hit pans around and run up and down the stairs grabbing things.

I could hear him talking to himself and I rolled my eyes. It was as if he was doing everything in his power not to let me sleep. Finally, the door to my room was practically kicked open as he came hurrying in.

His hair was kind of messy and his buttoned shirt had a button hanging on the bottom that he had decided to skip. Something told me that this had been going on for a while, or since Minerva had left.

"I'm off to work. There's breakfast in the kitchen and I don't know if you have any plans for today, so I left a pair of house keys down there as well. Oh, and-" My brother paused, catching sight of me as I rose into a sitting position.

"What?" I questioned.

"You said that guy slept over a couple times, right? So, I'm guessing he saw your bed head?" My brother asked. I was still asleep, so I didn't catch his drift. I nodded my head, remembering how many times he saw me in the morning.

"Damn, well he must have really liked you then." My bother commented with a look of horror on his face. My hands shot up to the bird's nest that sat atop my head.

"Jerk!" I yelled, trying to flatten the damn thing. Andrew only chuckled before waving. The door closed right after, leaving me all alone.

I really had nothing to do that day, or so I thought. My phone started buzzing right after. I checked the caller I.D. seeing Johnny's name on the screen.

"Yeah?" I answered, hopping out of bed.

"Rise and shine, Princess! I've been waiting for you all morning!" Johnny blasted from the other side.

"What?" Sheesh, I really was slow that morning.

"Fashion week is in exactly two months. One does not simply design an entire line in a day." Johnny said with a fake British accent.

 I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't hide the fact that it actually sounded sort of exciting. I finally told Johnny that I would meet him in an hour and he gave me the address.

I quickly dressed, picking stuff out from the clothes he had bought me. I settled on some salmon colored skinny jeans, a printed silk shirt, and some cream colored pumps. The weather was still chilly, so I wore a long beige coat. I did my usual bun, since it was freaking tradition at that point.

I inspected myself a couple of times before my cab finally arrived. This was definitely the start of a new Lilly. I locked the house and made my way to the waiting vehicle. Giving the driver instructions, I settled into my seat. The ride was sort of long, but we finally made it to a tall building. It had no signs and was practically all windows. It was located in a nice part of the city, so I didn't immediately worry about getting murdered.

I followed Johnny's instructions and got on the first elevator I saw. I pressed the fifth floor key and felt the machine come to life. The whole place had been dark and kind of musky at that point, so I was super shocked when the elevator doors opened and I stepped into the room. It was huge and simple

There were four completely white walls, lovely tan wood floors, and big bright lights hanging from the ceiling. There were several white tables throughout the room. Towards the right wall there were hundreds of rolls of different kinds of fabrics. I saw sewing machines scattered throughout the place, and supplies everywhere. Even though the room was filled with tons of things, it was still organized and clean.

I don't know how I missed Johnny, who was standing behind one of the long white tables with fabric in his hands.

"Oh. My. God. Fenster, where have you been hiding that style!" Johnny yelled, excitedly, looking at me. I looked down at my clothes and shrugged. I was not about to tell him the back story behind my attire.

"What can I say? I pull fashion sense out of my ass." I replied drily.

Johnny surprised me by chuckling and waving me over. He quickly focused his attention back on some stitching he was working on, leaving me to find a stool to sit atop of.

"Did you bring what I asked you?" Johnny asked with his attention completely focused on what he was doing. I took the opportunity to glance at his work. I had to admit, the stitching was the most perfect thing I had ever seen. I hadn't worked with Greta long enough to get putting things together well. My ideas were there, but the construction had been utter crap on my part.

I was momentarily filled with sadness as I remembered my friend. Shaking the feeling off, I pulled out the many wads of napkins and paper from one of my coat pockets.

"You are kidding me. Ew! If that a fucking stain, Fenster?" Johnny dramatically claimed once he caught look of the mess that I had just set on the table. I rolled my eyes at his childish behavior and started to straighten some of the napkins.

"I'm sorry," I claimed with an equally dramatic attitude, "It's not my fault that I had no plans of becoming a famous designer and was connived into becoming one! I would have done all my sketches on actual paper, if that had been the case."

"Funny." Johnny said, looking at me with narrowed eyes.

"Thanks." I said in an equal tone, giving him a fake sweet smile I knew would irk him.

That's how we would be around each other for the rest of our lives, or so I would realize later on. It was weird, but despite our conflicting personalities and jabs at each other, Johnny and I would grow to be pretty close.

The rest of the day consisted of us two working on copying my sketches onto clean paper. Johnny and I worked together on fixing some of the rough parts of my ideas, along with choosing a couple of the materials and colors. I could tell Johnny was impressed with my designs, which was kind of ironic, because most of them looked like sloppy napkin stains.

There was one particular design that caught his attention. The minute we folded the paper open, Johnny grabbed hold of it and brought it up to the air so that the light could shine though the sheet.

"This one," He ominously said.

I lifted a brow, looking at him curiously.

"This is your closing dress. This has to be the dress you end your show with."

I was about to reply, but I heard the swoosh of the elevator doors echo around the room. With my design still up in the air, an entire crowd burst into the room. Alright, I was being dramatic, the 'crowd' consisted of three people, but the people in the room could have been multiplied into more.

Robert walked in first with his hands tucked into his pockets. He gave me a weary smile the minute he walked into the room, which made an idea all of a sudden spring into my head. Had he been the one who sent me the text?

I had tried to forget the stupid text all day, not even letting myself wonder who it was from, but seeing Robert had brought the mystery back to life. Next came in Martin Vance with Minerva in tow. Seeing her threw my off completely, because I couldn't shake the feeling that I was seeing a different person. She didn't even give me the stink eye!

Could Minerva been the one to send me the text?

"How's our work coming along?" Martin asked snidely. He really was too much to handle. I rolled my eyes, but remembered my plan. I was not about to tip him off about my real thoughts.

"Fabulous! You should see these designs!" Johnny claimed, making the rest of the people in the room come closer to do just that. It was really awkward for me to have people inspecting my work right in front of me. I didn't know what to do with myself, and I couldn't stand to see people looking at my actual designs. I tried to focus my attention on anything else, trying to make myself believe that it was just a normal thing. Several minutes had passed as Martin Vance looked through the new papers with Minerva right beside him. Robert was on the opposite side of Johnny, and all three crowded around.

That's when I noticed it.

I couldn't shake the familiarity of the way that Minerva and Martin were standing.

They were like magnets. Every once in a while Martin would practically gravitate closer to Minerva. In turn she would scoot further away. I guess that neither of them knew that I was noticing, because once Martin pulled away slightly, it was as if Minerva couldn't help but move slightly closer. Almost like a tug of war.

I was in the middle of spying on them, when Minerva turned around. Martin and Robert were still discussing my work with Johnny. Minerva looked at me funny, as if she were trying to figure out why I was looking at her so intently. I made a point of shooting my eyes towards Martin's back and grinning at her. I even winked so that she would get my message.

Minerva's cheeks reddened as her eyes darted to Martin, like myself. She shook her head slightly, brought a determined look at her eyes, and made a huge point of scooting towards the opposite side of the table. You would have thought that Martin had the plague with the way Minerva ran.

Martin and Robert finally pulled away from their inspection. I focused on helping Johnny stack the papers together, when I heard Martin's voice vibrate towards the room.

"Alright, so the limo will pick you all up around eight." He said decisively, buttoning his suit in the process. Everyone started to nod their heads, aside from me. I was completely confused about his statement.

"You know, I really appreciate you guys never tell me what's happening! Makes me feel like I'm a real part of things!" I claimed with dripping sarcasm.

Martin chuckled, clearly undisturbed by my cynical attitude.

"You're all coming to the grand opening of my new bar Angels and Kings. This is especially important for you Lilly." Martin claimed with a smirk.

I looked towards Johnny who was looking at me knowingly.

"How else do you think we're going to introduce you to the public eye? This is one of the most important events of the year!" Johnny claimed like a giddy little boy. Clearly he was excited about the upcoming event. Even Minerva who was the biggest prude aside from me looked excited.

I don't know why my stomach clenched, but it was probably my psycic skill.

"So, that means that anybody who's anybody will be there." Robert said with his Texan twang. He was looking at my pointedly, and I slowly realized what he meant.

"Anybody? You mean-" I didn't finish my question. The looks I was getting from everyone in the room answered it. I saw Minerva's spiteful streak strike up at that moment, because she took the chance to answer my question anyway.

"Yeah, he'll be there." She spoke flatly.

I don't know what I was more worried about. Minerva knowing about Joshua, or the fact that I was about to come face to face with him that night.

You guys excited about the next chapter? Because I can't wait to write it! I hope you liked this one and expect an update really soon, because Sugar Babe will probably be over in a week! Please vote, vote, vote! (Your votes might convince me to post the chapter even sooner ;)

Finally, I posted a picture of Lilly's outfit on the side. I'll also be posting a picture of Lilly's party dress in the next chapter, as well!

:)

Thank you so much for your comments, votes, reads, and fans!