I put on my denim jacket and grabbed my bag that settled on the floor underneath my desk. This day was more exhausting than usual because my precious co-interns just love this job so much that they kept dumping all the work on me.

I didn't even bother with saying goodbye to any of them. They were just going to make my head hurt.

You know that an elevator is supposed to stay open for twenty seconds before it closes again? And in that twenty seconds, Mister Annoying and his little posse managed to get inside the same elevator as me, much to my dismay.

"Grace!" he grinned, as if we weren't in the middle of an insult match this morning, "Why didn't you tell us you were a Lelyveld?"

Please take that fake pleasantries far away from me.

"I don't see you parading your last name, so why should I?" I replied with a raised brow, my eyes focused on the screen showing the descending floor numbers.

At this point, I didn't care if they thought that I was rude.

Still, for this little buzzing bumblebee that won't shut up, it wasn't enough to deter him, "So we were planning to go drinking tonight, want to come?"

And by the grace of god, the elevator doors opened to the sight of the ground floor. I marched out with a huff, but still not forgetting to send a friendly smile to the receptionist and security guard.

These people were seriously thinking of drinking? When we have another day of work tomorrow? Unbelievable!

"Grace? What do you say?" he kept of probing and I was a hair's width away from snapping on him once again. When we all managed to get out of the building, I felt like the universe decided to bless me with one thing to make it up for the shitty day that I just got.

I saw Adam walking along the sidewalk, looking around with a to-go cup in his hand. We might not be close, heck I don't even consider us more than acquaintances, but it was enough for me to get these people off of my back.

"Adam!" I yelled out, faking enthusiasm, "It's so nice of you to pick me up."

He was so confused, it was written all over his face. Still, I continued on with my act and turned to the other interns, "Sorry guys, but I already have plans."

I shot them a tightlipped smile and stood next to Adam, silently urging him to walk away with me. Even though he had no idea what was happening, he followed me until we rounded up the corner and I was sure they couldn't see us anymore.

"I'm so sorry but I really had to make up an excuse to get them away from me," I explained hastily, constantly looking over my shoulder as if they were going to appear at any moment, "Thank you so much for playing along."

He blinked for a second to let my words register before his lips turned into an amused smile, "It's alright, I was just on my way back to the hotel. I tried to go around but it's rather boring when you're alone."

"Where's Sienna?" I asked because if he had only asked her, I was sure that she would say yes, "Didn't you ask her to go with you?"

"Well, she went me for a while but her boyfriend called and I told her to go ahead," he said, "I didn't want to go home just yet so I thought I would stroll around for a bit."

Wait, didn't he say that the main reason he was here was because he came for his best friend's birthday, "And your best friend?"

"Uh, she and her fiancé had to go to California for work reasons," he told me, scratching the back of his head, "I was supposed to go with them, but I already promised Sienna that I'd meet her in New York so I told them to go ahead without me. She booked me a flight for tomorrow morning instead."

California for work reasons? Extremely wealthy? Recent birthday? I'm just ticking the boxes until I come to a wonderful conclusion.

Instead of going all detective mode, I observed his features. His face was a little pink because even if it was summer, the nights could get really cold here. When I saw him earlier, he looked just little bit like a lost boy.

And there was something inside me that was screaming to accompany him. Maybe, just maybe, I wanted to spend more time with him.

What I was thinking of was wrong. I had no right to like him, if he wasn't for his momentary fling with Sienna, we wouldn't even know each other.

Strolling around together wouldn't hurt, right? It wasn't like I was going to jump on his bones or anything like that.

"Adam," I called out softly, doing an impulsive decision once again, "Want to take a walk with me?"

Even for a little while, I think he didn't want to be alone and I desperately needed to cool my head.

"Okay," he replied in a quiet voice, but that smile was still pulling up the corners of his lips.

"Come on, there's a guy who sells pretzels just by the other corner," I said, my legs starting to drive forward while he went to my side, "He's been there since we were young so he knows us pretty well."

The stroll there was rather quiet. Mostly because I didn't know how to keep the conversation. Trust me, I was a very talkative girl but there were just some cases where I wasn't.

And this was one of them.

We managed to get to the pretzel cart, the man busy with entertaining another costumer. I tapped Adam on his shoulder, tearing his attention away from the very fascinating stoplight he was looking at, and pointed towards the cart.

"Gracie!" the man greeted me joyously, "I haven't seen you in a while, I thought you forgot about me."

"Never," I gasped dramatically, followed by a lighthearted laugh, "Two pretzels please."

"Coming right up," he said, already going to work on preparing our orders, "And who's this fella over here?"

Adam waved rather awkwardly and I still kept that friendly grin, "This is Adam, he's visiting from England."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Adam nodded just as the vendor gave us the pretzels we ordered. I handed him the exact money.

"Well, you two take care."

We started to walk away again and when Adam took a bite, I watched as his eyes widened in delight at the taste, "This is amazing."

I laughed and also took a bite. Seriously, this and a huge ice cream were my ultimate comforts whenever I experience heartbreak – whether it was from a failed exam or a horrible break up.

Or when I had to sit there while my best friend obviously suffered from writer's block while still mending a broken heart she caused herself. And I couldn't do anything, because all tactics of even getting her out of her home was useless. I was busy with college also so while I did want to give her my undivided attention, I couldn't. I knew that I had no choice but let her sit out, wait until she was ready herself to move on.

Then she did. She moved to England and eventually, I heard about this man walking beside me right now.

"Sienna, met any handsome British men yet?"

I watched as there was a flicker of sadness in her eyes but she did her best to hide it. We were just talking about our experiences these past months and I knew Sienna felt like hers was less significant than ours.

But then, something managed to regain her peppiness and she smirked at the camera, "Yes, and he asked me out."

This was the very first time I heard about a guy. Though, that wasn't so surprising since Sienna did have a history of hiding her relationships from us. I wouldn't be shocked if she suddenly texted us that she finally got another boyfriend.

Yet I knew, even with her false cockiness, she hasn't completely moved on from Justin.

"Show us a picture!" I demanded enthusiastically, playing along.

In our group chat, she did. It was a picture of him smiling brightly at the camera, his eyes squinting a little bit due to the sun. His brown hair was styled, just casually and nothing too much, and he was posing right in front of the Hollywood sign.

She would soon tell us that his name was Adam Nicholas, a student in the same university she went to. They met at the plane and as if fate dictated it, they saw each other once again.

And from the get go, I knew she was going to get hurt. Or worse, she was going to hurt him.

But after I did meet him, I could see nothing but kindness and patience in him. From there, I figured out why Sienna wanted to fall in love with him. And if I could ever be so brave, I admit that I wanted to go out with him if my mind wasn't stuck with the fact that he used to date her.

Handsome? Very. Good personality? Check to that. 

"Want to take a break over that bench?" he asked, snapping me right out of my thoughts. I nodded numbly and followed him, sitting beside him as he settled down and threw away the piece of paper that held the pretzel into the trashcan nearby.

"You know, there's something oddly therapeutic about just walking around in this city," I spoke out loud, watching as the people passed by us. They didn't care about their surroundings, they all had places to be, "I mean, the smell is horrible, the traffic will get you nowhere, and there is a possibility that you might bump into somebody every five steps or so, but this is where I belong. You know what I mean?"

I turned to face him and I had to stop myself from flinching back when I saw him staring intently at me. He was looking for cracks, a way to decipher who I was without actually having to ask. But after a full second, he replied, "Yes. I do understand."

You can't out-observe a journalist. If he was looking for my cracks, I can clearly see his. I remember that expression when I saw him as I got out of the building – he was lost. Perhaps not literally, but there was clearly something wrong.

"So, what's up with you?" I fired, taking a bite of the now cold pretzel, "What's in the mind of the Adam Nicholas sitting next to me?"

"What?"

Alright, tone down a little bit. You're not here to interview somebody for an article, "Just tell me a story. Something about you? How has your stay in New York been?"

Simple questions, like the customary getting to know inquiries.

Hey Adam, do you see me as anything more than Sienna's best friend?

He was quiet once again, looking down on his hands with his elbows resting on his thighs. I sincerely thought I had to wrack my brain up for another way to lead this conversation elsewhere but fortunately, he spoke, "Can I be honest?"

"We're on a bench in NYC sitting next to a trash can with absolutely no idea of where to go," I laughed, "Go, be honest with me."

"I feel like shit," he blurted out bluntly and I had to retrack inside my mind.

Alright, this was something I didn't expect.

"I just feel like everybody around me has been moving on, going other places in life. My best friend just got engaged for Christ's sakes!" he exclaimed, releasing a frustrated grunt at the end, "And me? I feel like I'm stuck. I'm not improving, but I'm not regressing."

There it was – the feelings he had been bottling up. It must have been so difficult, and probably even seeing Sienna was another reminder of how everybody around him has been moving. She was happily in a relationship again and from what I've gathered, he was stuck to being single.

And honestly, I felt this guilt that I even had the audacity to like him. Right now he didn't need a girlfriend, but just one friend to bring him back down to the ground.

"Everybody moves at their pace," I said, finally giving up on this pretzel and just letting it sit on my other side, the one that wasn't next to Adam, "Just because you see somebody sprinting in front of you while you're taking a slow stroll doesn't mean you have to run as well. He's going to a different direction, somewhere where you aren't supposed to be."

I gestured to the sidewalk filled with people, pointing to one person talking loudly into his phone as he attempted to weave through the crowds of people as fast as he possibly could, "That guy is obviously in a rush, but you don't see us getting up on our feet and feeling nervous because we also think that we have to hurry."

"We're just sitting on this bench because we have no place to be right now," he finished my whole speech for me, "But that doesn't mean we'll just sit here forever."

"Precisely," I smiled, taking one his hands and clasping it between mine, using the other hand to pat his reassuringly, "We'll get where we're supposed to be at some point, but for now, relax."

Be a friend, Gracie, be a friend.

He chuckled under his breath, covering my hand that was holding him with his free hand. He enclosed that one hand, gracing me with that gentle smile as he stared straight into my eyes, "Thank you, Gracie."

And needless to say, I was captivated. For the words that I managed to spit out to encourage him, all of it died down in my throat. Because that stare, it held me down. The way he held my hand, it wasn't forceful or any of that sort but I still felt his warmth radiating through it.

From that lost expression, it morphed into one that was filled with gratitude. He made me know that it was all for me.

"Adam," I didn't know how my voice could crack with just saying his name, but it did, "Shall we go?"

"Okay," he replied breathlessly, but neither of us moved. We still sat there, our hands together and just looking into each other's eyes.

I didn't know who started it. In fact, it all happened so fast. However, the next thing I knew, we were both leaning closer and our lips were mere centimeters apart.

"We should really go," I spoke so softly that if we weren't this close, he wouldn't have been able to hear it.

"Yeah," he voiced out his agreement, but instead of moving back, he finally closed the distance between us and pressed his lips against mine.

My eyes closed and I gladly reciprocated the kiss, feeling as he intertwined the fingers of our joined hands. I felt my hair whipping towards his direction and I could still smell the horrible smell of New York trash. Yet, none of those mattered in that very moment.

Forgive me, but I like him.

He pulled away, moving back just a few inches, "I feel like I will sincerely regret it if I let you go right now."

"And I feel like I will regret it if I go home now."

Spoiler alert, I didn't go home that night.

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Since these are just extras, I decided to just post them during consecutive days. So tomorrow, the last extra will be posted and then we're done! If I can't post it tomorrow, I'll say so on my social media accounts.

By the way, I just realized that I never announced it on Wattpad, but all of my published works can be purchased in e-book format. So yes, you can buy the published versions of Falling For The Opposite and Hollywood's Princess, as well as a collab book that I made with two other authors entitled Born Wicked. The link is in my profile. They go for Php165 or $3.32 each.

I do hope you like Gracie for Adam!

See you guys next chapter! Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow.