lxii

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the two drove in absolute silence, the only sound being that of josh's breathing. not even the engine roared as they drove, the car was electric.

josh slowed his breathing so the car was barren of noise, trying to listen for hers. his heart was still beating out of his chest, unaware of where they were going. she breathed so softly, so faintly, it was like she wasn't breathing at all.

soon, the car pulled into the driveway of an apartment building. it looked contemporary from the outside, and based on the lobby josh had a peek at as they pulled it, it was. it looked expensive, too.

rosemary parked in a spot with her name on a sign in fornt of it, then locking the car door. she got out without a word, but josh was used to that by now. josh watched as she walked past other cars towards the building, not even turning back. quickly josh got the hint and got out of the car, running to catch up to her.

"ms. michelson, a client came in earlier asking for you." the secretary at the front desk said, pushing a stack of papers rosemary's way. rosemary simply nodded and took the papers, holding them to her chest with one arm.

rosemary then continued to walk, josh again taking the hint late and having to jog to catch up. rosemary had already pressed the button to the elevator by the time he caught up, and luckily they didn't have to wait long.

inside the elevator were rows and rows of buttons, but rosemary didn't press any of them. instead, she took a key ring out of her pocket and inserted it into one of the 4 keyholes at the bottom of all the buttons. the elevator dinged, and they started going up floors.

josh always hated elevators, they gave him anxiety. he gripped the rail behind him and stared at the floor number above the buttons as it increased, and it never seemed to stop.

right as his vision started to get blurry from dizziness, he felt a hand on his bicep. he looked to his left and saw rosemary looking up at him, searching his facial features. she then nodded, and he knew exactly what she meant. he had no idea how she noticed his attack, but he was grateful.

she moved her hand up from her abdomen as she took a deep breath in, then moved it down as she exhaled. she nodded to josh, and he finally understood that she was trying to help him with his attack. he tried breathing in sync with her, it working bit after bit.

rosemary then spun her finger around, telling him to keep going as she did something. she took his hands and put down three of his fingers on his left hand, only leaving his index and middle finger up. she rested them on his wrist gently, and he immediately felt his pulse. it was slowing down, much slower than he thought it was. it was calming to know it was in his own head, and not his heart actually racing. soon enough, josh was calm. and he really only had rosemary to thank.

"thank you." josh said quietly, suddenly shy around the girl. she simply nodded and took her hands away from him, stepping away from josh. it disappointed him when she moved.

the elevator dinged once again, and the doors opened to reveal a room with a couch and a tv. rosemary walked out of the elevator, and josh followed. she had a penthouse?

the apartment looked huge with the furniture in it. it was just a plain white couch with a grey soft blanket, a grey rug under a small glass coffee table, and a flat screen tv. it was a huge place with high ceilings, it felt cold. every noise echoed.

there was a set of stairs leading up to the second floor, which had a small balcony that over looked the living room. the design was very modern.

rosemary placed her things on the coffee table, her converse clicking against the dark hardwood until she stepped onto the rug. josh just stood right in front of the closed elevator, his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape as he looked around the apartment. rosemary glanced over at him for a quick second, but she had to do a double take when she saw his expression. she then walked over and used one finger to lift his chin, closing his mouth for him.

josh cleared his throat and blushed, looking down at his feet nervously. his hands were in his pockets as he stood still. when he looked back up, rosemary was gone. his eyebrows furrowed and he started to cautiously walk around the apartment, then coming upon a kitchen. it was giant. there were double ovens, a gas stove, a double door refrigerator, an island, and plenty of counter top space. there wasn't a lot of things on the counter tops, actually.

the amount of storage was unreal. the kitchen flowed through the rest of the apartment with many rooms he decided he wouldn't go in. instead, he carefully climbed up the stairs, looking to the right once he was at the top. there was a large balcony with a beautiful overlook of the city, and he couldn't help but gravitate towards it. he quickly pulled out his phone and snapped a picture once he was out, not daring to look down. the elevator said they were on the 40th floor, he didn't dare look down that far.

once he got his picture and put it on instagram, he retreated back indoors and continued his search, more looking around than searching at this point.

as he looked around he found many rooms that were most likely meant to be bedrooms, but they were converted into other things.

one was a room with floor to ceiling bookshelves, each shelf packed with various books. they were even separated by genre. the only other thing in the room was a chair and a table with a single lamp on it.

the next room was just one thing; a grand piano. it was right in the center, and he almost wondered how much a small girl managed to get a grand piano into her apartment.

the next room was a single desk against a wall, and there were windows all across the back wall. the desk was facing right out, and the view was amazing. it had neatly organized papers on it, each drawer having a lock.

the next room was what he assumed to be her bedroom, as it had a single mattress and black bedding. there was a stack of books beside the mattress. the most interesting thing about the room was a swing hanging down from the high ceiling, looking right out at the city. the walls, again, were lined with windows, giving yet another perfect view. but aside from that, there wasn't much else in the master bedroom. the mattress didn't even have a bed frame, it was just a mattress on the floor, alone.

josh refrained from looking into her closets, but he would admit he was highly tempted. he wondered how she could have so much space and not be filling her house with all sorts of items. he knew she wasn't just moving in, or he would have seen boxes around.

josh moved on to the next room, which was a gym type room. it had various pieces of equipment, only one of each though. he again wondered how she managed to get all of this into her apartment, but he just moved on.

the final room, aside from the bathrooms, had only one thing inside. a hot tub that was built into the floor. if he didn't look down, he probably wouldn't have noticed it.

josh was shocked. what kind of architect thought it'd be a good idea to put a hot tub on the top floor of an apartment building? he didn't doubt that it was entirely safe, but it still amazed him. it was drained, probably so there wouldn't be water damage if something did happen and there was a hole of some sort. there was a remote to the side of it right on the ground, which had loads of buttons and options. one being 'fill.'

josh quickly closed the door to the room and made his way back downstairs, only to be greeted by a fluffy black and white puppy sniffing at his calfs.

josh awed out loud and crouched down to the level of the small dog, knowing immediately it was a husky. her collar jingled, and the name engraved on the metal piece read "ruby."

"rosemary!" josh shouted through the apartment, making the husky puppy whimper. living with rosemary, she probably wasn't used to noise. josh immediately felt bad and repeated saying no over and over in a stereotypical soft puppy voice trying to calm the poor thing down. soon, he saw rosemary squat down with him and start to softly pet the puppy. immediately she got happy and jumped at rosemary, her then doing something i never thought i see her do. she smiled. it was nice to know that she had at least some emotion.

smiling suited her. i wanted to make her wear one more.

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