Little Fish Read Free

gotta go now. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
    My mom sighed. "Alright, sweetie. I'll talk to you then. Love you, Winnie."
    "Love you too. Bye." I hung up the phone and set it down on top of my mail pile. It was Wednesday, my date with Alex the following day, and I was getting giddier and giddier with every thought about it. I couldn't help but wonder where he would be taking me. I felt like I was in a movie, like Pretty Woman without the prostitution and Julia Roberts's ridiculous laugh. For all I knew, Alex could be the guy to sweep me off my feet, and I wasn't one to not take a chance like that.
    I heard footsteps down the hall accompanied by humming. It was Anna, walking to her own door. She hummed almost constantly. I poked my head out the door to see her carrying a brown paper bag and fumble with her keys. She noticed me, turning towards me with a smile. "Hey Winnie. How's it going today?"
    Her blue eyes were merry, as if they were smiling at me. Anna was always in a good mood, whether she was going to a party, a casting call, or knocking at my door at 8 pm with a tub of ice cream she needed help finishing when she bombed a big audition. That's how I knew she and Calder would hit it off: They were way too similar. "It's alright. Tomorrow's the big day."
    She beamed, her brunette ponytail brushing against her shoulders as she got up on her tiptoes with glee. "Oh my God, it is! Make sure you come over afterwards and tell me everything, mmkay?" I felt a blush creep up on my cheeks as I smiled back at her.
    "Okay, for sure. As long as Calder isn't totally up my ass about everything." I complied, and Anna reached into her grocery bag and fished out a rather large bottle of tequila.
    "Don't worry. He will be thoroughly distracted."
    Alex was grinning at me from booth ten for most of the afternoon, only asking for coffee once as I ran around like a mad woman serving the lunch rush. I had honestly wished I'd brought another outfit after seeing what he was wearing: A nice suit, like always, dark blue with a pale blue tie. His face was a little scruffy, making it seem a little less formal to me. But still, I had only brought a cute red pencil skirt and flowy black top with matching flip flops to change into. I felt a little under prepared.
    "Ready?" Alex asked eagerly as I came out of the back room at the end of my shift, shaking my wild curls out of my ponytail and letting the hair splay over my shoulders freely. He was standing in the doorway, holding out a hand to me. I felt myself grin like an idiot as I took it.
    "Let's go."

IV.
    "I can't believe I'm on a date with a billionaire."
    Alex chuckled as he stood beside me, arms crossed over his chest and what felt like his gaze lingering on me. I was far too preoccupied to check and see if my gut was telling the truth; the wall-sized picture window before me gave me an entire view of the lower half of Los Angeles, all the way down to the edge of the ocean. It was possibly the greatest view I had ever seen, even better than the ones in all the travel magazines I had read throughout my high school years. "Well, millionaire actually. I didn't invent Microsoft, you know."
    On the limo ride (I sighed merrily inside at the thought), Alex had explained that he worked in the stock market in New York with his father as a young adult, and after saving for a few years he turned to his real passion: customizing homes. He'd revamped homes in the Valley for some has-been socialites and actresses, and now he'd turned it into a world-wide venture as a project manager with a small personal staff. He explained to me that he would be flying out to London next week to go over blueprints with some big investment banker guy, and that he was really excited about it because he had a new carpenter on his hand-picked staff that he hadn't had the opportunity to work with yet. His eyes sparkled, like sunlight reflecting on the ocean, when he told me about it.
    "Right, of course. My bad for just assuming." I