My workday ends quickly. I swear, I began working on my app only an hour ago. But one hour turned out to be 5 hours before I even knew it. I look out the window and see the sun beginning to set. As busy and crazy as LA may be at times, the view is something I will never get tired of. I could never afford a view like this in my apartment. The view from my office makes up for every time I complained about the building on the opposite side of my window at home. This view is breathtaking. It's all mine, too.

I look down at my phone and see that not only is it well past my regular workday, but it's actually almost 8PM.

"Damn." I mumble to myself as I pack my laptop up and grab my car keys. As I turn the lights out in my office and close the door behind me, I see a light inside of Grayson's office still on.

I walk towards his door and hear faint conversation on the other end. Who is he even talking to? More importantly, why are there so many people still here?

"Grayson?" I ask, knocking on the door lightly. I open is carefully and poke my head inside nervously.

"Natalia." Grayson says with surprise. When I get a full look inside of his office, I see Shane sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"I'm so sorry. Am I interrupting something?" I ask, holding one of my hands up in surrender.

"No, no. Shane here was just leaving, actually." Grayson says with a brief nod.

"I was?" Shane asks, earning a stern look from Grayson. "I mean, yes. I was." He says, correcting himself.

He stands up from his seat and shrugs past me quickly.

"It was nice seeing you again, Natalia. We're glad you're up here with us." He says with a smile and leaves the room.

"Is everything okay?" Grayson asks me as soon as Shane leaves.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I didn't really realize that I was working this late today." I say with a small laugh.

He gives me a small smile and waits for whatever else I may say.

"I just wanted to see if you needed anything else before I leave?" I ask.

"Oh, no. I'm actually leaving, too." He says, closing his MacBook and standing up from his seat.

"Oh, great." I say with a smile. "Do you want to walk down with me?" I ask.

"Uhh...yeah. Sure." He says, giving me a tight smile as we exit his office.

The silence takes over the entire floor as we walk towards the elevator. There is absolutely no noise other than the sound of his sneakers on the floor. They squeak with each step that he takes. It's distracting, really.

"So, how was your first day?" He asks, clearing his throat as we enter the elevator.

"Good. Really good. Thank you, again." I say, pressing the button to the first floor.

"It's the least I can do." He says, leaning back on his heels.

We stay silent for most of the ride downstairs, and I feel relieved when the elevator doors open. I hear his shoes behind me as I walk out of the small space.

"Did you drive here?" He asks, looking down at my keys in my hand.

"Oh, yeah." I say with a small smile.

"Oh." He says, nodding in understanding.

"Where did you park?" I ask as we approach the parking garage.

"I take an Uber to work." He states.

"Really?" I ask. "Like, everyday?"

"Yeah." He nods.

"Oh...why?" I ask. There is no way he can't afford a car. This guy has to be rich.

"I don't like driving." He states simply.

"Yeah, LA traffic is a nightmare." I say with a small laugh. He nods his head in agreement, but stays silent. "So...do you maybe want a ride?" I ask.

He gives me a nervous look and stays silent. I totally overstepped. Why in the hell would Grayson want or even need a ride from me? He probably wants to sit in an Uber. Why in the hell would he want to be trapped in a car with me.

"That seems kind of out of the way." He says.

"It's no problem." I shrug. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. I just thought I'd offer." I explain.

"I live in the middle of downtown." He says, informing me of where I would actually have to be driving.

"Yeah, that's like...a few miles away. Come on, I don't bite." I say, leading him to my car.

"Are you sure?" He asks. "I'm fine with getting an Uber. I get one every day." He says.

"Yeah, it's no problem. I love driving, so it works out for both of us." I say. He nods and follows me to my car. Yeah, it's not much. But, considering that he has probably been in cars much worse than my own, I'm not too nervous.

"Thank you." He says, giving me a tight smile.

"So, where to?" I ask as I unlock my door.

"Eastern Columbia building." He says, taking a seat in the passenger side.

"By the Whole Foods?" I ask.

"Yeah." He replies. I can hear him messing with something in his pocket, and I recognize the sound almost immediately.

"You know what I noticed earlier?" I ask, starting off the conversation. I have a feeling i'll be the one to lead most of the conversation between us.

"Hmm?" He hums in reply.

"While we were at the meeting, I saw that you had some of those rattlesnake eggs." I point out.

"What?" He asks in confusion.

"Rattlesnake eggs. You know, those little silver magnet things? You click them together and they make a cool sound. Like...a rattlesnake." I point out.

"Oh, those." He says, nodding his head. "Yeah, I have those." He replies.

"I haven't seen them in years. Like, I was probably fifteen the last time that I saw a pair. So, it was really cool to see that you still had some." I say.

"They help me." He tells me.

I nod in reply, not really sure what he even means by that. The car becomes silent once more, and I'm really not even sure what to say at this point.

"How old are you?" He asks me out of no where.

"I'm twenty five." I say with a smile. "How about you?" I ask.

"Twenty eight." He says.

"Oh wow, you're the same age as my brother." I point out. He nods in reply.

"Do you have a lot of siblings?" He asks.

As I approach a red light and bring my car to a stop, I take this opportunity to look over at him. He must have pulled the magnets out of his pocket because he's quietly twisting them in his hand.

"No, only Nathaniel." I tell him.

"Nathaniel is your brother's name?" He asks.

"Yeah." I say with a smile. "My parents wanted our names to kind of match in a way. So, they picked Natalia and Nathaniel." I say.

"I like your name." He says simply. He doesn't look over at me or even out at the road. His eyes are focused down at the magnets in his hand.

"What about you? Do you have any siblings?" I ask.

"I have a brother and a sister." He says, nodding his head.

"Oh, that's cool. How old are they?" I ask.

"My sister just turned twenty one and my brother is thirty." He states.

"Aw, twenty one is such a fun age." I say.

"Yeah." He mumbles in reply.

Thankfully, we approach his building and he begins to noticeably relax. I have no idea why he seems so...on edge with me. I guess I'm not much better around him. He makes me nervous, and I'm probably not too good at hiding it.

"There should be an entrance to the parking garage over to the left." He tells me. As I look over, I see him looking at me briefly before staring back down at his hands.

"It's beautiful here." I say, glancing up at the towering building above us.

"It is. I love it here." He replies.

"I bet the people at the top have an amazing view of Downtown." I point out.

"We do. I live in the tenth floor." He says.

"Really?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yeah. There's a balcony and everything. It has a great view." He says.

"I'm jealous." I say with a laugh. "The only view that my apartment has is of the building next door."

"Would you like to see?" He asks after a few moments.

"See? Like...the view?" I ask, excitement in my voice.

"Yeah." He says with a small smile.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes." He says with a nod.

"Well, yeah. I would love to." I say, finding a parking spot and turning my car off.

"Okay, great." He says with a nod as he gets out of the car. Right as I'm about to get out of the car too, I stop when I hear a slightly familiar voice.

"Hey, fucker. I thought you were going to wait for me." Grayson turns around and is instantly greeted with Shane walking towards the car.

I step out of the car and see Shane's surprised face.

"Natalia. Hey?" He asks, looking between Grayson and I.

"Hi!" I say, trying my best to hide my embarrassment. This must look absolutely awful. Not only was I accused of having some kind of relation with Grayson before, but now I'm being seen with him at his apartment. To make it worse, I'm being seen with him by the head of HR. This couldn't get any worse.

"Sorry. Natalia offered me a ride home." Grayson says, giving Shane a look of worry.

"No, no. I get it. It's cool. I just...wasn't expecting to see you two here...together." He explains carefully.

"I invited her up to see the view." He replies with a small nod.

"The view...I see. Well, if it's a view that you're wanting to see, you should check out the rooftop." He says, looking at me with a smile.

"Do you live here too?" I ask politely.

"Yes, Ma'am." He says as we all walk inside of the building. "Same floor and everything."

Grayson presses the button for the tenth floor as we all pile into the first elevator we see.

The silence fills the space one again, but this time it's even worse than before. Because not only am I being awkward with the head of the company, but I'm being awkward with the head of HR too. Great. Just great.

The climb up to the tenth floor seems long, but when the elevator doors open, all three of us step out and kind of pause. Shane turns to look at Grayson nervously.

"Okay, well...I'm this way." He says, pointing down the hallway. "Have a nice night, you guys." He says before turning on his feel and walking down the hallway quickly.

Grayson leads me down the opposite end of the hallway and stops at a door a few feet down.

"This is me." He says, nodding at the door. This apartment must be nice, because the door doesn't even have a key. It locks from a little keypad on the outside of the door. As Grayson types in the code, a little green light pops up on the pad and he opens the door quickly.

"Sorry if it's messy. I don't really ever have guests." He tells me.

"It's fine. I'm sure it's a lot cleaner than my place." I say with a laugh. When I turns on the light, I feel my eyes grow wide. This apartment is fucking massive. No, this isn't even an apartment. This is like...an LA loft. This place is so much nicer than any apartment I could even begin to imagine.

I was right about one thing. This guy is definitely rich.

"It's beautiful in here." I say. He apologized for it being messy, but there isn't even a sock on the floor. There is absolutely nothing that would even begin to describe the word messy.

"Thank you." He says, as he walks towards the kitchen. "Would you like something to drink?" He offers.

"A water if it's no trouble." I say with polite smile.

He nods and walks towards the refrigerator, pulling out two bottles of water.

Not only did he just pull out bottles of water, but he pulls out bottles of Fiji Water. This guy can't even have Aquafina or Dasani in his fridge. He has fucking Fiji Water.

He walks over and unscrews the cap on my bottle before handing it to me.

"Thank you." I say with a smile. He just unscrewed my bottle cap for me. Who the hell is this guy?

"No problem." He says with a nod. "So...want to see the view?" He asks.

I nod my head and follow him towards the back of the room. He opens a large patio door revealing a smaller balcony. He gestures for me to step out first as he follows behind me. I have absolutely no words for the sight I see below. The lights are bright in the city below us. I see the cars driving quickly and the flashing of business signs. This is my new favorite view.

"It's unbelievable." I mutter.

"I love it out here." He replies, looking out at everything below us. For the first time since I've known Grayson, he seems completely calm and carefree. It's nice to see.

"I thought the view from my office was nice, but this is even better. This is my new favorite view." I tell him. He smiles at me and then takes a sip from his water.

"Did you want to go on the roof and see the view from up there?" He asks me.

"Yeah, for sure. Are you sure, though? I know it's getting late." I tell him.

"Of course. I'm more than happy to do this." He says, giving me a small smile. I follow him out of the apartment and back to the elevator where we climb another four floors. When we step outside, the warm air greets us. I smell the faint smell of chlorine as we step further onto the roof.

"Is there a pool?" I ask.

"Yeah, it's around the corner." He tells me. He leads me around the corner and my heart leaps as I see where we are. A large pool takes up a majority of the roof, with seating surrounded it. Shane wasn't playing when he said that the view on the roof was amazing.

"This is absolutely insane." I mumble out in complete awe of the place.

"It's nice." He says in agreement. He walks over to the far end of the roof and takes a seat at one of the tables.

"How long have you been living here?" I ask, taking a seat next to him.

"I bought my apartment a little over a year ago." He says, taking another sip of his water. I almost forgot that I was still holding mine.

"Wait, you're not renting?" I ask.

"No." He says.

"This must have cost an absolute fortune." I say more to myself than to him.

"It was a good investment." He says.

"So was Shane here first or were you?" I ask.

"We moved in at the same time. I was living with him previously, and once our lease was up we decided to just...move." He shrugs.

"I didn't know you two were so close." I say.

"He's a really good friend." He tells me. "I met him in high school." He tells me.

"Did you go to high school in LA?" I ask.

"Yeah. Did you?" He asks.

"Yeah, I did. Where did you go to school?"

"Whitney." He states simply.

"Wait, like...Gretchen Whitney?" I ask.

"Yeah." He nods.

"No way! I totally went to that school. You might even know my brother! When did you graduate?" I ask.

"I graduated in 2009." He tells me.

"You have to know my brother! Nathanial Zamora! He was on the swim team all throughout high school." I say. He seems to be thinking for a second before shaking his head.

"It doesn't ring a bell." He shrugs.

"I graduated in 2012." I say. "That's probably why we never saw each other." I say.

He nods and looks out at the water. I follow his eyes and see the small ripples in the pool.

"Were you on the swim team?" He asks suddenly. I'm momentarily confused by his question, but quickly remember what brought that up.

"No. I was a cheerleader for about a year or two, but didn't really like it." I say.

"Why?" He asks.

"Everyone was just so rude. It's like being a cheerleader made them better than everyone else." I say.

"You don't think that?" He asks me.

"Of course not. We're all the same." I shrug.

I look over and see him smiling at me softly before looking back out at the water once more.

"Fancy seeing you two out here." We hear beside us. We look over and see Shane walking towards out table. If I didn't think he was hot before, I definitely think it now. His shirtless body is practically glistening while swim trunks sit low on his hips.

"You were right about the view. It's amazing out here." I say, trying to look only at his face.

"It sure is. You guys going to swim?" He asks, setting a towel down beside us and walking towards the edge of the pool.

"I didn't exactly come prepared." I say with a laugh.

"Well, come and put your feet in. The water is great." He says, motioning for us to come over to him. I look over to Grayson and see him shrug before setting his water down and walking to the edge of the pool.

He slips his shoes off and places his feet into the water. I go and take seat next to him, mimicking his motions.

"See, not too bad." Shane tells us as he floats on his back in the water.

"It's nice." Grayson says with a small nod.

Almost as quickly as I get comfortable, I hear my phone ring on the table.

"Perfect timing." I mumble sarcastically as I begin to pull my legs out of the water.

As I pull myself up, my right foot slips on the edge and I fall directly into the water.

"Oh my God." I say as I push my now completely soaked hair out of my face.

"Are you okay?" Grayson asks, reaching for my hand to help pull my out of the water.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was so embarrassing." I groan.

"Why?" He asks me with confusion laced in his tone.

"I just fell into the water." I say with a laugh.

He pulls me up and grabs Shane's towel from the table, handing it to me.

"Here, use this for now." He tells me.

"But, it's Shane's." I say, looking behind to see Shane staring at the two of us.

"It's fine! I'll just have Grayson bring me a new one." He yells over to us. I nod and wrap myself in the large towel.

"Thank you." I mutter.

"I have some clothes in the apartment you can wear so you aren't cold." He tells me, guiding me back into the building. The second we step foot into the air conditioning, I feel myself grow goose bumps.

"You're cold." He says, looking at me. His question feels more like a statement as I nod in agreement.

"I have some sweatpants you can wear. And a t-shirt." He says quickly.

When we get back to his apartment, he rushes into his bedroom and comes back out with a pair of grey sweatpants and a large red sweatshirt.

"Here, you can put these on." He says, handing the clothes to me.

"Thank you." I say with an appreciative smile. "Do you have a bathroom?" I ask.

"Yeah, it's just down the hallway. First door to the right." He tells me, nodding towards the hallway.

I rush into the bathroom and slip into his clothes. They smell faintly of a cologne I've never smelled before. I'm sure this wasn't on purpose in any way. I'm sure all of his clothes smell identical to these.

I bring the sweatshirt up to my nose and smell the fabric softly. I can only imagine that Grayson smells like this, too. I've never been attracted to someone because of the way they smell, but if everything that Grayson owns smells this good, then I'm hooked for sure.

As I exit the bathroom, I see Grayson sitting on his couch in the living room. He stands up when he sees me.

"Do you want me to put your clothes in the dryer or something?" He offers.

"No, that's fine. I should probably wash them, anyways." I say with a small laugh. "Thank you again, for the clothes. I'll get them back to you tomorrow." I say.

"Yeah, no problem." He says nodding his head.

We are silent for a moment before I finally break out silence. "Well, I should probably go ahead and get out of here. It's getting pretty late." I say, exhaling nervously.

"Yeah. It is." He nods in response. "I'll walk you down." He says, grabbing his phone and slipping it into his pocket.