A/N Again the disclaimer. I do not know personally anyone mentioned. This is purely a fiction exercise. Also because English is not my native language you may have to excuse some mistakes I may write. That being said I hope you enjoy it. :)

So, the day of your birthday, which is also the New Year's Eve, has arrived. You are already used to celebrate both things at the same time.

After being reunited with Grant again the day before and clarifying a misunderstanding, you spent the rest of the day together and the night. In the morning Grant left with Jett to his place. You would only meet later again at the party. Lots of your friends are going to be there and also Grant and some of his friends. The fact that Joan and Doug are dating each other gave you the perfect excuse for his.

The party will be held at your friend Sophie's place, by the beach. You spend the day helping your friends getting everything ready and finally people start to arrive.

"Hey, looking gorgeous, uh? He has good taste." Nate teases you, referring to your dress, the dress Grant offered you for Christmas.

"Yeah, he has, that's why he's with me." You tease back.

Nate shakes his head laughing and then lowers his voice, "So, tell me, how will you and Grant manage to stay away from each other all night? I mean, it's your birthday and New Year's Eve..."

You sigh. "I honestly have no idea. Well, we already celebrated my birthday together this morning... Tonight maybe I'll hide with him in the bathroom come midnight. So I can kiss him like crazy. Heheh." You chuckle.

"Right. Hope you two manage somehow. After all, you're now officially his girlfriend!" Nate teases you laughing.

You roll your eyes with a smile and you two join your friends.

"So, when's your Doug arriving?" Sophie asks in a teasing way to Joan.

"I hope soon or there will be blood!" She giggles.

"Hahah! And he'll be bringing his friends... Grant too, right?" Sophie makes a cheeky smile.

Joan nods. "Yeah... Speak of the devil... They're here."

You all look at Grant, Doug and a couple more friends arriving. They all come in your direction. You and Grant look at each other briefly trying to disguise the best you can your feelings. Doug kisses Joan first while Grant is already in front of you.

"Happy Birthday, dear publicist." He smiles, giving you a friendly hug.

You chuckle. "Thank you, dear client."

Nate stares at you and Grant amused and then all the others greet you with Happy Birthday wishes and gifts.

"So, how are you all?" Grant asks smiling.

"Good." You smile back.

"Yeah, we are. And you? Ready for the party?" Sophie asks all giggly.

"Totally." Grant glances at you quickly.

"Good, so shall I get you a drink?" Sophie touches his arm.

You take a deep breath trying to control yourself. After all, your friend doesn't know you and Grant are together. For all she and everyone else know, except Doug and Nate, of course, Grant is single.

Grant quickly steps away from her and smiles, trying to be polite. "No, not just yet... Thanks."

"Are you sure?" She insists.

"Yeah." Grant looks nervously at you.

You decide to speak. "I know what he wants. Here." You hand Grant your almost full glass.

Sophie looks strangely at you and Grant. She frowns as Grant accepts the glass.

"Thanks." Grant says a bit embarrassed. He gives you a quick puzzled look. "What's this?"

You smile. "Your favorite." For yourself, you just think, 'oh stupid, control yourself, handing him your glass just like that and declaring you know what his favorite drink is...'

Nate decides to intervene as he watches the whole scene. "Hey, Grant, come with me, I'll introduce you to some people you don't know yet."

"Ok thanks." Grant is almost relieved.

As Nate and Grant walk from you, Nate shakes his head. "Jeez, Grant. You two are doing a lousy job if you really want to keep your thing secret..."

Grant smirks. "I know."

"I imagine it's not easy..."

Grant nods. "It's really not easy. I just want to lift her, spin her around and kiss her like there's no tomorrow."

Nate chuckles. "I can imagine... And then there's Sophie flirting with you. I don't know if you knew already but if you didn't I'm telling you now. Sophie has a crush on you. She obviously doesn't mean to be... inconvenient... She thinks you're single, so... Keep that in mind and don't do anything that feeds that crush. The sooner she understands you're not interested the better."

"Yeah, I had realized that already. It's really awkward."

"Sure, it is. And they work together which makes it even more awkward and... dangerous, if you know what I mean."

"I do. We're trying to sort this out but in the meantime..."

Meanwhile you're still with your friends.

"Ah, lucky bitch, you get to work with that perfection of a guy. You even get a birthday hug and gift." Your friend Sophie teases you. She then sighs looking at Grant. "He's so cute and hot."

Joan laughs and you nod. "He is."

Sophie then looks at you with a naughty smile. "I bet you'd also like to hit on him if you could. Well, you get to work with him, better than nothing. I, for one, try to get his attention but I get nothing. He's all polite and stuff but nothing more..." She smirks and continues, "do you know if he's dating anyone now? I mean, he broke up with his girlfriend over a month ago... And he's here with Doug, no girls... He's still single, isn't he?" She looks at you expectantly.

You shrug. "I don't know..."

"You should know this stuff, isn't he your client?"

"Well... I deal with his public image, he doesn't need to tell me every single detail of his private life and if he does I'm not allowed to talk about that..."

"Oh, come on, it's us here. It's not like we're gonna tell everyone. Please?" Sophie pouts.

Joan, on the other hand, winks at you. "Besides, you two are more than just publicist and client..."

You open your eyes wide. "What?"

Joan giggles. "You're friends, it's not just work. I still remember your first day meeting him, you were all sarcastic, even disdainful and then not even a week later you two were like best friends. I may seem distracted from everything else when I'm with Doug but I can still see that you two get along perfectly."

You shrug a little embarrassed. "We do. He's nice. I made a mistake judging him without even knowing him."

"Nice? He's adorable! Not to mention gorgeous. Well, since you won't tell me if he's single, I'm assuming he is, so excuse me while I go ask him if he wants to take a walk on the beach..." Sophie grins victoriously and walks away.

You smirk rolling your eyes and Joan looks at you amused. "Do I detect something there? Are you jealous?"

"Why should I be jealous? I just don't want Sophie to make a fool of herself. Grant and her have been together in several occasions before, since that night at the bar and in those parties and dinners we had, and this is not the first time she tries to get... well, closer to him and he's clearly not interested, so..."

"Yeah, you got a point. I've told her that before myself but she's a little obsessed with him... Oh well. I guess she'll just learn the hard way..." Joan looks in Sophie's direction and so do you. You see her talking to Grant and you see him shaking his head with an apologetic smile which you assume to be his rejection to the walk on the beach.

You nod. "My point exactly. So many guys here, why is she insisting on the one who's clearly not interested...?"

Joan shrugs smiling. "Well, she likes him... By the way, what about you? I could say the same... So many guys here... Or are you aiming at Grant too?"

"Oh Jo, please! Let's stop talking about Grant, shall we?"

Joan laughs. "Right. But you do look great together, you know? And you get along so well... Tell me, if you didn't have that stupid clause on the contract could things be different?"

You sigh with a dreamy expression. "I don't know..."

"Oh my god. You admit it. That's the only thing that's holding you two, isn't it? I swear, the way he looks at you sometimes... I've asked Doug about it, he says I'm crazy, that you and Grant are just friends who happen to have a work relationship as well, that Grant is certainly not interested in you as more than a friend, blah blah blah, but I'm not so sure... Honestly, you know you can tell me in confidence, I'm not gonna tell anyone, has anything happened between you two already?"

You look silently for a moment at Joan, trying to decide whether or not to tell her.