"Please. Please please. Pleasepleaseplease."

"Shut up. Shut up shut up shutupshutupshutup."

Nick's mouth dropped open in exaggerated shock. "Purple girl. Mimi-chan. Sumire-san. You did not just tell your good friend Nicholas Francesco Pensieri to shut up. Did you?"

Sumire bit her lips together in a hopeless attempt not to laugh.

"I didn't know your middle name was Francesco," she said.

"Stop trying to change the subject," he demanded.

They were sitting at her kitchen table with the movie script open in front of them. Her noisy AC unit rattled in the corner, because late July in Los Angeles was just too hot, even for a second floor apartment that caught a nice cross breeze from huge windows.

"Mine's Susan," Sumire said, ignoring him. "When I was little, I had a lisp, you should've heard me try to say my name because my two front teeth didn't come in forever. Hi, my name ith Thumire Thuthan, nithe to meet you," she said, holding her hand out with a laugh.

"Stop, stop," Nick begged, trying not to laugh. "And stop changing the subject. Please come to New York with me? We can go straight to Japan together from there. It'll be so fun, and you can meet Darcie! You'll like her, I promise!"

Sumire sighed.

"I'm sure I would," she said, nodding. "She sounds perfectly wonderful, and really fun. I just don't want you spending any more of your money on me, you know?" She sat back. "Don't you remember what it was like not to have money? And how it felt to take from people who did? Or not to want to?"

"Yeah, I do," Nick answered. "But this isn't like that. For one thing, I don't just 'have money,' Sumire. I'm loaded. I made good money as a model, and I didn't get sucked into drugs, or partying, or any of that shit. I didn't get tangled up in an expensive divorce, or child support, you know? And that was before I started acting, which is when the really crazy money started rolling in. The only big ticket items I've shelled out for are my house, and my family's education."

He sighed and shook his head.

"I won't even notice you're with me on this trip, financially speaking, and that's the god's honest truth. We can stay in a nice hotel, see a couple of plays, you can meet Darcie, and--" Nick smiled and snapped his fingers as a new idea hit him--"we'll have an extra week to study!" He lifted the script and waved it in her direction. "What about that, sensei? Weren't you just saying you wish we had a few more days to work on stuff? Polish some things up?"

Now it was Sumire's turn to sigh. "What you described doesn't really sound like there will be a lot of time for studying, though," was the best she could come up with. She knew it sounded weak.

She exhaled, a sound of defeat that Nick recognized. "Oh, all right," she said.

"Yes!" Nick fist pumped and smiled. "We're headed to New York!"

"Coach, right?" Sumire asked. "We're flying coach?"

Nick just stared at her. "Dude, I haven't flown coach since I was, like, fifteen," he told her. "I'm not going to start now. Besides," he added. "I get recognized too much in coach, the girls won't leave me alone, I can't get any rest. This smile's too famous." He grinned across the table at her.

Oh brother.

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Sumire swiped the keycard and entered their suite at the Plaza hotel.

Wow.

Nick watched as Sumire took in her surroundings, wordlessly dropping her pull case and walking from the main room through to the smaller bedrooms and smaller sitting room.

"Oh my god, Nick-san, you weren't kidding when you said you were loaded, were you?" she said, her voice quiet with awe.

He smiled.

"What floor are we on again?" she asked, looking out the window at Central Park.

"I forget. The nineteenth, I think?" He shrugged. "And before you start spouting off about the money, Darcie is living poor in a dorm at NYU, so this is for her. She loves this stuff, you know?" He walked behind Sumire to look out the window as well. "But I don't get it. Your parents, your stepdad and mom, I mean, have money, right? You must have traveled with them? Stayed in nice places like this?"

Sumire turned to look at him. "I suppose," she said with a shrug. "I mean, the house in Boston is nice, and yeah, when we went places, the hotels were okay, but they were never into luxury for its own sake, you know? I don't know, I guess it's different when you're with a friend." She turned back to the spectacular view and didn't see Nick's pleased smile.

"So pick a room, Mimi-chan," he said after a minute.

"Really?" She turned away from the window to face him. "You know, I feel bad. I mean, for all this place is so huge, there are only two bedrooms, which means you and your sister will have to share." She looked uncertain. "I can sleep on the sofa in the sitting room, that way you can each have your own room...?"

"No no no no," Nick was shaking his head before she finished speaking. "Darcie and I shared a room when we were little, we're used to it," he assured her. "We like it, we get to talk in the dark, like a slumber party, you know?"

"Really?" Sumire asked again.

"Really truly," Nick said. "Now go, grab a room."

So Sumire took her pull case into the smaller of the two rooms and put her things away until she heard a woman's voice in the main room.

She emerged to find Nick embracing a young woman with Nick's brown hair and hazel eyes, though she was about six inches shorter than he was.

"Hello! You must be Sumire," she declared, releasing Nick to approach Sumire, hand extended.

"I am. It's a pleasure to meet you, Darcie," Sumire replied, shaking hands, relieved that she wasn't expected to hug her.

She couldn't stop staring at Nick's younger sister, looking back and forth between her and her brother. They seemed to be used to it, smiling and looking at each other.

"I know," Nick said when Sumire blinked and opened her mouth to say something to Nick. "We look a lot alike, don't we?"

"That's, like, the understatement of the century," Sumire said. "Wow."

"I got lucky in the looks department, that's for sure," Darcie said with laugh, putting an arm around her brother. I model a little on the side? Just to get through school? And sometimes I can get work just because I look so much like Nick, which is so so cool."

"You lucky fuck," Nick said with affection, bussing his sister's temple.

"So, which room is ours?" she asked her brother. "And what's first on our itinerary? Please say lunch, Nicky, I'm starving!"

He pointed her to the room they'd be sharing, and said, "Let's go get some lunch, okay?" He looked at Sumire for her approval. "Unless you want room service, Darce?"

Darcie emerged from their room, putting her hair up in a pony tail. "No, that'll probably take ages at this time of day, let's go out." She, too, looked at Sumire. "Do you care?"

Sumire shook her head. "I'm fine going out. I haven't been to New York in ten years, so this is all fun for me." She gave Nick a little smile of gratitude as she walked out the door.

Darcie, who saw the look and the smile, gave her brother a little nudge with her shoulder as they followed Sumire out the door.

He smiled sheepishly and nudged her back.

🍙🍣🍙🍣🍙🍣🍙🍣🍙🍣🍙

They found an air-conditioned cab to get out of the August heat and went to a Japanese restaurant that Darcie knew about but could never go to because it was too expensive. It was very good, and because Nick was a celebrity and Sumire spoke fluent Japanese, they were seated immediately and given the very best service.

"I don't know if I find it disgusting or really cool," Darcie said with a bemused smile as they were brought fresh appetizers on the house.

"You know you love it," Nick teased, eating the fresh fish appetizer with gusto.

"I've noticed my whole life how everyone in a Japanese restaurant changes when they find out I speak fluent Japanese," Sumire said. "Some places even serve us different tea and miso soup."

Darcie stared at her.

"I know, isn't that terrible?" Sumire asked, eating her fish, her eyes widening at how good it was. "I've wondered if it's that way at other restaurants? Like Greek speakers at Greek restaurants, or Italians or whatever?"

"Who knows?" Nick asked rhetorically. "Let's just enjoy it, since we're here, though, what do you say?"

"Agreed," Darcie said. She picked up her sake. "To having a great time while you guys are here," she toasted.

"To having a great time," they echoed. "Kampai!"

They thoroughly enjoyed their late lunch, and took their time.

By the time they were finished, it had cooled off enough that they decided to walk back to the Plaza. They took their time, walking along Central Park South, which was shady at this time of day.

"Well, Nick, thanks for getting my week of fun off to another rockin' start," Darcie declared, linking her arm through her brother's.

"You know, Darce, that you could live like this all the time if you wanted," Nick told her. "I'd gladly pay for an apartment for you, and for your food and all that, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know, I know, but it just doesn't feel right. College is supposed to be the time when you share a bathroom with three other people and eat ramen and pre-game on shitty beer and stuff, you know?" She leaned forward to address Sumire, who was walking on Nick's other side. "You get what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Sumire nodded. "I do, actually, believe it or not." She gave Nick a small sideways glance and a tiny smile.

Nick grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, which surprised both of them. He let go after a second, but she felt the impression of his warm fingers long after.

"And I already made reservations for dinner for us, okay?" he told the two women he was walking with. "Since you both have birthdays this month, I thought we could go out for a crazy expensive meal and a fancy schmancy cake and all that. Doesn't that sound like fun, you guys?" He looked back and forth and smiled his famous smile at both of them.

And Sumire was able to smile back in the sultry New York afternoon, though not as big and bright as Darcie, and nod.

"Yes, it sounds like loads of fun," she agreed.

"So let's go back to our suite and watch a movie and veg and nap or whatever, and rest up for this orgy of food and cake," Darcie suggested with her brother's famous grin.

"Sounds like a plan," Nick agreed.