Nowhere To Go But Up ⋆ Lin-Manuel Miranda x Reader

Chapter Eight

I couldn't believe it.

I absolutely could not believe it.

Now away from the sleek and stuffy confines of Claudia's office, away from the sound of the editor's flawlessly manicured fingernails drumming upon the desk and her unnerving steely eyes, I was now sat alone in my car in a strange kind of trance. I was utterly stunned and somewhat dazed after that meeting.

After all the hard work I had done... After all those months of sleepless nights and hoping....and now...

I wanted to tell him myself. Or maybe I just wanted an excuse to talk to him?

Fingers fumbling for my bag, I reached for my phone from amid the loose change and gum wrappers before sinking back against the seat with a shaky sigh. My thumb hovered over the screen but then, on spur of the moment, I decided to bypass texting entirely and pressed the little green call icon.

I scraped back the tears which had been falling down my cheeks, heart pounding in my ears as I listened to the phone ring.

And ring.

And ring.

And ring.

Nobody's answering...

Oh, what was I even thinking of? This was a stupid idea. The famous Lin-Manuel Miranda hasn't got the time to waste on the likes of little old me -

"Hellooo?" came an eager voice.

"Oh bugger, you picked up!" I blurted out quickly in surprise before I could stop myself and clapped a hand to my mouth.

"No need to sound that disappointed," Lin said, but his tone was one of amusement.

"I'm sorry - I'm not - I was just - "

I cut off my own rambling as a shaky laugh bubbled out. What was it about being pretty rusty with remembering the English language all of a sudden and forgetting how to form a simple sentence when you were nervous? What were words again?

"You-you took me by surprise, that's all," I told him. Not for the first time either. Pulling myself together, I greeted him, "Hi, Lin."

"Hi, {Y/N}," Lin answered, and I could hear the trace of a laugh in his voice.

Goodness. I just loved the way my name sounded on his lips. His voice was soothing, the consistency of warm honey on this chilly autumnal morning, and I felt my heart skip as he uttered my name. It somehow sounded so soft and genuine the way he said it, as if it were something he'd been saying his whole life, practicing until it was perfect - because it did.

Alright, focus! Focus on what you rung him for in the first place...

"I've just seen Claudia," I sighed.

"How did it go?" he asked me eagerly, "Am I talking to the next budding Annie Leibovitch?"

I didn't reply but my silence told him all he needed to know.

I heard him groan, "Aww shit, no, you're kidding me?" His voice growing softer with a sympathetic sigh, "I'm so sorry, {Y/N}..." 

But at hearing his genuine sympathy, I simply didn't have the heart - or the self-restraint - to keep this charade up for too much longer.

"Claudia's going to publish my photos!!" I shrieked excitedly down the phone, bursting at the seams, practically bouncing up and down in my seat, "Lin, she liked them - she said yes! She's going to publish them!!"

"What?" he yelped.

There was loud cheering and a long whoop that I was almost deafened and had to hold the phone away from my ear. But I couldn't help laughing happily at his reaction.