Life in Technicolor

Her business was that of fairytales and happy ever after.

She was the girl who would try to make all your dreams come true by allowing you to have that perfect day, she was the one whom all the women in the city flocked to the minute their dearest one had placed the two carat ring on that special finger. She sold the dreams of happily ever after and despite what other people might think she fully believed in what she was doing.

Valerie Hart worked in a bridal shop and she loved every minute of it.

Maybe it was because her grandparents were firmly on track to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary, or maybe it was because her own mother had been married three times before finding the right partner for the rest of her life, Valerie knew to believe in the fairytales and happy endings. She knew that they didn’t always come easy, but she knew they were worth fighting and waiting for.

With twenty one years of life behind her and with no bigger plans to move onto college, Valerie was more than happy to work for her mother surrounded each day by ivory laces and veils that were fit for princesses. She didn’t need college professors to lecture her on the lessons of life when she learned these working alongside her closest friend and family member every day, and when she saw smiling brides to be walking in and out of the shop doors all year round. She didn’t need books to tell her about the emotions that people felt when she witnessed them the minute the radiant women slipped into the perfect dress and burst into tears of joy.

No Valerie didn’t need books or teachers to tell her how to live life, she just needed her friends and family, the rest she learnt along the way.

One important factor in Valerie’s life was her best friend. He had been a constant throughout her life, ever since he had moved to Orange County. Despite the fact that he was a musician and actively touring since the day he finished high school their friendship had remained steady over the distance. Even though regular phone calls weren’t always part of the fixture, whenever they met up again it was as if they had never been apart.

Valerie’s world and the relationships she had were bright and vibrant. Everything in her life seemed to be turned up a few watts and heightened in saturation, she saw colours that not many other people saw and maybe it was something to do with the fact that she worked in such a positive environment or whether it was because she was in such a stable place in her life, but Valerie knew to be thankful for the joy she had in her life.

Not many twenty one year old girls would be content to work in a bridal shop every day on a passable salary surrounded by their mother. But of course Valerie wasn’t most girls. She was a bright girl and if she really wanted to she could have gone to any university of her choice. But she didn’t feel like she needed it. She was good with people and she had a sense of style. She helped her mother with wedding gown designs and she was always a blessing when one of the customers had a small emotional moment in the shop.

Of course she did have doubts, she was plagued with them on an almost daily basis. The young glowing women that came through the doors gushed about their fiancés whom they met whilst studying at college, they chatted about their degrees and their college graduations and often this was a blow for Valerie who at times had to admit that she was jealous.

However all that was needed was a trip down to Santa Monica. She would walk the boardwalks and sit on the pier until the sound of the waves and the gentle crow of the soaring sea gulls washed her worries away. She would remember that she just wanted to live her life and be happy, she didn’t want to be restricted by college times and assignments that did nothing to further her personal development.

She furthered her personal development by actively surrounding herself by people that were good for her.

Andrew McMahon was one such person.

She had been blessed by his presence for longer than usual. He had been tired and needed to come home. His band that had been with him from almost the minute he finished high school had exhausted him. He was no longer in a good place and just wanted to come home. Ever since his arrival back in Valerie’s life he had been writing, writing and writing. Him and his notebook had thankfully become a regular fixture in her life again. He would either be sat on the beach with it or in the back of the shop watching Valerie work and pause to scribble another song line down.

It even went so far as her own apartment.

She had a whole warm yellow painted wall dedicated to his inspirations and lines. Whenever he came over and had a new thought it would be written on the wall. She literally has his thoughts splashed across her walls. His drawings and his words were a constant reminder to her of what a person was truly capable of and just how much Andrew still has to give to the world. Every word and thought seemed profound and had its own gravity to which she spun. She needed the words. Whenever his absence punctuated difficult days she would listen to his songs both the Something Corporate songs and the demos that he had been sending her from the studio. She was also one of the first people who kept receiving regular track lists and album updates, and with every new song and with every new line she knew that one thing was true.

Andrew was part of her fairy tale.

It was the season for fairy tales to come true. Everything around Valerie indicated this.

Springtime had been good to the residents of California. The sun smiled down upon everyone and the soft breeze made curtains flutter and the clouds glide on. For Valerie and her mother it was the busiest time of the year. Everybody loved a spring or early summer wedding. There seemed to be a never-ending stream of women who flooded the shop in search of that perfect dress. It was Valerie’s favourite time of year even despite the erratic weather and the grumblings of unhappy bridesmaids.

However, something about spring this year felt different.

Sometimes a sudden wave of discomfort and fear would wash over her, and she was highly weary of these feelings. It felt as though something was going to go wrong very soon and that there was nothing she could do about it that would make the situation better

But Valerie did her best to bury these feelings deep down, somewhere where they would not rise up again and plague her daily thoughts. She threw herself into her work and kept herself busy by seeing her friends and spending as much time as was physically possible with Andrew. He was at home more often now, not just because he needed to rest his head and clear his thoughts, but also because he was putting the final touches on his new CD. It was his first solo CD since he had been touring with the band that had kept him sane throughout high school.

It was the spring of new beginnings and changes, you could almost taste that in the salt filled air that flooded inland from the coast. Valerie knew that this year would bring some changes, but she could have never anticipated just how great these were going to be.