La Vie En Rose

Chapter 15

One of the boys - Katy Perry

“Sitting in a stale van with a bunch of smelly boys for the next six hours...” Lola stated as she threw her cheerleading duffle bag into the back of her car. “I’ll pray for you.”

I yawned and placed my sunglasses over my eyes. It was an early Wednesday morning. Seven am to be exact. Kennedy called me at the ass crack of dawn, telling me they were on their way to pick John and me up. It took a lot of convincing to get my mom to agree to me going with a bunch of boys to an entirely different state. She eventually gave in, making sure I was fully aware that she trusted me and that was all that mattered.

Now, I was standing on my driveway next to Lola and her car, clad in a black and grey silky raglan tee, my blue skinny jeans and chocolate-colored moccasins, watching the band’s van drive up on the curb.

The door of the van slid open, revealing a hyper-looking Kennedy, “Mornin’ Sunshine!”

Lola and I starred at him. Did I mention Lola and I weren’t really good at playing early birds?

Lola pulled me into a quick hug, “I have to go or I’ll be late for school. Call me tonight, stay safe and...” She paused, looking over at the van. John was now by the trailer with Kennedy, throwing his bag in the back with the instrument, “...get yourself into trouble for once.”

I rolled my eyes as I started walking over to the van, “Good luck with your exams!”

She gave one last wave before hopping into her car. I turned on my heel and walked over to John and Kennedy. When John noticed me, he threw me a warm smile. The butterflies in my stomach erupted immediately as I nervously smiled back. Was this going to happen every time he looked in my direction?

“Who’s bright idea was it to leave this early?” I asked as Kennedy took my duffle bag and placed it in the trailer that also held everybody’s instruments and suitcases.

Kennedy laughed and disregarded the question. “Come on, moody pants, we got you coffee.”

My frown was instantly turned upside down when Kennedy said coffee. Suddenly, I was looking at this road trip at a whole new angle.

John smiled when he noticed me visibly lit up. “Kennedy, you may or may not of just made her day.”

I was just about to respond when Pat rolled down the window from the passenger seat and stuck his head out. “What’s the holdup? We wanna go!”

There were four rows in the van total: Kennedy occupied the first row, Jared in the second, Garrett and I in the third and John in the last row. Tim and Pat were seated in the front, listening to Talk radio faintly.

During the first hour in the van, I was thoroughly entertained by watching Jared and Garrett slip in and out of consciousness. Garrett’s head was slowly falling towards the window as he dozed off with his mouth wide open. This was starting to get boring quickly. I was wide awake now after finishing off the coffee Kennedy got me.

I heard shuffling behind me. Maybe John was still awake? I was too nervous to turn around to see what he was doing. Heck, I couldn’t even breathe when he was around me. There was no way I was going to start a conversation with him first. So sue me, I’m a very stubborn person.

I thought about carrying on a conversation with Kennedy, who had his back up against the window with his knees leaning against the back of his chair, but in risk of waking Garrett and Jared, I decided against it. Instead, I pulled my hair up in a messy ponytail, pulled out my planner and got to work. I had called Alma the night before, to tell her the good news about NYLON magazine. After the copious amount of shrieking and yelling repeatedly, ‘OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD’, we eventually both calmed down and talked about what I could do while I was in Hollywood for the next couple of days.

“California is vastly populated with models who have mad experience on the runway.” Alma advised on the phone. “You should hold some model auditions at your hotel! You might as well start rounding them up for your fashion show in May.”

“Wouldn’t it be a little pricey to fly them over to New York?” I cringed at the thought of it. Paying for thirteen to fifteen airplane tickets would leave me bankrupt.

“G, you wouldn’t pay a dime. Model agencies pay for their plane tickets when they have to work in a different state or country.”

I took up her advice and typed up quick emails to model agencies in Los Angeles, hoping the word would spread quickly since it was a last minute decision. I did an extra tweet about it just incase anyone missed it.

So now, here I was, writing down notes on what my ideal requirements were in a model. I tapped my pen apprehensively against the paper while I thought long and hard about what kind of woman I wanted to see in my designs. Classy women, definitely. A younger version of Audrey Hepburn, perhaps? I bit the top of my pen before scribbling down ideas.

“You seem perplexed.”

I felt his warm breath against the back of my neck as he spoke in his sonorous voice. I could feel the goosebumps rise along the back of my neck, sensing he was closer to me than I anticipated. I smiled before turning around to look at him. He was leaning his arm along the top of my seat, his head propped up on his hand as he sleepily looked over my shoulder. Adorable, I thought, just so, so adorable.

“Just thinking about what I have to do when we get to LA.” I responded, looking down at my planner as I drew circles on the top of the page idly.

“Hey, make sure you have time for me in that busy schedule.” He pointed at the pages. “I don’t want you disappearing on me now for the next four days!”

“Says the guy who’s going to be busier than me!” I teased. Our faces were so close, almost inches apart. I could feel the heat rush to my face as my eyes glanced at his slightly parted lips. I wonder what it was like to kiss him...

“Yo, I just had the craziest dream about zombies.” Garrett was suddenly awake, lifting his head from the window. This caused John to push himself back into his seat. I tried hiding my frown. “I’m starving. Aye Tim! Get off at the next exit! I think it’s time for some breakfast!”

We ended up at a Denny’s in Blythe, California. From what I gathered, it seemed like a ghost town. The parking lot at the restaurant was close to empty and from the looks of things, there wasn’t much around. All I could see was an abandoned-looking gas station across the street and a dingy 7/11 store.

Everyone was a lot more lively after they dug into their food. As I watched all the guys feverishly demolish their pancakes and eggs, I realized how weird it was that I was the only girl with them. Did I hate it? It was hard to say. It wouldn’t hurt to have Lola or Alma around but I could get used to this. These guys were so different compared to the usual crowd I was hanging around with. They weren’t gay, for one. But it just wasn’t their orientation that bemused me, it was how...Western they acted. I couldn’t quite categorize them. ‘Modernized cowboys’ had come to mind but I quickly dismissed it - that would be highly exaggerated. They were just guys who loved their plaid shirts...and food. Nonetheless, it was acutely refreshing. This was all new to me, and I was welcoming the situation with open arms.

I tried to conceal the smile that was forming on my lips, quickly picking up my glass of milk and taking a sip.

By the time we were back on the road, it was eleven am. The sun was now high up in the clear blue, cloudless sky. I hugged my upper arms tightly as we all walked back to the van. The breeze outside told me two things: One, we were getting closer to the west coast and two, I shouldn’t have packed away my jackets in my bag.

“Are you cold?” John noticed me rubbing my arms rapidly with my hands. He stopped walking for a second to let me catch up to him. Awe!

“A little.” I admitted. “I’ll be fine once we get back into the van.”

“Here, take this.” He started unzipping his hoodie from his own torso. He was offering me his jacket? I couldn’t believe it.

“No!” I exclaimed. “It’s fine! I don’t want you to be cold!”

He rolled his eyes and grinned. He was already holding it out to me. “Take the jacket Gigi, you need it a lot more than I do.”

My heart raced like a goddamn car in a NASCAR race. Just hearing my name leave his lips made my legs turn to jelly. I grudgingly put on his black hoodie and zipped it up. It was a little big on me, but not by much. His scent lingered the minute I put it on - peppermint with a dash of Old Spice shampoo.

I smiled at him and raised my arms out, so he could view it. “How does it look?”

John reached for the hood and put it on top of my head. He laughed as I scrunched up my nose at what he was doing. “Perfect.”

The atmosphere in the van had changed drastically after the stop at Dennys. The music was pumping loudly and everyone was....well, dancing. We were all suddenly hyper after eating brunch. It was when Pat turned up Slipknot full blast, and Garrett and I started air-drumming along with the song, that everyone started to completely lose it. Kennedy was practically falling off his seat when Garrett and I started to sing the lyrics to Slipknot while Jared started filming us with his iPhone. Even John was leaning against the window, covering his mouth as he laughed whole-heartedly at Garrett and myself.

“This is going on twitter!” Jared exclaimed, typing quickly on his phone. “That was probably the most hilarious thing I’ve witnessed in this van, by far.”

I laughed and sighed, taking a breathe. “Damn, that was a work-out.”

Garrett put his hand on his stomach and sighed as well. “You said it, G-spot. We make a good team though.”

The song ‘Dirty Picture’ by Taio Cruz suddenly thundered in the van, getting all the guys hyped up again. Before I knew it, they were all fist pumping to the beat obnoxiously. I threw my head back and laughed at the determination in Kennedy’s face. This was totally getting out of hand.

By the time we got to the hotel, I was ready for a well-overdue nap. While Tim checked us in at the front desk, the band and I sat on the random sofas in the lobby with our luggage. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. It was a pretty decent hotel; they had their shiny marble floors and feeble, jazz music playing softly in the background. It was no Four Seasons, but it wasn’t exactly a sketchy motel either.

Tim walked over to us several minutes later with two cards in his hand. “Okay, I got two room with two queen beds each. I figured Pat, Jared and I can share one room and John, Garrett, Kennedy and Gigi can stay in the other. Is that cool with everyone?”

Theu all turned to look at me. Clearly, that question was directed to me since I was the only girl. Hey, I was sharing a room with John. I had zero complaints. “It’s all good.”

“Roomies!” Kennedy exclaimed excitedly as we all moved toward the elevators.

“Don’t worry G-spot.” Garrett said. “If Kennedy misbehaves, he can sleep on the floor.”

When we arrived at the room, Garrett dropped his bag and collapsed on one bed, face first, Kennedy mimicking Garrett’s exact moves on the other bed. I rolled my eyes and dropped my bag next to Kennedy’s dangling legs before walking over to the window and peering down at the roads below us. As tired as I felt, I couldn’t help my curiosity of Hollywood overwhelm me. I had only knew about this place from watching movies. I wonder if it was great as they portrayed it.

“I’m going to fall asleep.” Kennedy announced, his voice muffled from talking into the duvet.

“Me too, bro.” Garrett agreed, pulling one of the pillows and situating it under his head.

So this is what it’s like to live the life of a rockstar? What a hard knock life.

I turned around and noticed John was watching me look out the window. He smiled at me before speaking. “You wanna ditch these dead beats and go venture?”

I nodded quickly, slipping my phone in my back pocket and grabbing my messenger bag before following John out the door again.

“You’ve never been to California, have you?” John asked as we exited the elevator and sauntered through the lobby.

“This is the first.” I admitted, following him out onto the sidewalk. I assumed he knew where he was going, so I followed him. “I’ve always wanted to visit Los Angeles. The movie Malibu’s Most Wanted made this place very appealing to me.”

He looked at me with an amused expression before carefully grabbing my hand. It was such a sudden movement, I had no time to react. He tugged at it before speaking. “If I recall correctly, you owe me lunch and I know just the place you can take me.”
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I've decided I want to start putting songs along with chapters to ~set the mood. I like finding songs that seem fitting with the situation that is portrayed in the chapter.

Anyways, I know that was a bit jumpy but hey, they're in Cali now! Things may or may not happen in Cali, who knows...hehe ;D

In the mean time, I'd really like some feedback from all y'all! Let me know whats on your mind. I wanna hear aaaaaaallll about it! Come on now guys, don't make me beg! I'll get down on my knees if I have to.