La Vie En Rose

Chapter 24

Ella Fitzgerald - Dream A Little Dream Of Me

The sound of my brown leather, knee high Steve Madden boots clicked loudly against the tile flooring as I quickly scurried down the hallway of Arnold Hall. My oversized tote smacked against my hip as I skid around the corner and headed for the stairs while I carefully balanced my caramel infused coffee in the other hand. When I finally reached the last step, I inhaled deeply, found my composure and made my way to lecture hall 212.

I was never late for lectures. Never. I enjoy being punctual for class. I liked arriving ten minutes early, finding a good seat and mentally preparing myself for the copious amount of knowledge my professor will throw at me and the rest of my peers for the next hour and a half. So you could say I was a little frazzled right now over the fact that my art history lecture started five minutes ago. Technically, it’s not my fault. I planned on being ten minutes early. The line at Starbucks was a little longer than I expected and I couldn’t just ditch when they were having caramel coffee on sale! My priorities are messed up, I know.

I carefully and quietly pushed open one of the double doors to hall 212. Thankfully, the lights were dimmed and my professor was showing a slideshow presentation on the large screen. This meant I would attract less attention. Perfect.

My lecture hall is somewhat similar to a movie theatre layout. The desks are set on certain levels, the highest level being in the very back and the lowest level being closest to the professor. I made my way up the steps and picked an empty desk next to a girl my age who was dressed head to toe in labels. A typical sighting at fashion school, trust me. I placed my coffee down onto the desk and pulled out my laptop as my professor droned on about how Greek mythology inspired the style of pottery & pitchers back in Greece. I took a sip of my coffee and logged into my email as a wash of relief fell over me now that I was settled in.

I’ve been back in New York city for four and a half weeks now. Alma was right when she said time would fly by - I barely remember January passing. I couldn’t believe it was February already. I’ve managed to keep myself exceedingly busy with school work, my new clothing line and making future plans for the fashion show I’m having. I’ve even finally hired myself a fashion publicist. Her name is Sharon Berry and trust me when I say she is a great addition to my life. With bouncy red hair and 1950’s-inspired spectacles, she’s a hard working woman. The minute I hired her, I’ve suddenly-no, magically-been thrown into the public’s eye. Everything started to kick up. I was featured in the Art’s section of the New York Times with a picture of me working on my latest designs and a bold font title saying ‘WHO IS GIGI KING?’. That definitely started to stir commotion. Ever since my feature, I’ve been receiving calls from reports, asking for interviews and chain department stores throwing job offers my way which I have politely declined. Alma & I are convinced that Sharon is a magician of some sort. She’s already on the hunt for good locations to have my fashion show and is helping me come up with interesting concepts for the show itself.

That’s only the beginning of all the madness that has started this year. I held more model auditions in NYC and picked out the final models who are going to walk. Then there was the photo shoot a couple of weeks ago that Alma shot for me (so thankful to have her as my best friend, seriously.) in a rented out hotel room that showed off some of my latest creations. A lot of sleepless nights, editing and stressful decisions have been made within the past two weeks. Most people would be exhausted but I’m too ecstatic over the fact that everything was finally all coming together.

I let my mind wander while the professor continued talking about the slideshows being shown on the screen. I glanced around the hall and noticed a lot of students who were on their laptops, weren’t taking notes but checking facebook and blogs - typical. I took another sip of my coffee and leaned into my propped up hand. I was exhausted. Positively wrecked. I stayed up until five am last night working on the paper that was due today for this particular lecture. I wonder if the professor would notice if I closed my eyes for a couple of minutes...you know, like a power nap? I’ll just close them for maybe a second-

Promptly, my phone buzzed rapidly in my pocket which instantly sparked my interests. I pulled my phone out and read the text.

From: John

Ready for our skype date after your lecture? ;) xoxo Gossip Girl


I silently giggled at John’s text and rolled my eyes. I almost forgot I promised him a skype date after class since I couldn’t chat last night. We’ve been skyping occasionally these past couple of weeks but recently, he’s been into doing it on the daily now that him & the rest of the boys started their tour with All Time Low and Mayday Parade. They’re all really animated about this particular tour since they get a huge tour bus to live in. According to Garrett, this is a big deal since it’s their first time traveling in a tour bus rather than a van.

“It’s the bees knees, G-spot!” Garrett exclaimed when he called me last week. “Now we get to have girly movie nights in the front lounge, play video games and bring dirty girls into our bunks and do dirty things.”

“Garrett!” I warned, cringing at his words.

“I kid, I kid” Garrett chuckled. “But the girly movie nights sound ace, am I right?”

With a couple of quick announcements and reminders about the midterm next week, art history was dismissed twenty minutes early. I quickly packed up my stuff, tightened the scarf on my neck and practically flew out of there. I was officially in high spirits. It was Thursday morning and I had no more classes until Monday. I was free for three whole days. I can finally take the longest nap of my life.

The sidewalks of New York city were packed as I maneuvered my way back to the apartment, anticipating the warm cosy bed that waited patiently for me. Luckily, my apartment building was only a couple of blocks away from Arnold Hall so I was there within a couple of minutes. I zipped past the doorman who greeted me with his friendly smile, practically jumped into the elevator, jabbed the ‘3’ button and finally, reached the door of my empty apartment. Before I knew it, I was tucked back in my bed in a comfty sweater with my laptop open. I couldn’t hide the huge grin that appeared on my face when I noticed John was on Skype. I clicked on the green button next to his name and waited.

By the third ring, he appeared on my screen. I smiled widely.

“Good morning.” He greeted in a groggy voice. I couldn’t stop myself from giggling at his appearance. His brown hair was mostly standing upward while the rest of it was pushed in all different directions and his eyes were squinting from the morning light that was flooding the quiet, front lounge of the bus. I think my favorite part was his shirtless torso which displayed his sharp collarbones and cursive tattoo that was below them. Oh how I miss tracing his tattoo with my fingertips...

“Mornin’” I smiled. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this but you got some major bed head going on right now.”

He let out a small chuckle and ran his hand through his hair, making it worse. “Don’t hate me ‘cause you ain’t me.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “You’re silly. What time is it there?”

“It may or may not be nine am. I’m not sure. I think I’m in Utah at the moment.”

“Oh!” I gasped drastically. “This is good! You’re one state closer to me. I think we’re making progress.”

And so the conversation went. He updated me about how the shows were going while I updated him about my boring lecture and studio classes. I loved listening to him tell me stories about the rest of the guys and the silly adventures him and the singer of All Time Low would go on. Listening to John talk made me miss him more than I could ever imagine. Long-distance was a little harder than I expected but as far as our relationship was going, I think we were doing pretty well so far.

“So,” John started as he stretched his arms past his head and yawned. “You doing anything exciting next week?”

“Next week?” I bit my lip and thought about my future appointments. “I think I’m going to the dentist on Tuesday for a teeth cleaning and then I have an art history exam on thursday...”

“Wow so action-packed!” John laughed. “What about Valentine’s day?”

“Valentine’s day?”

“Yeah, dummy!” He grinned. “That’s next Friday.”

Shock was clearly shown on my face. Wow, I completely forgot about Valentine’s Day! It never occurred to me that it was so soon. I guess I never thought about it because I never actually had a Valentine. Well, except for Bobby Joe but that doesn’t count because that was back in second grade and it was only because he felt sorry for me.

“I’ll probably be in bed next Friday, all day, feeling sorry for myself that my boyfriend isn’t around.” I joked.

“Wait, you have a boyfriend?” John gave me a shocked look. “Wow, this is awkward, I could of sworn you were a lesbian...”

“I hate you.”

We both laughed and changed the subject even though I couldn’t stop the sudden anxiety that started up within me. What was I going to do next Friday? New York was the absolute worst on Valentine’s Day. Everything is covered in red and pink hearts and the only music you’ll hear over the speakers are sappy love songs. And was I suppose to buy John something? I made a mental note to talk to Alma about this when she came back from class.

“Gigi, you there?” John joked.

I quickly looked at the screen and smiled. “Yeah, sorry. I’m just sleepy. I was up pretty late last night.”

“Then I hereby declare you take a nap! I might do the same.” He replied. “Call you after the show tonight?”

“Sounds perfect.” I nodded and added with a yawn. “Miss you.”

“Miss you more!” He moved towards the camera and kissed it before pulling back and winking.

I giggled. “You’re so dorky. Bye loser!”

+++

“He asked you about Valentine’s Day?” Alma questioned. “How cute, maybe he’ll send you a dozen ro-OW! Hey, easy on the needle!”

“Sorry.” I apologized, giving her a half smile. It was a bright and beautiful sunny Saturday morning and Alma volunteered (well actually, I kinda forced her) to wear a dress I was working on while I fixed the stitchings on the sides. I convinced her to stand on the coffee table while I worked around her. I also managed to bring up the conversation I had with John yesterday about Valentine’s Day. When I stuck the needle through the tan fabric, I straightened up and looked up at Alma. “But....should I get him something for Valentine’s day? Am I suppose to? I’ve never had a Valentine!”

She put her hands on her hips and let out a sigh. “You really are new to this relationship thing aren’t you?”

I shrugged and pulled another pin out of my sewing basket. “It’s been a while, alright? And inconveniently enough, I’ve managed to stay single for the past 19 February months.”

“Let’s get into real talk for a quick second here.” She grabbed the cigarette that was tucked behind her ear and placed it between her lips. “What you have to do is-can you pass me that lighter? Thanks-what you have to do is this: Make a trip to Victoria Secret, treat yourself to some sexy panties and bra and you video chat with him Friday night.”

That made me loosen my grip on the fabric and stare up at her. She inhaled from her cigarette and blew the smoke in the direction of the partially open window. Alma then looked down at me when she realized I haven’t responded yet. With a quick assessment of my expression, she raised her eye-brow. “What?”

“Are you trying to tell me that you expect me to do a strip tease for John on webcam? When there’s a chance the rest of the guys will walk in on me being half naked?”

“Well...yes!”

I scoffed and went back to working on the dress. “You’re unbelievable!”

“G, this is what you gotta do when you’re in long-distance relationships!” She exclaimed before inhaling again from her lit cigarette. “You have to keep the relationship exciting! You gotta let him know what he’s missing out on!”

“Alma!” I exclaimed loudly as I stood up and walked over to the tv, where I placed my other set of threads. I started laughing and shook my head at Alma “You’re being ridiculous! I can’t do that on webcam. That just SOUNDS like a disaster in the making.”

“But you can do it. The best part would be John least expecting it. You could arouse him with your cute little ta-tas and your pu-”

“Don’t” I warned, lifting a finger up at her. “finish that sentence.”

Alma held her hands up in defense. “I’m just saying. It would be a lot of fun for you and John. Something new for the both of you.”

“Fine, how about...” I started as I went back to the coffee dress and carefully picked up the hem of the dress. “how about I’ll think about it?”

“Thatta girl” Alma grinned. “It’s about time you did something crazy.”

I pretended like it didn’t phase me by rolling my eyes at her. Finally, Alma switched the conversation to her whining about the photo shoots she’s helping with in the next two weeks. I sat quietly and occasionally nodded every couple of seconds to indicate I was listening. Truth is, I wasn’t. My heart was beating a couple of paces faster than usual. The conversation about John and I got me thinking about our sex life....and how it was non-existent. Sure, we went to second and partially third base when we were back in Arizona but we’ve never actually had sex. And it’s not like we have a chance to have sex anytime soon. I gulped, suddenly feeling nervous. I wonder if it ever weighs on John’s mind? He could get ass from anyone within seconds. He’s got groupies practically kissing his feet every night. Should I be worried?

“Uh, Gigi?” Alma interrupted my thoughts. “You’re poking me with that sharp pin. Pretty darn hard. I think I’m bleeding.”

“Sorry!!”
♠ ♠ ♠
Told you I'd make it up to you guys. I made it super long too! I hope you guys still enjoy the story! And just so you know, you guys really inspire me to write more when you leave encouraging comments on this story. Seriously, you guys are the best! Let me know what you thought of this chapter :)