What Happens in Arizona

Chapter 30 – Welcome home

It’s been 3 months since John and I got together, that night after he finally asked me to his girlfriend—we all gathered at the parking lot where he used to hang out at. A week after that, they left for tour. Brooklyn went back to New York and Lily went on tour with parents to England, I flew to Paris, France finally and I took Ella with me. Things are really going well these days and I’m glad it is, the boys will be back next month and we’d get to see them again.

We and by “we”, I meant Ella and me are currently exploring the wonders of Paris. It’s been fun going around a different country with my best friend, and with nothing to think about. We headed to this circus called “Le Cirque”, which was absolutely wonderful and after that we went out to a club, got drunk and went home.

We spent 2 months trolling around the wide and long streets of paris
“Ouch, my head is aching.” Ella whined, her body drooped down the couch wearing Kennedy’s white shirt and a pair of boxer shorts.

I popped out of the kitchen with 2 cups of coffee and handed her one, “Hmm…I told you not to drink too much last night.” I laughed.

She narrowed her eyes on me and sighed, “The boys will be back in town tomorrow, and we’re still leaving on Saturday.”

“That’s two days from now Ella, I’m sure they can wait. They would just pretty much catch up with their families and/or go out on clubs…I think.” I replied, flopping down the empty space on the couch next to her.

She shook her head slowly and pouted, “I really miss Kennedy a lot, don’t you miss John—Amy?”

“Well I do too Ella and I can’t also wait to see them, but we can’t really do anything since our plane tickets are scheduled on Saturday and we haven’t even packed up yet.” I replied.
“Ugh, your right and I completely forgot that we have to drop by Vogue to pass our designs.” She exclaimed, standing up from where she was seated. “Let’s go prep up so we can finish everything and start packing!” she continued.

I smiled at her and followed her lead, she headed inside her room and I headed to mine. We took a bath, got dressed up and we’re ready to go. On my way downstairs I passed by the huge sphere shaped mirror that was hanging beside the staircase, and I took a look at myself. My hair grew longer and the curls have faded a bit, I lost a lot of weight since I went back to Arizona, my skin whitened and I looked pale as ever, my lips were red, and my eyes didn’t look tired. I looked like a completely different person and so is Ella, 3 months was enough to get a lot of changes and I’m pretty surprised myself.

“You ready?” Ella popped out from the door frame.

I nodded quickly and smiled; she walked up to me and grabbed my arm. She ran downstairs dragging me with her and I casually stumbled through the steps, when we reached the bottom she was laughing really hard.

“I hate you sometimes, you know?” I panted.

She let out a laugh and patted my back, “I love you too Amy. Let’s go?”

“Alright.” I replied, and we headed out.

The weather in Paris was perfect, it isn’t hot there and yet it isn’t too cold either. We crossed the road and walked 20 blocks away from our flat, we reached The Vogue and headed inside to pass our designs for the Winter Collection.

“Bonjour mademoiselle!” the girl on the front desk greeted us.

“Bonjour Sophie!” we greeted her back.

“Madame Lea is already waiting for you in her office,” she said with smile on her French accent.

“Oh alright, we’ll head inside then.” Ella replied to her, she smiled again and we smiled back.

Ella headed to Madame Lea’s office first and I followed, we found her sitting in her huge couch made out of panther skin which actually creep me out all the time. She was skimming through a few designs and some portfolios of models whom are going to wear the Winter Collection, she noticed us approaching her and she got up with a smile on her face.

“Oh my two favorite designers are back! Bonjour ladies!” she greeted us cheerfully.

“Good Morning Mademoiselle!” we greeted back.

Madame Lea is one of the most high-end critiques in the fashion industry all throughout the world, she follows the steps of Monsieur Alexander McQueen and she is the definition of strict. She dislikes loads of things, she probably has OCD, and she had white streaks on her hair which made her look like Cruella De ville from 101 Dalmatians. She loves fur, like real animal fur and she always wears 4 inch pumps. Never have we seen her wear flat shoes, even when at home I’m pretty sure she wears feathery pink pumps.

“So have you compiled all your designs?” she asked, motioning us to sit down on the two chairs across her.

We nodded and unison with soft smiles on our faces, “Uhm Madame, would it be too much if we ask for your permission to see all the models who will wear our designs on the Winter Wonderland fashion show?” Ella asked.

She let out a soft laugh whish sounded devilish to me, “Dear, nothing is too much if you two are the ones who ask. Of course you can, I’ll get Sophie to give you copies of the models’ portfolios.” She replied.

Ella nodded with smile and we thanked her, when we were about to rise from our seat to leave—she suddenly called our names out.

“Yes Madame?” I replied.

“How about the two of you join the cat walk?” she said, clasping her hands together.

Ella and I exchanged confused glances and turned back to her, “Pardon?”

“You two, wear the 2 finale dresses for the Winter Collection.” She stated. We didn’t get the chance to say anything and agreed with her instead, the fact that she scares the bajeezus out of me and Ella wanted to do it anyways so we agreed to do it. We got the models’ portfolios and bid them good bye, after that—we went straight back to our flat.

“She still scares me sometimes, you know…”
“Oh come on Amy, Madame Lea is just a sour pickle.”
“That is WHY I’m scared of her.”
“Haha, she scares me too but I got used it.”
“Good for you Ella!”
“Let’s get this packing done, I wanna get some sleep.”

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The plane landed at exactly 6:30 am at Arizona, the scorching heat of the sun was burning through my pale skin. Dad was at my uncle’s house so Kennedy and John volunteered to pick us up from the airport, Ella looked pretty excited to see her love again while I stood there looking indifferently as usual.

A few minutes passed and we saw Kennedy and John hop out from a black Chevy, I’m pretty sure that was a Tahoe. They both had a huge smile plastered across their faces as they approached me and Ella, “Hey ladies! Welcome home!” Kennedy greeted, John followed behind him and they took the bags from our hands. We walked back to the car and they placed our bags on the trunk, Ella sat at the front seat next to Kennedy whom was driving and John sat next to me at the back.

The two were pretty busy catching up with each other on our way back home and I just sat there, resting my head on John’s shoulder and he was just running his fingers through my hair.

“I’ve missed you a whole lot Ames.” He said softly.

I shifted my position and turned to him, “I’ve missed you too John.” I replied with a smile.

And those were the only things we said throughout the car ride back home, while Kennedy and Ella couldn’t be bothered at the front seat. When we reached our house, everyone was waiting for us at the front yard. Dad was already there with my Uncle, Jared and the others were playing crochet on the grassy ground and also Lily and Brooklyn had already arrived. We got off the car and greeted everyone; dad was the first one to approach me and then my uncle. We all headed inside and chatted for the rest of the day, I got a little tired so I excused myself upstairs and I headed to my room. I found John lying on the bed with his arms covering his face, he was fast asleep. I let out a soft giggle and threw a blanket over him, and I walked over to my closet and changed to my house clothes—a shirt, shorts, my hair tied up in a messy bun and comfy bedroom slippers, feels good to be back home.

I walked over to the bed where John was sound asleep; he must be really tired since he can’t be bothered. I lied down at the empty space next to him, pulled the bed sheet up, closed my eyes and fell asleep eventually.