Memories Are Wonderful

[James]

I was in a hotel room on the other side of the country as Daisy, thinking about her. It wasn’t uncommon to find her occupying my thoughts when I was alone like this. It was 2 in the morning. I had only finished working an hour ago and I had to be up in another few hours. I wasn’t going home until late tomorrow and a part of me couldn’t wait.

Going home hadn’t always been something I would look forward too. It used to be the place where I stopped as little as possible between my projects but with Daisy back in my life it became so much more. It became a place where I could get away from every stigma that was attached to being James Franco. With her I didn’t have to be a scholar, an artist, an actor.

I wondered what she was doing when I realized it would be 5 in the morning back home. She was probably sleeping, her brown hair a mess against her green sheets. She probably didn’t miss me this much, it wasn’t normal.

The digital clock beside the bed read 2:34am. I still couldn’t sleep. I was probably still a little jet lagged and I just wanted to be home. I didn’t like to think that I had left Daisy when she was upset. She was strong and independent and I knew she was perfectly capable of getting through it herself but I that didn’t stop me from wanting to be there.

I was so fucking in love with her. Everything about our relationship was different than anything I’d ever experienced. Every other girl I had been with had trouble understanding my crazy schedule. They wanted me there all the time when I just couldn’t be. Daisy never asked me not to go but ironically, she was the first girl that made me really not want to leave.

The sheets were cool against my legs when I tossed to my other side. I closed my eyes and tried to force sleep. If I didn’t fall asleep soon I’d get no sleep at all.

Finally it came but only for a bit before I had to wake up again and start shooting. The day stretched on and after the work day was done everyone working on the small project wanted to go out for drinks but I declined and got straight on a plane. The flight took forever until the moment of relief when we finally landed. The familiar streets and atmosphere of the city reminded me of Daisy and walking around with her, talking with her, laughing with her. I was planning on dropping my stuff off at my apartment and going to see her. Because of the rime difference I felt like it should 11 at night but it was only 8. My body felt pretty exhausted but I needed to see her. I always needed to see her.

I thought about her as I arrived at my building and as I rode up the elevator, even as I walked into the apartment without noticing the door was already unlocked. Where I expected to find my apartment dead and still there was life and movement. I could hear laughter from the kitchen; Daisy’s sing song chuckle like a breath of fresh air, and Davey’s hoarse chuckle.

They were sitting at the marble bar eating out of Thai take-out cartons. Daisy was speaking animatedly with her chopsticks. It took a few moments for them to notice me. Moments long enough for me to feel a hint of jealousy before realising that what I saw before me was nothing to be worried about, what’s more, it was a good thing. The girl I eventually wanted to be in a real relationship with, after all this getting know each other business, was already fitting into my life perfectly.

“What are you guys up to?” I interrupted them.

Daisy’s lips spread into an exuberant smile when she turned to look at me, the smile lingering just as boldly in her eyes as on her lips. Davey too smiled, but I wasn’t really paying attention to him.

“James! I didn’t think you’d be back so soon!” There wasn’t a hint of guilt or remorse in her voice as I set down my bags and walked into the kitchen.

“I bumped into Daisy at her work and she was talking about a girl she wanted to set me up with. I decided to hear her out over some dinner.”

As I passed Daisy, I ran my hand along the small of her back and kissed her head before taking a seat beside her. “And how is that going?”

“Your brother is far too picky.”

Davey shrugged, “I just need some more time. I really liked Marissa, I don’t just want to date a girl so I’m not single. I want some one I can hang out with and build a friendship with as well.”

I could hear my own words in Davey’s. What he was describing was what I wanted with Daisy. We were getting the friends part down for now but there was always a part of me that wanted more than the kissing. I wanted to hold her hand in public, I wanted to introduce her as my girlfriend, I wanted so many other things, steps we weren’t ready to take. At least she wasn’t, I didn’t think, not yet.

“That’s really sweet Dave.” Daisy turned to look at me as if to say ‘why can’t you be more like your brother?’ but maybe I was just reading that wrong. Because that wouldn’t really make sense. I was her friend first, we were hanging out.

“Yeah Davey, so cute!” I mocked, causing a whack on the arm from Daisy. It was playful and warranted a laugh from him. His words had only made me realize how lucky I actually was. Daisy and I had it perfect, even if we hadn’t always.

After they finished eating Davey went to his room to sleep and Daize and I stayed up, drinking merlot on the carpeted floor. She had pulled a book out of her purse, which I must admit was pretty sexy. She started leafing through the pages, but with her back facing me so I couldn’t see what the book was.

“What are you doing?” I asked, laying in my side, staring at the tips of her hair. Her natural colour was coming in at the roots. The light brown looked nice but the darker colour had always suited her better. I missed it.

“Ok, found it!” She turned to me with the book open wide in my direction. The left page was blank, the right one had a picture and writing. “look familiar?”

Her smirk was devilish like I had never seen it and suddenly I was a tad embarrassed. Staring at me was a familiar picture of myself and a little blurb that had been written about me. .She was showing me my own book.

“How the hell did you find this?”

She looked at me like I was crazy, turning the book to examine the picture, “it wasn’t hard. Every major book chain has a copy.”

Her finger smoothed across the surface of the picture as she looked at it.

“It’s a good picture,” She said smiling.

“Well you’ve got the real thing, right here.”

“I don’t know if that measures up. I mean look at the lighting in this picture.”

“Do you ever get to reading it, or was my picture too distracting for you?”

“I read it...”

I was anxious to know what she had thought of it. When no words followed her statement I assumed it was bad. Showing it to anyone else was easy but her opinion seemed to matter. People had told me they didn’t like it but their words had bounced off me like rubber bullets. Why was my heart sinking now?

I didn’t know how to respond to that kind of rejection so the moment passed in silence before she smiled, “It was really good.”

There was something genuine in her voice that made me smile.

“You looked scared for a second, it was quite amusing.”

I grabbed the book from her hands and tossed it gently towards her bag so I wasn’t looking at it anymore. I smiled, “that was mean.”

“Awww, were you scared I didn’t like your book?”

“Maybe.”

She laughed and all was immediately forgiven. I wondered what it would be like to live with her. Those mundane fights you always find yourselves in with your partner, what would they be like with her? It was impossible for me to stay mad at her, and she never seemed to do anything that really drove me crazy, except perhaps when she was being completely oblivious.