Lost In Pacific Time

I was wearing my fancy new necklace with my cobalt blue pencil skirt and white silk blouse. I had already received two complements on it. Well both of them worked from me so it could be considered sucking up but let them suck up if that’s what they want, especially if it flatters my ego. We were all sitting in the rarely used boardroom. We had a month before our vacations so we had to make sure we got stuff done.

“I’ve got an announcement,” I say after in my seat at the head of the table. I hold for a dramatic pause but that only makes everyone antsier “We’re expanding the Ambrosia Li brand. That means a bigger office, so I’ve decided to buy the building next door and have some renovations done during our vacation. Gabby I think the construction workers need the floor plans for the new space by next week so I think you should go over next door and jolt down the measurements as soon as the meeting ends.”

Everyone claps politely “We’ll start hiring the next cycle of staff around September.” I add referring to the notes in my simple coil bound notebook. “And everyone is getting a pay raise.” That seems to be the only thing they want to clap for and high fives are being thrown all around.

“Greg, Ivy, and Jasmine the three of you will no longer be my assistants instead you will be promoted to official interior designers representing the firm. However you’re new positions will not be effective until we get the new staff sorted out and the new extension is complete.”

I felt like Donald Trump or something, only nicer. Jo goes through our schedule and says that she’ll work this week on creating a general timeline for September to have available for next week. This is known as the cram month here at Ambrosia Li Interiors. I closed the meeting and went back upstairs to my office. Luckily for me and my business I had decided to quit watching Milan on Youtube, I didn’t want to risk overdosing and saying something stupid to his during our high school reunion. I mean, I didn’t even want to go and there was even less of a chance that he’d show up so really it was about my own sanity. Everyone was supposed to lie at high school reunions, it was pretty hard to lie when it seemed like ten percent of the nation watched my show. I went back on my iMac and opened a new document on Microsoft Word. I had accepted a job as the writer for a section in Maxim Magazine about interior design and unlike my new furniture line at Saks Fifth Avenue; I was going to write my article from the ground up.

I wasn’t even sure why a magazine filled with half naked women would want interior design advice from anyone let alone me. Jo was the one who took the call and Maxim said something about how they wanted advice from something who knew what women wanted in a room. I accepted it because writing for a men’s interest magazine would be fun.

Besides I was always better at making friends with men than women.

Take Me to Your Boudoir by Ambrosia Li
Hello Maxim Readers, I’m the new columnist for the interior design section of Maxim. We’ll start with a brief introduction. My name is Ambrosia and if you didn’t know, I have my own what I like to call a “Documentary Series”. Yes it is on the same channel as the Real Housewives of [insert district/city/state/county] and it’s really more of a reality show than anything but honestly that is where most people know me from. However unlike most of those other “reality TV stars” I have an actual job. I’m an interior designer. That’s okay; I don’t expect anyone reading this to care. If you are reading this I applaud you because you’re playing somewhat attention to my ramblings. I got started in interior design in my senior year of high school. All the other electives were taken so I was stuck with interior design. Ever since I graduated high school I’ve always known that was what I wanted to do. I did what all eighteen year old girls did when they had a dream, I moved to Los Angeles and the rest is history.

I read it over and I was pretty satisfied. That was my philosophy for life, no regrets. Jeff was once again filming me from his chair.

“Don’t you ever get bored,” I ask saving my document.

Jeff yawned “What do you mean Amber? You’re an interesting girl, that’s why you have your own reality show.”

“I mean on my office days all you film me doing is sitting at my desk. It’s like they’re going to use that footage on the show.”

“Do you not watch the show?”

“Well no, I’m my own worst critic.” I get up to pull apart the curtains, it’s too dark in here.

“My wife loves it and she gets so excited when she sees my name in the credits. They use these shots whenever they show something on the show that happens in the office. They show the outside of the building, the show you at your desk diligently at work, and then they show Ivy running around looking for the missing blueprints. They make the whole thing look a lot more dramatic and ignore the fact that you can just print out a new set.” Greg explains.

“That explains a lot,” I say as I look down below me and can see a small crowd on the sidewalk in front of my building taking pictures while Ron the newly hired security guard stands in front of the main entrance. Every half an hour a star tours bus passes by, luckily for us we can’t hear anything since I was generous enough to invest in sound proofing the walls and windows.

“Got any plans for the annual end of July to early August break?” I ask leaning back in my chair.

“My wife and I are going back home to Thunder Bay.” He says.

“I saw Jordan Staal at the 2006 Entry Draft,” I blurt out.

“Really?” asks Jeff.

“Yeah, the rest of his family was there too,”

“I was going to ask why you were there but I guess your ex-boyfriend dragged you there too?”

“You make it sound like I didn’t want to watch hot young men my own age step on to a stage, honestly it was like an auction. In all seriousness, that was the day I decided to leave Vancouver.”

“Really why?”

“I saw all of these people my own age and they were all getting the opportunity to go to a new city to start off their careers. I decided that’s what I needed to do. I needed to start off fresh and move myself to a new city.”

“And now that your career is at an all-time high you’re going to spend your vacation time in Vancouver?”

“Yup, Vancouver as a wealthy young adult is totally different than Vancouver as a broke teenager.” I reply.

“Have you noticed that all your stories about your hometown revolve around hockey and your
ex-boyfriend?”

I thought for a while “I never noticed that but I guess they do.” I replied.

“Do you think the two of you will ever get back together?”

“No,” I say instantly.

“What you’re too rich and famous for your high school sweetheart?”

“It’s kind of the other way around.”

________

I had my seat set back all the way on the plane and was staring at the ceiling. There are no direct flights from Boston to Vancouver, so I had to take one to Toronto and then take another to get home. I couldn’t wait to get home sure he was going to get booed by more than a couple Canuck fans but all I wanted to do was eat my mother’s home cooked food and spend two days straight sleeping. The plane for some reason had Amber’s show on the menu. So I watched the episode I had missed because I was too busy celebrating. The whole show was basically Amber at a flea market and practically buying the whole thing out. This was also the first time I had to see the outside of her headquarters. It was a tall red brick building on a tree lined street. It looked exactly like those row homes on Chestnut Street in Beacon Hill. Britney wanted us to move out of our apartment in the North End so she was always dragging me to these open houses in the Back Bay and Beacon Hill. I felt like telling her the homes cost as much as my entire salary for the year but I didn’t want to burst her bubble.

I couldn’t afford to drop that kind of money on a place when I didn’t know how long I was staying here. If I were to move I’d want a house, a real house in the suburbs with a large yard for kids and a pool. Besides I was supposed to invest that money in stocks or something that I could live off of when I was old and couldn’t play hockey anymore. I was pretty sure Britney never looked that far ahead. Sure she talked about marriage and every time I’d tell her we’d talk about it in the off season. I knew I didn’t want to marry Britney I just wanted someone who was there for me so that I couldn’t have to come home after an unsuccessful road trip alone.