A Thousand Lifetimes

Josh was pulled away from the mind-numbing TV he had been forced to watch with his sister that morning by the ringing of his phone. He bolted from the living room with the phone in hand and answered it before even looking at who it was calling him.

“Thank fuck for that, I thought I’d lose my brain if I watched any more Jeremy Kyle.” He answered, expecting it to be one of the guys.

“Well hello to you too Joshua,” A female voice spoke, the distinct European twang very evident, “I’m just calling to return your text.”

“Oh fuck,” He cursed, “Sorry Elina, I thought you were one of the guys.”

“No problem,” She laughed, it was the first time he’d heard her laugh and he liked it, she must be much more pleasant on the phone, he thought.

“So because you’re calling I’m guessing you want to go to lunch,” Josh spoke, “Unless you’re calling to turn me down.” He added.

“Well I’ve got nothing better to do today, so I guess I’ve got no reason to turn you down,” He couldn’t tell whether she was joking or not, he guessed that she wasn’t, “As long as you’re not going to take me somewhere cheap.”

“So you want me to break the bank for you?” He asked, slightly regretting his offer of lunch.

“You offered.” She countered.

“Fine, okay, where shall I meet you?” He asked, he didn’t even know where she lived.

“Well I assume we’ll be going into London?” She asked, to which Josh said yes, “Meet me by the London Eye then?”

“Okay, just make sure to stand out so I can’t miss you.”

“Trust me, you can’t miss my shoes.”



Elina was right. Josh couldn’t miss her shoes. Big bright red heels that matched the red feathers hanging from her ears. Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail which showed off her face perfectly – it made Josh think she was actually quite a stunner. Not that he needed a reminder – he could tell from the offset that she was gorgeous – it was just that model personality that her down.

Josh gave her a quick hug and started walking her in the direction of the restaurant. It was a small, quaint Italian place that gave off the air of sophistication and elegance in everything but the prices. He could tell Elina was pleased when they had been seated and she hadn’t turned her nose up once at anything.

“This is a nice place,” She spoke, only adding to Josh’s relief, “Really quaint, and Italian is my favourite.”

“It’s mine too,” Josh smiled, “I come here with my family a lot when I’m off tour – we love it here.”

“Well then you could direct me to the best thing on the menu then?” She asked.

“The vodka penne is sublime, but you have to get a side of something to soak up the alcohol,” Josh spoke, missing Elina’s slight smirk at the mention of soaking up the alcohol – the only place that vodka would be soaking was into her bloodstream, “Or the good old rustic spaghetti and meatballs are good too.”

They ordered their food and a bottle of house wine to share, Josh poured half a glass each for himself and Elina, who was trying desperately not to show her eagerness for the alcohol.

“So how did you get into modelling?” Josh asked after sipping his wine.

“I did a little when I was younger, like, child modelling for catalogues and stuff but as I grew up it wasn’t really something I wanted to do anymore,” She took a drink of wine, significantly bigger than Josh’s – he didn’t seem to notice though, “I guess when I got bad grades after school and didn’t get into college, it was something that my mum forced me to do instead of sitting around on my ass all day feeling sorry for myself.”

“So it’s not really what you want to be doing?” He asked.

“I wouldn’t say that now,” She lied, “I enjoy it, I’ve just never thought I’m that good at it, I’m only hired most time because I look European. My tattoo’s get in the way of a lot of jobs as well.”

“I was going to ask about your tattoo, considering I can only see one,” He smiled, “What does it say?”

“It’s Russian for ‘Find something bigger than yourself’” She said, “It’s a really widely used phrase for Russians.”

“So that’s where you’re from?”

“Yeah, I moved here when I was eleven – just in time to start secondary school, which I completely fucked up.”

Josh and Elina both acknowledged the waiter as he put their food and sides down, but when straight back to talking as they doctored their dishes as they chose.

“What was it, the language?”

“Not really,” Elina spoke, mixing the pasta into her sauce, “We spoke English back in Russia a little and it didn’t take me that long to catch on, I think it was just that here it was expected that you went out, partied, had sex and all of that, and back in Russia it was the total opposite,” She forked some pasta and ate, as did Josh, “I guess it was the freedom, I just went off the rails a bit and by the time I realised I was in deep shit, it was too late.”

“Well if it’s any constellation I failed school too, but I’m doing alright for myself.”

Elina smiled at him and the two finished their food and the wine over small talk. After Josh had paid the bill Elina remembered the Benefit that her management were holding on Saturday.

“Hey Josh, are you busy on Saturday?” Elina asked as they walked back to the London Eye.

“I don’t think so, why?”

“My model management are having a benefit and I need to invite someone, I usually take my mum but it’d be nice to have some decent company for once.”

“I think I should be able to make it,” He smiled, “You’ll have to text me all the details.”

She smiled and gave him a quick hug, something she rarely did for anyone. After he’d left her to go home, she put her iPod on and walked home. Catching herself in her thought, she realised that today was one of her good days. One of the days when she didn’t feel the need to get absolutely wrecked from her skull. She just prayed that things wouldn’t get worse when she got home.