No Place Like You : A Short Story

3.

On Saturday evening, Bria found herself caught up in her phone rather than her scriptwriting. She and Florian had been talking on and off again for the better half of the day, mostly through text messages, and that seemed to be much more interesting than the last two pages of her screenplay. The ideas were in her head and she'd doodled them down; they just weren't in their final form but Bria had it covered.

She'd dawdled for most of the day; sleeping in late, enjoyed a hot breakfast with the few production crew staying at the hotel then hitting the hotel gym to burn off the three pieces of brioche French toast she'd shamelessly inhaled. She enjoyed lounging  and catching up on TV shows but the evening quickly approached and she felt recharged.

Currently, she was sitting on her bed, legs crossed, with her phone perfectly adjacent to her face. Florian's glowing face was staring back at her as they video chatted. He seemed occupied by his thoughts but she hoped he wasn't still dwelling on the things they talked about last night. She didn't want him beating himself up or questioning himself anymore. It wasn't productive or healthy. Even through his inner turmoil he was  smiling, with Bria anyway. She'd managed to get him to laugh out loud a few times as she gave her solicited advice on what to wear tonight. Florian stood in front of the camera, holding up two shirts– both of which would've looked amazing on his perfect body but she was partial to the color black on his skin tone.

"I think the black looks good on you though."

"You think I look good?" He teasingly smirked then they both burst out laughing.

"On you! It looks good on you!" Bria chuckled, covering her blushing face. It was impossible not to blush and flirt with him. She knew she had to dial it back but it was really hard to resist his charm.

"It's okay. You were thinking it. I know." He smiled and winked at Bria, making her playfully role her eyes and retort with "Nah, you wish I was thinkin' it."

Florian leaned down to get closer to the camera and smirked, "I don't need to wish because I know you are, Prinzessin."

"Whatever." She looked away and flipped her curly hair to one side of her head only for it to bounce back in place as she sighed, laying on her stomach. Bria studied Florian's face on her screen, making him smile sweetly. She was fidgeting and it made him feel good that he made her do that.

"What is it?"

"Nothing...I just..." She figured they were both in good spirits and if she didn't speak now she never would. It was as good a time as any since their energy was high.

"That kiss the other day? what was that?"

"Bria, if you don't know what a kiss is...maybe I should show you again." he flirted.

Bria felt blood rush to her cheeks as she shook her head and chuckled.

"Florian, you know what I mean. Why?"

Florian let out a soft "aaah" dropping his head and running his free hand over his freshly cut hair.

"I... Ich denke du bist beautiful." He looked up at her through his lashes, biting his bottom lip. Bria pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, trying to recall the three years of German she took in High School. If she couldn't remember a word in his sentence, she knew what beautiful meant and that was enough of a context clue for her. Her face slowly morphed into a smile as she cocked her head to the side.

"You think I'm beautiful?" She always enjoyed hearing it and Bria always welcomed compliments.

"Yes, very beautiful." He smiled sweetly, excited that she'd figured out what he said. It was his turn to blush now. He really was fond of Bria. He was infatuated with her energy. She had this pure essence about her that he was becoming addicted to. It didn't hurt that she was absolutely beautiful and intelligent as well. He loved the way her mind worked and her mahogany skin was the smoothest he'd ever seen. He longed to touch it. He noticed she had an affinity for bright colors and everything she wore reflected on her skin, giving her complexion some vibrant tint. He couldn't tell her that though. It was his own secret pleasure seeing her own colors of the rainbow like they were meant for her.