Dear Valentina [The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel]

☆ Chapter One: Ghost Writer of Long Island

CHAPTER ONE.      GHOST WRITER OF LONG ISLAND.

☆

( June, 1954 )

     Even on a late June night in New York, one of the most infamously coldest state above the Mason-Dixon line, the temperature was reaching a detrimental boiling point where the humidity was causing her curled hair to frizz slightly and the bugs to stick to her skin. The porch of the venue, an elevated platform with white Greek columns and matching low-rise railings cutting the sides, was almost too extravagant, too polished in its own exterior to be walked on by her kitten heels that she had earlier in the day covered with the withering black buff of a chisel sharpie. The building acted as a beautiful location for the reception, standing tall and grand in the middle of a vaguely vacant field minus the incredibly long line of Chevrolets and Imperials down the companion road. 

     'The Wedding of the Century', she was told she would be (unwillingly) attending by her boyfriend; she didn't even know the newly-weds, but he did through his family's summer getaways at the Catskills (another aspect of her date's copious background that she did not understand), though she did get an eyeful of the couple's exchange of vows and 'mazel tov' moment. The bride in her perfect teacup dress with instantly iconic hair and flushed red lips, standing across her standard groom, wearing his twinkling smile and bright eyes like he truly is looking at the love of his life ― the excitement of a youthful couple that both sets of parents shared pride for. 

     God, Valerie thought to herself, she really wasn't meant to be here. Getting a rare moment of complete isolation and silence, minus the blurred thump of the orchestra from inside, had been on her mind since even before the ceremony, when she was waiting in a crowded synagogue, stuck between her date and her date's mother (their first awkward and nerve-racking introduction), as the wedding bells rung. She crept towards the metal railing, looking out to the row of cars and the few stranded men who were drinking beer casually near them, before reaching into her purse and pulling out a packet of cigarettes, and a lighter. The burning cigarette balanced between her lips, the hot pierce further aggravating her already hot face. 

     Heels clicked behind her, "Mind sharing?"

     Valerie whipped around, blowing out a puff of smoke as her clouded eyes met the charming gaze of Miriam, the recently wedded woman, whose tucked arms behind her back and carefully placed grin on her plump lips added to her already established mischievous exterior. Coolly, Valerie raised her brows, "Share? Honey, it's your wedding day and I'm the uninvited guest  ― take the whole packet if you want."