somewhere || George Russell

forty-nine

"You know, every day I convince myself more that we are so different but yet we complement each other, you understand why?" he said. Laurel gave a quick glance at him and shook her head. "It's because I am ying and you are yang."

"It's 'yin', not 'ying'," Laurel corrected him and chuckled, taking a look at him out of the corner of her eye, quickly returning her eyes to the streets of Miami.

"Everybody says 'ying-yang'," George complained, frowning.

"Well, everybody's wrong," Laurel stubbornly said.

"What the hell? Ying yang," he insisted.

"Stop saying it," Laurel slightly laughed and gave him a little bump on his thigh. "It's incorrect."

"Oh, okay, I see," George gave up. "Yang thinks it's incorrect, but Ying knows that it's right, huh?" he teasingly said. "And that is why we fit together. Ying Yang."

Laurel chuckled, shaking her head. "We do fit together," she finally said and couldn't avoid looking at him, with a big smile on her face. She wouldn't ever change a thing, and after this both ridiculous and pleasant argue about yin-yang —not ying— she realized that she wants to be with him all the time. After all, auditioning for the Estefans was the right thing to do. Now is up to them to decide whether they want Laurel in their musical or not.

"Eyes on the road, Laurel!" George screamed, making her give a small jump and at the end, getting her eyes on the streets again.

"Sorry," she softly giggled, feeling a little embarrassed. She is dating a racing driver and anyway she still sucks at driving. "Okay, this is our agenda," she talked again. "We will go to the Maracay because I still have stuff to do there." With 'stuff', she means telling her siblings how the audition went, and maybe ask for advice to tell George about it. "And you can leave your things at the penthouse, then we will go to my parents' house to take some time for us at the private beach in my backyard," she teasingly said. "Then I grab my stuff and we can head back to the Maracay, if it's okay for you that I stay with you."

"Of course it is," George nodded repeatedly. "Believe me, I've been longing for this day."

Laurel felt heat rose over her cheeks and smirked. "Good," she just said.

They continued their way to the hotel, between stories and goofs they have been through these past months, most of them being stories they have already told themselves via FaceTime, but it's always nice to hear them again by their actual voices and share the laughs again.

They arrived at the hotel and got out of the car, waiting for a bellboy to take the car to the parking lot. Both entered the hotel, George pulling his suitcase behind him, and as soon as they were going to reach the front desk to ask for George's keycard, they bumped into David, manager of a couple Maracay hotels, friend of the family, and Laurel's ex-boyfriend.

"Hi, Laurel, you have a sec?" he said.

"Oh, sure," Laurel nodded, and he approached her, with a binder in his hands, probably documents from the hotel that she needs to sign as every month. "I didn't know you were already here, thought you were arriving tomorrow," she said, dedicating him a smile.

"I had to see some stuff with you, so I came earlier," he said in a playful tone that George didn't like at all.

"Great, because we need someone to carry the flowers to the lounge," Laurel replied with a cheeky smile on her face.

"I can help you with that," George introduced himself in the conversation.

Laurel turned to look at him. "It was a joke," she tenderly said and put her hand on his forearm. "I think the guys at the flower shop will take care of that."

"Yeah, nice flower conversation," David teasingly said. "Can we go to Rafael's office so you can sign these?"

"Sure," Laurel nodded at David and turned to see George again. "Want to come?" she asked. He parted his lips, just about to say yes. "No, forget it, this is boring," she waved her hand in the air. "Ask for your keycard on the front desk, I will be back in..." she tried to guess and looked at David.

"I don't know, maybe it'll take some time, or it won't," David replied, playfully raising an eyebrow.

"Come on David, you know me well, I want exact data," Laurel chuckled. "Anyway, I'll be back, go and leave your stuff in the room," she continued saying to George. He showed a thin-lipped smile, and Laurel noticed right away that he was a little uncomfortable, probably because of David. "It won't take long, I promise," she approached him, squeezed his hand and gave him a short kiss on his lips.

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I send everyone my best wishes for 2021, let's start this new year with everything we have learned, because in the end, everything is part of living. Let's make this a better year, love and appreciate everyone around you, enjoy the small things, and spread love, because what the world needs now is love for everyone!

Stay safe everyone, and Happy New Year! Xx