Luxe

Marie

A smile spreads across my face as the strong breeze pushes my hair back when I slightly tilt my head to the side. I began to laugh at how classic this entire scene is, two girls in a convertible Cadillac driving at 90 on a deserted road.

"What's so funny?" asks Diana Forbes my old roommate from boarding school.
We had both left our school in England
before Junior year, she went to New York to complete high school and I moved to Paris for a job.

"Just thinking about how much of a cliché we are" I chuckle and she joins in.

"Gosh it's been a while" she says after a few minutes of silence.

"I know.... it's crazy that it's only been two years, it feels like a lifetime" I say tucking my curly baby hairs behind my ear.

"Oh my gosh remember that time when we snuck off campus and broke into a random apartment just for the hell of it" she laughs uncontrollably and I cringe at the memory.

"You made me do that!" I playfully swat her arm as I remember the details of that dreadful afternoon.

"We were so close to getting caught, we could've been expelled or arrested, or both!" I giggle at the memory and how scared I was.

Diana and I had always been complete opposites and I think that was the entire reason we were, and still are such good friends. She's rather edgy and adventurous, she's always looking for a new challenge or obstacle to beat and would always drag me along on her little projects. I was, and still am, a freakishly shy introvert, all I ever really wanted to do with my time was design clothes for my self and read in the comfort of my cozy bed. That was the biggest difference between Diana and I, she had to experience things but I was content and more comfortable just reading about them. 

"You were so scared you probably shit your pants Marie, I have no idea how I was able to convince you to do that" she continues to laugh, at the time it was the most terrifying and juvenile thing I'd ever done, now that I think about it it's still the most terrifying and juvenile thing I've ever done but I'm glad that we can look back and laugh about it now.

"Thank you so much from picking me up from the airport" I say after our breathing stabilizes from all the laughter.

"Don't sweat it, I still don't understand why you wouldn't tell Isaac you're back?" She asks concern evident in her voice.

"Oh no it's nothing to be worried about, I just really want to surprise him" I lie.

"Sure" she simply replies and I can instantly tell her disbelief in my statement.

"What do you mean 'sure'?" I ask nervously laughing.

"Please!, you moving back here means you quit your job at Chanel which means your brother will have your head which is why you are 'surprising' him by arriving here before he has a chance to talk some sense into you" she explains pushing her sunglasses up to her forehead, it really bothers me that she can tell my intentions just by looking at me.

"So you think I'm making a mistake?" I ask.

"Well it depends, why are you leaving a job that pays you millions a year in the best city in the world to come back to Beverly Hills?." She asks and I have no answer for her, well none that I'm ready to admit.

********************

With my five piece Louis Vuitton luggage set stacked right beside me I nervously ring the doorbell of the abstract mansion my brother calls home, I couldn't possibly live in a place like this, with the all the floor to ceiling windows in the space strangers can see virtually everything going on inside.