𝐸𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓇
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I take off my sneakers and flick on the hotel room lights. The floor-to-ceiling window shows a stunning view of the city skyline, the lights twinkling like stars. I turn off the lights to appreciate the view even more. I sit on the edge of the bed, looking emptily through the window. Silence fills the room, making the only thing audible is my calm breathing and my racing thoughts. I don't want to talk things out, because I know how much I overthink and complicate matters. Instead, I listen to the gentle hum of the city below, letting the view embrace me and be my only friend for the moment.
Ding.
Apparently not.
I take my phone out of the bag and look at my screen full of notifications. The newest ones are from Faith, checking on me and making sure I'm fine. I wish I were, I mumbled to myself. I scroll through the other messages, all of them coming from one common source - my boss. He must have waited angrily for a response from me.
I stayed out late just to clear my head and enjoy the weather. It's a bit cold but acceptable, I bought myself an ice cream to chill myself and feel a bit better was a good idea. Well, I ran out, I'm a coward. But I can't run now, the boss can't wait anymore. My career is already over, so why run from the speech confirming it?
It's a bit late but not bad to call. I take a deep breath and open Mr. Lincoln's contact, my finger hovering over the calling button. I hold the phone to my ear, my heart racing as I listen to the slow ringtone. Finally, he answers with his usual serious tone, "Miss Lopez.." I swallow hard and force myself to answer in a calm voice, "Mr. Lincoln, my apologies for not answering your messages." He hums, staying silent for a moment. "Mr. Lin─"
"You know why I tried not once but multiple times to contact you today, right Miss Lopez?"
He cuts me off, his voice stern. I stay silent, feeling my throat dry. "I was informed last night about some accident between you and Mr. Alvarez. What surprised me is that my favorite employee, the one I thought was humble, well educated and mature, behaved very badly," I could hear the disappointment in his voice. "Mr. Lincoln, I can explain─"
"Please Miss Lopez, let me finish." I shut my mouth, no hope left for me. Come on Mr. Lincoln, say it. Say that I'm fired and let me call the room services before they end at 9, to bring whatever I crave, and let me go gain some weight and screw up my diet while watching the film Titanic and screaming at that bitch of Rose for not leaving some room for Jack to get on that fucking door and survive. Say it.
"I was surprised by his call this evening, telling me how much he's sorry for getting you into such an accident and for disrespecting you though it wasn't your fault."
And scream at her for fucking throwing such expensive jewelry in the ─
Wait... What the fuck did I just hear? My mind couldn't process what my boss has just said. I'm sure the ice cream must have frozen my brain. He did what? He apologized? Good joke, Mr. Lincoln, a mocking voice whispers in my head. I have no idea how to respond, so he continues, "And I, personally, thought it was your fault at the beginning, got angry and made the decision to fire you," Oh yeah, sure you would, "But now, knowing it's not, I must apologize for pressing you today and claiming you guilty for something you didn't."
I'm too stunned that I lost my ability to talk. Too many words are thrown at me that I can't take them all at once. Just hours ago, I was getting myself ready to get fired, to lose my dream. Now I'm not? Did somebody deactivate my bad luck or what?
"Miss?" I hear my boss's voice again, reminding me I'm in the middle of a fucking call with my boss. Stupid Ele.
"I'm─",I don't know what to say, "confused a little bit, but I'm glad to hear such news. Incidents are human, Mr. Lincoln, so it's good to forgive. Thank you and I'm sorry if you had to worry, I'll make sure nothing happens next time."
That's 100% not what I wanted to say. I wanted to roast that Alvarez in front of my boss, disrespect him and tell my boss to make sure to tell him all that word by word. But I had just survived losing my job, I won't risk it again.
Nothing was said after that except my boss complimenting my job, wishing me good luck, blah blah blah. I can't focus on what he's saying. He apologized? Why? Out of pity? Or he's preparing for something worse? Did Luke talk to him? And he said that to my boss, not directly to me? So his big ego got over him? Not accepting to apologize to a woman?
Or was it all pure? Did he apologize because he knew he should?
...
No, of course not.
I know that bastard wouldn't. He refused simple snacks, for sure he wouldn't do that.
I already ended the call, the time getting late and I can't stay that long, I need to rest. I'll answer you tomorrow, Faith. Sorry honey. Okay, let's start this night routine! I better have a bit of wine, celebrating my victory, on fucking Rafe Alvarez. This is very big, I need more than wine, a cake maybe. Yeah, that will go.
Let it be a happy night!
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I wake up to a ringing, not my alarm but a call. Shit, I forgot to put my phone on mute mode. I fumble around my nightstand and grab my phone. My hair is all over my face as I manage to read the contact name.
Faith.
"You stupid little rat, you're fucking sleeping while making me worry?" She shouts out, hurting my eardrums. I groan. For God's sake Faith, I had just woken up. "Good morning to you too, Faith," I mumble, covering my mouth to suppress a yawn. I notice my appearance in the camera. Damn, how terrible I look; messy hair, a bit of saliva drawing a line from the corner of my lips to my chin. On the other hand, Faith looks organized, looking fresh and clean, beautiful as always.
"I thought you died because you will if you lose your job." She huffs, still not showing any sign of calming down. "I'm sorry" is all I say before hiding my face in my pillow. "So? You're fired?" I laugh at her question, hardly, confusing her. "Well," I sit up, adjusting my hair so she can see my smile. "Mr. Silly called my boss, claimed he's guilty for disrespecting me and apologized for it."
Radio silence.
"He what?"
"As I said, Mr. Silly called─"
"No, no, I heard you. It's just I can't believe it."
"Neither can I."
"Is it out of pity? Or just a prank? Why would he─"
"Faith please, I already know that series of questions." An overthinker befriending another is a catastrophe, but here we are, Faith and I being friends.
"So, you won't ask him?" I don't know really. If I do, I might look very interested, which I'm not. "Should I?" She shrugs, "Maybe, but don't; with his big ego and all that, I don't assure you it will be good." I nod, she's right. Even though she has never met him, she knows his attitude. It always goes like this; bestie #1 tells bestie #2 about a guy, in a good way or a bad way, then they start talking about him as if they know him by heart.
"Less talk about me. Any news about you?" I ask, changing the topic. "Not really. Photoshoots for magazines, fashion weeks, etc. But no love for me." She groans, pouting her lips. "Seriously, no very charming soldier with a protective attitude named Luke is left for me?" Here we go again with the film. She has everything in her life turning around a film.
"Faith, there are a lot of good men"
"But no Luke."
I roll my eyes, "Okay, there are a lot of Lukes. It's not like there is no man alike the fictional Luke from your film. It's a matter of time, you will find your Luke."
"Wherever he is, he better do it fast and find me first. I'm too busy becoming an icon to look for him." Wow ... A minute she wants to look for a Luke, another she wants the Luke to look for her. Never mind, it's just my best friend's attitude.
"Slowing down is for your good."
"Nothing goes slow, it always needs speed, Ele." She argues. That is not very true. Or it is. Sometimes speed is good, like when it's being my refuge, but others it's bad, like when my best friend makes things fast in relationships and date people she doesn't know surely, and then ends up with a broken heart.
"Okay, Miss Sonix. I would love to get prepared for my very interesting job, so I need to leave you now and get ready."
"Good, because I was just about to hang up but was trying to find an excuse. Since you did, so.." with that, she hangs up, on my face... I stay there, blinking at my phone screen before setting it down and shaking my head. That will cost here paying for my meals for a week once I'll be back in Monaco.
I comb my hair with my fingers. I should get up and get myself ready, I can't be late after what happened these past days.
Be ready to meet me again, bitches!
Ew, my mouth is so smelly, I should stop screaming right now... Come on Ele, get your ass up and watch that nasty mouth.
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"Eleanor?" Jackson calls me once his eyes fall on me, surprised that I'm here. I take off my sunglasses in a huff and hold them in my hand lazily, "Where is my Welcome back drink?" I I tease him. "Please turn around, I'll pee and give it to you." I fake gag in response making him laugh. "Come here." He opens his arms offering a hug, which I take happily. "It's always good to see you, Jack," I say.
"Same, Eleanor. I'm surprised you're back. What happened?"
"A long talk, not for now." He nods as we part away. I suddenly remember the message I received from Olivia this morning, informing me that she will be joining us today since she feels better now. "Olivia is here?"
"Eleanor Amber Lopez!"
Speak of the devil. Why is she screaming my full name, the same way my mother used to whenever I did something wrong?
I turn to the source of the voice, seeing her short mad frame crossing her way to me with a scowl on her face and fume coming out of her ears. "Good to see you again, Olivia." I offer her a hug with a huge smile. Her features soften as she says: "I missed you so much." I giggle, welcoming her into my embrace.
"But I still need to know what happened between you and Alvarez." She points out as we break appart.
Yeah. Oooh shiiit..
"Not a good thing to talk about. But I assure you, the problem is solved. No worries." She just nods, knowing I wouldn't lie. Fred joins us, we have a little talk before we get to start work, discussing the schedule for today. I suddenly hear my phone ringing, so I go through my bag to take it. Once I see the contact, my face drops. Hell no.
"What's wrong?" Jackson asks, noticing my mood change.
"The devil is calling you?" Fred jokes and Olivia bumps his stomach to tell him to shut up. He curls up on himself, saying something about it being a joke in a low voice. I fake laugh before excusing myself to answer. I take a deep breath and tap the answering button.
"Hello, darling." His voice comes through the speaker, making my stomach upset. It's been a long time since I've heard it.
"Hey, Dad.." is all I manage to say. I didn't tell you about my family before, for your good. Now, time to talk about it.
Well, I kind of had a hard childhood. My parents were going through a lot of stuff, always in arguments after me and my sister Eloise fell asleep. I usually didn't sleep, waiting for the right moment to interrupt what they were doing, to remind them that I and Eloise were there.
I was happy when they had a divorce, not gonna lie. But it was strange to live calmly with Mom, not staying up late listening to their fights. Though they -the fights- ended after the divorce, I still couldn't manage to get my sleep schedule back. Even now, I only manage to catch some hours, the rest just laying in bed listening to nothing but silence.
Well, when I reached a certain age, I understood what happened. My mom used to accuse my dad of never giving her the attention and love she deserved, and my dad complained about how much she was exaggerating. Just later find out that he was cheating on her, and that's when things got worse and later the divorce.
After their divorce, I've grown distant from my dad. I couldn't stay with him for a minute without having the idea of him being a cheater. When you're married and have children but cheat, you don't only cheat on your partner, but also on your children. So I felt betrayed.
But I always needed a dad figure, somebody to guide me and support me. That's when my mom got married to Aiden, my stepfather. He did what my dad couldn't, not 100% but at least he tried. He took care of the three of us, he loved us, he supported us. But he ended up having cancer. All good people have bad upcoming.
Maybe I didn't witness my parent's love story, but I did witness Aiden and Mom's. After he had cancer, he started having his treatment, making him go through a lot of shit. That's when my mom had to drop out of her work to take care of him. She started working in a smaller project, to limit her hours of work so she can have time for Aiden.
That's the only version of love I've seen, probably the only one I believe in.
"How are you doing with your job?" My dad's voice gets back to the speaker, drugging me back to our call.
A job you didn't support, huh?
My dad wasn't up to this dream, telling me to stay more realistic. But Aiden helped, he was with the idea, telling me nothing is impossible as long as I'm determined to make it true. That made my dad angry, calling Aiden one day to tell him to never get himself into his children's future. Maybe he wasn't my biological father, but he was better than him. It's something my dad refused to believe.
But I'm glad Aiden helped. Look at me right now, proving my dad wrong.
"I'm fine." I keep myself collected, not ready to break down.
"I was calling to invite you to dinner to meet a new person." A new girlfriend. He did that a lot of times -try to invite me to meet his girlfriends- but they all ended whatever relationship they have with him sooner than he thought. I guess my mom wrote his sin right on his big forehead so anybody can see it so that every girl knows he's not capable of love.
"Dad, I'm in the middle of Italy." I massage my temple, ready to hear him complain.
"But it's a family event."
"I'm sorry, I can't. I'm very busy with work, traveling here and there. I can't come." He knows it's the same excuse every time because it's the only true excuse I've got.
"It's always work over everything, even your dad." And as always, he'll try to make me feel bad about my act. I exhale deeply trying to keep my composure.
"Dad.."
"You're always busy with this work and forgetting your family. Just give us 10%, only 10% of what you give for this work." See? never supportive. I'm not surprised that my mom had to ask for a divorce from this man.
"With all due respect sir, which I don't, but you'll need to stop fooling yourself. Why? Well, obviously she loves this job more than you, easy peasy. Now, ciao bastardo." He clicks on the hanging bottum.
What the fuck? What the hell did just happen?
I turn around, mad right now, observing the intimidating frame in front of me. Rafe...
"Who gave you the right to do that?" I ask getting close to him. He can't be serious right now. First with my boss, now with my dad? He better be joking.
"I don't know... Myself?" He crosses his arms over his chest, feeling very comfortable as if not minutes ago he acted very immature. I take a deep breath and gather myself before responding, "Listen. First of all, you have no right to eavesdrop on me. Secondly, I didn't ask for your help. It's out of respect to get involved in a call, not for you."
"You're welcome." His smile... ugh!! It always makes me angrier. I just groan and get past him to go anywhere. I should be very far from him to ever feel not angry. He's just unbelievably annoying and nosy. You don't know how much I desire to hit his face with my purse, and I hope that the corner of my phone or whatever sharp and hard thing in my bag hits him right on his big nose. I sight, my patience is 0% right now, all due to this man.
I toss my phone in my bag and join my friends again, calming myself to not get them worried.
"You're fine?" Olivia asks once she notices me. I nod, giving thumbs up.
I will be later for sure.
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