"We're home boys!" Elton called as he put the RV in park.
He turned off the ignition as I looked out the window.
"This is your house?" I asked in disbelief.
"It is, we all live here with another roommate named Aaron and Corey's girlfriend, Devyn," Elton said as he appeared next to me.
"This house is bigger than every house I've ever been in combined!" I exclaimed, still just looking out the window.
Elton and Corey both laughed at what I said as they woke Sam and Colby up. The guys all left the RV and started to unload their belongings. I grabbed my bag and put it over my shoulder before going to help. Elton handed me my suitcase and I waited for him to grab his own. Everyone else had already gone inside, they were too tired to care.
I followed Elton into the mansion and looked around in awe as entered through the front door.
"You won't be meeting Aaron or Devyn tonight because of how late it is," Elton said, "but you'll meet them in the morning. For tonight, I'll show you where your room is so you can get some good sleep."
I nodded and replied with a simple okay. I followed Elton up the stairs, as instructed, and we walked down the hallway a little bit before he opened a door.
"Okay, this will be your room while you're here. Mine and Corey's are downstairs, but Sam and Colby both have rooms on the far end of the hall. Through this door is your bathroom. If you want to take a shower or anything tonight, feel free, the towels are in the closet. Is there anything you need before I head to bed?" Elton asked.
I just walked over and wrapped my small arms around him in a hug.
"Thank you, you have no idea how much it means to me," I said quietly.
"You're welcome, get some sleep," Elton said as our hug broke and he left the room.
I looked around the room that I would be calling mine during my stay in California as it was all so surreal. I unzipped my suitcase and pulled out some black shorts and a blue workout top. I changed and grabbed my toothbrush. I brushed my teeth in the bathroom connected to my room and splashed some water on my face to take off what makeup remained on my face.
I turned off the bathroom light and got under the covers in the big comfortable to bed. I melted into the mattress and drifted to sleep.
I woke up in the morning to the smell of food and the sound of voices. I sat up in bed and stretched. There were knots in my joints the size of softballs from all of the stress I've been under lately. I groaned from the way the knots made me ache. I put my feet on the cool floor and walked over to my suitcase. I grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans and a maroon tank top. I changed and put on my Adidas. I pulled all of my hair up into a messy high ponytail and left the room. I slowly walked down the stairs and followed the sound of Corey's voice. I walked into the kitchen and saw a group of people.
"Hey good morning," Corey said looking at me, "Vee this is my girlfriend Devyn, baby this is Vee, the girl I was telling you about."
We said our hello's and I must say, she is absolutely gorgeous.
"Hey," I heard from behind me.
I turned around and saw Sam standing there with a smile on his face.
"Hey," I said back simply.
"How'd you sleep?" he asked.
"Great," I answered, "what do you have planned for today?"
"Well, Colby and I have to film our video for Sunday, but I was also hoping you'd let me take you around LA so you could take some pictures and explore the place where you should be going to college," Sam said with a hopeful tone in his voice as he grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge.
"Okay," I agreed, "sounds like fun."
"Good, we can leave in like ten minutes."
"Wait, what? I thought you were filming today."
"We are," he explained, "but Colby is still sleeping and we usually end up filming later in the day anyway."
I nodded and laughed a little. Sam told me to follow him as he went back up the stairs. He led me to his bedroom and when I walked in the first thing I noticed was how simply decorated his room was. That's very Sam.
"Just let me get dressed and we can go," Sam said as he looked in his closet.
"Okay, I'm going to go grab my camera," I said as I left the room.
I walked down the hall to where the room that was mine for the time being was, and opened the door. I grabbed my bag off the floor and took my camera out of it. I also took out my other lenses, my polaroid, extra film, and my wallet.
I grabbed my camera bag out of my suitcase and packed up my stuff. I checked that I had my spare batteries and extra SD cards in the bag and I did. I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I grabbed my sunglasses after I was done and made my way out of the room. I walked back to Sam's room and grabbed my camera out of my bag before looking through the lens and snapping pictures of Sam.
He was standing in front of his window looking out at the world. The sun was shining through the window illuminating his features beautifully. I continued taking a bunch of pictures of Sam before I wanted to try a different lens.
"Sam, don't move," I said as I found the lens I wanted.
I heard Sam laugh, but he didn't move, even though he didn't know what was going on.
I was much happier with the way the slightly bigger lens captured him. I took many more pictures, even doing it collage style so I could print them out and put together the overall image of Sam. I walked into the room and took more pictures of Sam's profile. After a minute or two I decided I had taken enough.
"Okay, you can move now," I laughed as I lowered my camera from my face.
"Can I see them?" he asked as he turned to me.
I nodded and opened up the pictures on my camera screen. I handed my camera to Sam so he could look through them.
"Wow," Sam said as he looked at the screen.
"I love the way the sunlight is just enhancing the blue of your eyes more than you'd think was possible in the profile shots," I said pointing to the screen before I clicked through a bunch of pictures to get to one of the first ones I took, "and I really loved the way your shadow looked in these ones."
"It's kind of hard to believe that's me," Sam replied with a shocked tone in his voice, "will you send a few of these to me?"
"Of course."
"Thanks, can I tag your Instagram in it when I post them?" Sam asked as he handed my camera back to me.
"You want to post them on your Instagram?"
"Yeah, if that's okay. Those are some of the best pictures I have ever had taken of me."
"You can post them, I don't mind, I just didn't expect that you'd want to," I laughed as I turned off my camera and put it away.
"Would you be interested in doing a photoshoot for Colby and I? We haven't done a photoshoot in a while and we don't have any pictures to post on our Instagram," Sam asked me.
"I can do that," I agreed.
"Awesome, you ready to get going?"
I nodded and Sam and I left his room. He looked in Colby's room to see him still fast asleep.
We went down the stairs and walked into the kitchen.
"Hey Vee, what would you like to do today?" Elton asked as we entered the kitchen.
"Good morning Elton, Sam is actually taking me to explore LA and take pictures."
"Good, I just didn't want you spending your first day in California at the house," Elton said to me with a wink.
"Honestly, I wouldn't even mind doing that," I laughed.
Elton and Sam both laughed. Sam grabbed two bottles of water out of the fridge and handed one to me. I thanked him.
"I have to return the RV this afternoon and pick up Circa, but besides that I'll just be here so text me if you need anything," Elton told us.
We nodded and said our goodbyes before walking out of the front door of the house. Sam unlocked his car and opened the passenger side door for me. I smiled as I got in the car and said a thank you to Sam. I unlocked my phone and imported the photos of Sam from my SD card. I got a cool adaptor from my friend Katie for my birthday a few years ago. One end of it has an iPhone port and the other end has an adapter to plug in an SD card. Sam got in the driver's seat and started his car. I let my phone finish downloading the pictures as Sam started to drive.
"Is there anywhere specific you really want to go?" Sam asked as he rolled down our windows.
"I have always wanted to see the street art that looks like wings because I know there's some here, do you know what I'm talking about?" I asked.
Sam nodded and I started thinking of other places in LA that I could photograph.
"Besides that, I just kind of want to go to Hollywood Boulevard and walk around taking pictures of everything," I admitted.
"Okay, I'm thinking we get to that street art, and after that we get some food and then head to Hollywood Boulevard, then we finish today by going over to Valencia which is where Cal-Arts is so you can explore a little bit."
"Wait, seriously?"
"Yeah, I googled where the campus was this morning and I called there. I talked to someone who said it would be more than okay if we went to the campus. She said she'd show us around, maybe talk to you about figuring out tuition if you decide to enroll."
"Sam, you're like completely serious, like we're going to the actual campus. This isn't a joke?"
"No Vee, I want you to be able to see the place that could change your life. You have such a bright future and staying in Utah going to school to be doctor is just putting a shield over how bright your future is. I want to at least be able to show you your other option," Sam explained as he continued driving.
I smiled and felt a tear run own my cheek. No one, not a single person, has ever cared in the slightest bit about me doing something with my future. Sam has known me for no more than three days and he already cares so much about me embracing my passions. It's such a change from what I'm used to that it brought tears to my eyes.
I leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly.
"Thank you, Sam."
"You don't have to thank me Vee," he smiled as he looked over at me.
"I do though," I insisted.
Sam dropped the topic and soon he was putting his car in park.
"Ready?"
I nodded as we got out of his car and walked a little bit down the sidewalk.