The comment section has spoilers, so read comments at your own risk.
************
Chapter 1: THIS IS HOW WE DO!
Alex’s pov:
*******************************
I expected pleasant memories, nostalgic reminders and familiarity of the same old surroundings to cure my homesick heart after returning to the house I grew up in, but all I got was loud, boisterous surrounding with my brother and his friend raiding the kitchen (I can’t believe he’s thirty) and my parents constant bantering which was cute but annoying.
I had found refuge in my familiar room, that reeked of cardboard since I never bothered myself with the act of unpacking. It was pointless anyway, I was going to move soon.
I only had the bare minimum necessities out, that included some of my clothes, my toiletries, my laptop that I was currently working on and my charger.
“Alexandra!” my mom yelled. Again.
Gaah!!
Instead of turning a deaf ear towards her, I groaned like a drunk walrus, slammed my laptop shut and like a petulant child, made my way towards the living room. It was nearing lunch hour, and my mother had yet again managed to lock herself in between various dilemmas and lost track of time, as she continued to work. My mom is a hard-working woman who takes her work seriously even if half the time she’s working from home. Her face doesn’t show her age but her work experience can speak volumes.
I saw that she was surrounded by various floral samples, she was dressed in a pale coral blouse paired with flared black pants, as she sat cross-legged in the middle of them all with the nervous florist, staring with perplex at the two bundles of overpriced blossoming buds of inflorescence which she presumably shortlisted. Mom glanced up at my arrival, and smiled at me calmly, as if she wasn’t just banshee-ing my name through the whole city, and questioned, “Which one do you think?”
I scanned the options she had presented and I almost automatically pointed towards the white bunch, simply because the other bunch was pink, and no I don’t hate pink, I just am…scared of it. Ahem…so, many-many years ago, when my older brother Kyle was a little delicate dandelion, I had an utterly harrowing experience, one which maimed me for life. During my preschool days, Kyle was in the drama club, which came as a surprise to no one, seeing as he was the biggest drama queen to ever ruin my perspective on theatre.
I remember that day with terrifying clarity when he participated in the school drama, he was playing a character from the fruit bowl. Boring I know…anyway, he was a bright-pink talking obese strawberry- who drank strawberry milkshake (talk about cannibalism), had pink makeup on, along with a preppy pink spotlight. Zero points for aesthetics.
Imagine my torment when he stood there on the stage gleefully acting while looking less like a strawberry, and more like an oversized pink-pelican, as he single pink-handily destroyed my fondness towards a certain harmless secondary colour. That was the first time I realised that my big brother was a lot more lamer than I thought. And even though he had managed to pull himself out of the murky labyrinth of those black (pink) days, I never could. Hence, the everlasting pink phobia.
I plastered a fake smile on my lips while asking “Is that all?” Tempted to add a sarcastic and very British “mother?” At the end of my sentence but managed to hold back.
I resisted an urge to do a happy twirl when she dismissed me and sighed instead. Being the daughter of a famous event planner is hard.
Mom has occupied herself again with another one of her ‘big’ clients and she keeps calling for me every two minutes or three to help her pick stuff cause she believes that I have an exquisite authentic eye for detail. Why does she think that? I had no idea. I have tried telling her countless times that I suck at planning anything. Oh, and also, I most definitely do not have an ‘exquisite authentic eye for detail.’ whatever the hell that meant. But she just wouldn’t believe me.
I have a slight suspicion that it had something to do with a new development that had occurred recently.
A week ago when I was absolutely done with all the glittery decoration stuff, I took it upon myself to prove how totally unreliable I actually am, by picking the most hideous, harrowing and utterly disastrous decoration for a party which was assigned to me.
It was going to be a complete horror story! Yay!
But what do I know? That party turned out to be a huge hit instead. How? you ask, What my mother failed to notify me was that it was a Halloween party. Needless to say, everyone congratulated me and mom on my success, she was very proud, geez if only she knew…Yeah, I hate my luck.
I wasn’t always this jobless, but two weeks ago after I moved back to Miami with my family, I have done nothing but waste my days with no remorse whatsoever. I’ve started job hunting, and applied for some jobs in a few companies but haven’t gotten any propitious offers yet.
Rejection letters cluttered my inbox and with each disappointing letter, my confidence took a tumble. It was disheartening to read all those rejections after I put in so much effort with the interviews and cover letters and every other thing.
Maybe the fact that I was absent for two years from the ever-changing business world didn’t look very nice on my resume. Plus the ridiculous reason that said ‘medical emergency’ probably raised more red flags.
Great! Just great. What was I gonna do?
My phone suddenly went off in my pocket and I pulled it out to see Kate’s message flash up on my screen with an address to meet her in half an hour. The clock was almost striking one in the afternoon and with a shrug, I decided to head out to see Kate. She’s my best friend and was helping me with job hunting and all that hassle.
I yelled out a goodbye to my mom and basically ran, but my lucky stars weren’t feeling all that generous today. Mom’s words stopped me before I had the chance to escape. “Alex, have you unpacked yet?”
I turned to face her while trying not to look white as a ghost, and as guilty as I felt “Of course, It’s all done.” my words were not as sure as death and taxes.
My mother scrutinized me with a doubtful gaze, one which makes me believe she has the power of sixth sense along with a whole bunch of lie-detecting skills.
“If you did, then why do you still reek of cardboard and duct tape?”
She should be a detective!
“I’ll do it soon mom…” I yelled and took off without listening to what she had to say.
As I reached the garage, I neared my silver Audi and climbed into the driver’s seat, putting it into reverse gear in no time I was on the road, blasting my music system through the roof as I sang along.
After about twenty minutes, I pulled up at the given address and then for a whole minute just stopped and stared at the beautiful piece of architecture in front of my eyes, gaping like a total idiot.
Woah? When did they build this hotel? I don’t think it existed a few years back.
The car behind me honked, as I was hogging up the entrance. I quickly got out of the way after calling out “Sorry!” towards him. Someone sure is in a hurry.
A valet came up to me as soon as I got out of the car and I handed the keys over to him. “You wouldn’t steal it, would you?” I jokingly said to the young guy in a semi-serious tone, and he gaped at me like I’ve lost my mind.
Okay then….strictly no humour policy. Got it!
I entered the building and realised the first floor was a restaurant, it seemed very prestigious and I was quite obviously out of place with my ripped jeans, sponge-bob shirt and hair pulled up into a messy bun. No doubt I’ve been turning quite a few heads as I walked in my nike shoes.
Well, at least I’m stylish.
I decided to ignore them, as my eyes wandered to look for my friend and her golden blonde locks but she wasn’t anywhere in sight.
I probably wasted some time trying to figure out where I was, to begin with. This place was huge and Kate has failed to specify an exact location for the meeting. Thinking I could wait for her in the company of an amazing glass of cold coffee, I entered a restaurant and walked the aisles between the thoughtfully decorated dining tables, looking for a small booth with two chairs.
Out of nowhere I came across someone bent down, cutting right across my way. My haste and clumsiness did not in the least help my case or my grace and I yelped as I lost my balance.
“Damn it!” cursed someone, the voice sounded deep and masculine.
In a matter of seconds, I was toppled over the said bent person and straight on top of a generously spread lunch table and suddenly food was flying everywhere.
Ouch.
*******************************
The first few chapters are intro and set-up, please give it a couple of chapters, and it’ll get more interesting.
Do voteâ and comment💬.
This chapter is dedicated to mandyguin for voting on the story, I wanted to personally message and thank you, but Wattpad won’t allow me to do that for some reason. Thank you so much for voting (and I really hope you’re okay with this).
I’ve decided to dedicate the chapters of this story to my readers, so please don’t just be silent readers I won’t know who you guys are and won’t be able to make a dedication.
-Vinee
Comment