Life, Love, & Lies

Thirty-Two

"Oh good I caught you."

Lolo looks up from her purse where she'd been placing the key card to her room. "Oh hey Reese, what's up?" She smiles, acknowledging her friend.

"Are you headed somewhere?"

"Just to get some food, did you wanna join me?"

"Yes please! I am starving but I've never been to Paris before and I'm a little nervous to go out."

"Why are you nervous to go out in Paris?" Lolo laughs.

"I don't speak any French and I don't want to come off as a rude tourist who doesn't speak any French. Plus, I don't know anyone who speaks any French, so I couldn't ask them to go with me. I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking it, maybe it's the stereotype that French people can be rude to Americans and I don't want to give them a reason to be rude to me." Reese's cheeks are slightly pink as she admits it.

"Well you're in luck. I speak French." Lolo grins.

"You do?"

"Remember when I told you ballet was basically my life plan and my biggest dream was to dance with the Paris Opera Ballet." Lolo rolls her eyes slightly.

"Oh yeah, I kind of forgot about that. It could've saved me a lot of panic this morning if I had remembered."

"Well you caught me anyway, should we go get some breakfast?"

"Yes please, I am still starving.

"Let's go." Lolo reaches out to grab Reese's arm dragging her towards the elevator at the end of the hall.

"Wait so if your whole life was supposed to be in Paris after you graduated or after whenever, is it weird to be here?" Reese asks as the two girls exit the hotel together.

"Um, yes and no, the dancer part of me is a little more obvious I guess you'd say. My dancing career is weighing more on me with being in this city, mind more on the past opportunities I lost while we're here. But I'm also not here for that, I'm here to do my current job, my current passion, photography. I think if I was here for leisure, to see a performance, or something like that, it would be a bigger deal, but because I'm here for work and I am doing a job it's helping to hold back those feelings."

"Well I'm glad to hear that it's not freaking you out being here. I honestly hadn't even thought about it and now I feel like a bad friend for not checking in on you."

"Please don't feel guilty for this. It's just a city and I like where my life is, and what I do. No reason to dwell on the past that isn't a reality anymore when the present is good."

"You know LoLo, I envy your optimism. You always look at life like the glass is half full, you always have a silver lining. I wish I could be like that."

"I don't always have a silver lining, but I try damn hard to find one every time. I went through a lot as a teenager so most problems nowadays truly don't seem earth shattering. Compared to my past, everything I go through now really does seem to have a silver lining but that doesn't mean I can always see it." LoLo admits candidly.

"You don't talk about your past much. We've been friends now for what, five or six months now and I honestly don't know anything about you. You dated my brother and I don't think he actually knew anything, not really. Sorry if he's a sore subject.  Do you want or need to talk about your past? Because you can. I will listen."

Lolo laughs, hoping it sounds light hearted enough to not cause Reese to be suspicious, "I'm fine, Reese, I just don't like to talk about it. I lost both my parents in less than a year and it sucked. But I'm fine, I'm adjusted or whatever you wanna call it, and I choose not to dwell on it or talk about it, if I can help it. But thank you for the concern. It is appreciated and I know if I ever need to, I can come to you."