Sliding Doors - 2 (English Version)

Chapter 4

Hero

"Who are you chatting with?" asks Felix as he enters the kitchen.
I'm preparing breakfast, before going to the Ferragamo offices. They've finally summoned me to take stock of the situation and possibly resume some fashion shows, as soon as there's a chance.


"With no one..." I put my phone away and focus on the cereal in the bowl in front of me.


"You had a smirk on your face..." he teases as he sits down in front of me "Did Jo text you, by any chance?"


I wish! No, nothing like that.


"I was talking to Melissa..." I confess all in one breath, almost as if it was a strange thing to be talking to a girl.


"Ohhh that's it..." he smiles, taking a piece of bacon and putting it in his mouth "You had a weird look in fact..."


"Weird?" I look at him questioningly, I don't really understand what he's referring to honestly.
She just asked me how I was and what I was doing.


"You're generally never on your mobile phone too much, especially when it comes to texting... it seemed strange to me!" He kept looking at me as if he was trying to figure out who knows what.


"I have to go out soon, I don't have time to call anyone... I'm also waiting for Jamie to call me..." I'm justifying myself and I don't know why, is there anything wrong with texting someone?


"Yeah yeah, okay... chill man, I just wanted to see why you were laughing to yourself, that's all!"
I hadn't even realised it honestly, but Melissa is really nice and it felt spontaneous to reply to her messages right away, instead of waiting ages and then forgetting about it like I usually do.


"No interview today? I wanted to say hi to Jo..." he says with her mouth full "I haven't seen her in a while..."


"No, I think I'll only see her again for the photoshoot in a few days, I don't know exactly when yet..."


"But you two... I mean, are you in touch?" he looks at me hesitantly.


The subject is a bit difficult to broach and I have never felt this way in my entire life, I feel like I have no sure direction to take and the fact that she is so distant from me, in every sense, doesn't make things easy.
Maybe I should just move on, file it away as a thing of the past and be done with it, move on.
It would probably be easier.


"Do you still think you can be his friend?"


Felix is in a chatty mood today, usually very taciturn, especially in the morning.


"I don't think so!" I burst out laughing "That's out of the question..." I finish my cereal and get up to put the bowl inside the kitchen sink. I'll clean it up later, I really need to get out now.


"So how are you going to do that?" he bites into another piece of bacon looking at me curiously, almost as if my life is some sort of soap opera serial.


"So like I'm doing now..." I sigh, taking my coat and keys.
Felix nods and says nothing this time...
"Then I'll see you tonight, I'll have a lot to do around today..."


"Okay..." he turns around and turns on the kitchen TV "Hey FT..."
I press the front door handle and turn around "Yes?"


"Melissa is so hot!"


We both burst out laughing and I walk out, shaking my head.
He's right.
Maybe I should start from here again, who knows?


--------------------------------------------------------------


Walking around London, after so long, seems almost surreal.
Everyone wears masks that cover more than half of their face and they wash their hands often, even if only with disinfectant gel. Returning to everyday life seems really difficult, but I am confident.


The meeting with the Ferragamo team went well and I hope to have some news to deal with soon!
I'm waiting for Jamie at the restaurant, she said he would join me to update me on some projects that are in the pipeline and I can't wait to see what they might be.


"Hey boy of my heart!!!" I hear her familiar voice over my shoulder, I turn around and see her smiling and beaming.
Jamie is only 10 years older than me roughly and she is a force of nature, she almost acts as my second mum. She takes care of me and I know I can trust her blindly!


"Hi Jamie! Great to see you live again!!!" we exchange a greeting, without being able to hug yet.


"Have you ordered yet?" she sighs, taking off her coat and placing it on the empty chair beside us
"No, I was waiting for you..."


"Okay, so let's order so then we can focus on work... I have so much to tell you!!!" her enthusiastic expression lets me know that there is good news on the horizon and I feel like I'm breathing again after a long time where I've been practically apnoea.
The waiter quickly takes orders and Jamie pulls out her trusty clipboard from her bag.


"Let's get started!!!"


I look at her impatiently and my mind wanders to hypothetical fashion shows, photo shoots and films to audition for.
"First of all we have 3 fashion shows coming up, right here in London, so no problem..." she flips through the various appointments on her diary and stops again "Then we have 2 auditions to do, I will email you the script, although they will all be via Skype as they are foreign productions..."
I nod careful not to miss a single word.
"As for After..."
My heart loses a beat, After means Josephine, it means seeing her again.


"Hero are you listening to me?"
I blink quickly waking up from my thoughts.
"Oh God yes, sorry..."


"I was saying that you still have a lot of interviews, both alone and with others in the cast. And by others I mean Josephine, as well as Dylan..." she looks at me carefully and a little apprehensively "I know that lately between you..."


"Don't worry, it's fine..." I smile at her even though I'm not exactly so happy with the situation with Jo "We're talking now... we're back to being friends..."


"Friends..." she repeats lowering her gaze and taking more papers from her bag "Okay... friends..." she sighs.


Evidently she doesn't believe it either.
When we got home, after the end of the second film, I told her everything that had happened with Jo. I couldn't hold it in any longer and I needed advice! So now it's plausible that she's not too convinced that we're just friends.
Neither am I!


"The second film is coming out soon, so you'll have to do a photoshoot together first, in a manner of speaking of course, you'll be in opposite sides of the world... we've set it for next week, then there'll be more interviews right after that!" She stops and looks at me to make sure I'm following all the talk, as I got distracted right away earlier.


"Okay..." I nod as the waiter brings us our lunch.


"How did it go at Ferragamo's?" she picks up her pen, ready to mark new engagements.


"Great, I'm told they'll be contacting you shortly to start with the shows again..." I smile, taking a mouthful of pasta from the plate in front of me.


"Great!" she quickly marks something and then puts everything away to start eating.


We talk about everything but work during our lunch.
She tells me what she's been up to recently, mostly anecdotes about her children who have occupied practically every day since we went into lock down.


"So be sure to have Mike pick you up on Monday at 9am to go for the photoshoot and interview with Josephine, okay?"


We say goodbye like that, as he gets into his car and speeds away through the streets of London.
I remain alone with my thoughts and, stuffing my hands in the pockets of my jeans, I walk slowly, enjoying the fresh air of the early afternoon.
There are a few clouds in the sky today, they seem to reflect my mood a little.
I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and I absentmindedly pick it up, I have to remember to turn off Instagram notifications.


New Message

Melissa: Hey are you at the pub tonight with the others? ;-)



I sigh rereading the text of the message several times. I don't know if I really want to go out, though it wouldn't hurt to get a little distracted.
But yes, what harm can it do me?
I press Felix's contact and forward the call.

"Hey, tell me everything..." in the background can be heard the screams of a football game.

"Where are you?"

"At the stadium with Alex, are you done with work already?" he shouts "It was a penalty!!! Imbecile!!!"

I pull the phone away from my ear laughing, before it deafens me completely.

"Yeah, I think so... are we going to the pub tonight?"

Mine is more of a request for confirmation, rather than a proposal, but I don't want to tell Felix that I'm seeing Melissa again.

"Yeah, how do you know? I didn't have time to warn you and.... ahh I get it! Melissa!" he bursts out laughing.

She doesn't even need to hide things from him, apparently.
"I knew she'd ask you right away..." even though I can't see him, I know he has a goofy grin on his face.

"Stop it, there's nothing between me and her.... She just asked me!"

"And you wanted to know if it was true..." he teases me but it's the truth.

"So... shall we go?" I ask again, hoping he'll tell me it's not a good idea or I don't know what else... anything!

"Sure! They're doing live music, they've opened up an area outside and we can be without masks if we want to, sounds good to me!" he says all in one breath "And that wasn't foul, was it?"

He talks a little to me and a little comments on the game he's watching.

"Let's do one thing, I'll join you so we can talk about it..." I propose, also because it's really been ages since I've attended a football match and I really like the idea!

"Okay, pitch number three... you'll recognise us right away!"

I burst out laughing. "Ah, I had no doubt about that..."

--------------------------------------------------------------

"I know because she asked about you earlier..." Felix doesn't take his eyes off the game as he talks to me.
I just arrived recently, luckily the match had just started when I called my friend so I can follow it almost from the beginning.

"Don't fixate on this Melissa thing eh, please..." I snort "And that was a foul anyway!" I yell in the direction of the team we chose to cheer for today.

"I'm not saying anything, I just told you what I heard.... She's here with her friends, I don't know where they are right now honestly." he turns to look at me for a moment, before returning his focus to the game "Actually, we play better guys eh..." he shakes his head dejectedly.

"Okay, okay..." I sigh.

"Have you heard from her today?" he asks after a few minutes of silence.

"Who?" I turn to him frowning.

"What, who, Josephine of course..."

"No...we didn't have interviews or anything else to do today...I'll see her again on Monday for a photoshoot, the film is about to hit the theatres..."

"Good man!" he pats me on the back smiling "And maybe Melissa is the solution to all your problems..."

"Yeah sure..." I shake my head and laugh at that statement.

"She might make you forget about a certain little blonde girl..." he whispers so Alex can't hear him, although I highly doubt he's following our conversation, busy as he is watching the game in front of us.

"I doubt it... Anyway, I've decided to move on, we're just friends and we're going to stay that way, I have to get over it..."

"Now you're talking!" he smiles "And is that asshole Edward always around?"

I laugh and am happy to be friends with Felix, always straightforward and direct in everything.
Nothing has changed between us, even though I do a job that takes me around the world!

"Oh yes... He's in Los Angeles now..." I snort "He moved there!"

Felix suddenly freezes and looks at me bewildered "Wait...What?!?"

"Forget it... he's always clinging to her... I'd better not think about it!"

"But you're just friends, right?" he jokes "So it shouldn't bother you..."

"No, indeed... it shouldn't..." I smile.

I actually hate the fact that he is always so close to her and my blood boils in my veins at the thought of the two of them together, but somehow I have to move on and get over it.

I pick up my mobile phone, only now remembering that I didn't answer Melissa.

Hero: Yes, I'm coming with Felix.

She doesn't take long to answer, so much so that I don't have time to put the phone away when it vibrates again.

Melissa: Perfect! See you there at 10pm... See you later FT!

I'd like to point out to you that only friends call me FT but that would be like telling you that you're not my friend, so I avoid.

Who knows how things will go from now on...