30 Days and Counting

Before The 30 Days

Fantasia

I woke up, engulfed in the arms of my lover. The sun beamed into his penthouse bedroom , heating the air around us. I felt his breath on the back of my neck and smiled. I gently and slowly turned in his arms to face him. I laid there watching him sleep for a few seconds before kissing his nose. I rubbed his arm up and down and admired him.

This was our third to final morning in this penthouse. A few months back, the modeling agency that I am signed with came to me with an opportunity. They picked some of their best models to go on an all expenses paid trip to Ibiza. We get to meet with incredible designers, shop around with each other, eat amazing authentic food, hangout on the beach, and most importantly, model clothing.

That's not the only thing, though. When we get back from our trip, my boyfriend Colton and I are moving into our own little house. We weren't going to do it until we got closer to our engagement, but we basically live together already and wanted to speed up the process. And on top of that, we don't even know when we are getting engaged. I don't know if he wants to go old fashioned and propose to me, or if he wants me to pop the question to him. Either way, one of us is going to ask the other to marry them soon.

I watched Colton's face as his eyes fluttered out of their restful state. He opened his eyes fully and smiled. "Goodmorning baby." He said in almost a whisper. Hearing the raspiness of his morning voice brought me tingles. "Goodmorning," I responded with an even bigger smile. I sounded shy. I always do when I'm talking to him. After 3 years of dating I thought the shyness I get with him would go away, but it hasn't.

"Are you ready for today," He asked me. His eyes closed as if he was going back to sleep. I raised my hand up to his face and grazed his cheek with my thumb. "Yea, I'm excited. This time next week we'll be in Spain!" I cheerfully responded. I kept my voice low acknowledging the fact that we were both still partially awake. He opened his eyes again and reached his hand to the lower of my back. Using his strength, he pulled me into a hug. He positioned us upward and I was straddling him.

He stared into my eyes and rubbed my thighs. "I'm so proud of you, Tasia." I couldn't contain my smile when he said that. His dark eyes held me captive. "Your dreams are coming true before your very eyes, and you're letting me be a part of them." He reached for my hands and interlocked our fingers.

"You're an amazing partner to have these dreams with. Thank you for being that support that I need. Thank you for being my rock, baby. I love you."

"I love you more, princess."

"Nah, I think I love you a lot a bit more."

"Nope. No, I love you more." Our rambling continued until I realized it was time for us to get ready. We have a busy day of cleaning, socializing, and organizing to do before we leave the states. We have gotten most of it done in the past few weeks, but the minor things that we haven't finished are our number 1 priorities.

We got out of bed and into our morning routines with the first thing on our agenda being lunch with my family. After that, a sit down with his family. And finally, a mini get together with our friends.

—+—+—+—

The next day I had a sit down with all of the models going on this trip as well. A good friend of mine, Nadira, promised that she would be my official trip buddy. Nadira is one of my long time friends that actually inspired me to get into this. I would have probably been a landscaper or something if I hadn't met her. That's not true actually, I don't do too well outside.

We all mingled and socialized with each other in circles. Nadira introduced me to a few people I had never seen before, encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone a little. "She's a shy thing, huh?" One of the women asked Nadie.

"She's just quiet. She gets talkative when she's comfortable." Nadria responded. She turned to me and mouthed "talk" in an attempt to get me to seem less awkward around these folks.

"So what are you most excited for about this trip, Fantasia?" A tall blond asked. She had a beautiful lip combo that accentuated her beautiful smile.

"I'm excited to just get away from home for a while and experience a different part of the world. I'm still in disbelief that this is actually happening." I gave a small giggle and quickly closed my mouth.

"For such a beautiful woman and beautiful model, you seem pretty shy about yourself." I wasn't expecting such a straight up comment. I didn't even know how to respond to it.

"I just-"

"Smile mama, you have a beautiful face. I know many cover models that don't seem too confident in their features, but you're radiant. Show that to us." My eyes were wide as she concluded her long and confusing compliment. I looked over to where Nadira was standing, only to realize that she had slipped away.

"Thank you." I cut myself short. The woman gave me one more smirk then left. I walked around greeting people, trying not to seem rude. I could feel my social battery dying with every hello I gave out. I sat down on a couch near a group of people engaged in a conversation. Out of this group of about 5, I would assume, 4 of them were all talking about God knows what. The one person not talking was a lady with a mean bob. She was looking at people in the group as I stared at her.

I heard a few words about medicine and companies being thrown out there, but I was focused on the expressions the lady had. After a while, she looked down at her hands and fidgeted. She looked back up and immediately met my gaze. I smiled to hopefully distract her from the creepiness of my staring. She smiled back at me before raising to her feet and walking toward me. She took a seat right next to me on the couch and began talking to me.

"HI, how are you?" The woman greeted.

"I'm good, and you?"

"I'm doing alright. You were looking at me pretty hard over here"

"I'm sorry." I said looking down.

"It's alright." I looked back up and she was still smiling back at me. "I'm Taraji."

"I'm Fantasia."

"I'm very aware. I've seen your face in quite a few covers in the past few years. You're so beautiful in person."

"Thank you." I wasn't expecting this to be a day of complimenting me. I usually don't do well with many compliments that don't come from Colt, but they are making me feel pretty good. "My social anxiety might kill me in a few minutes."

Taraji put her hand out for me to grab and I took it. She walked us to an empty space near a large window. She asked me a few questions about the trip and told me more about herself. We got to a topic on families. When I mentioned my brother, her mood shifted. I asked her if everything was alright and she quickly gave me a smile and nodded. The rest of the time, the entire group played games, ate, talked about the plans for the month, and shared our excitement.

I went home to Colt and waited. Tomorrow, we fly from Los Angeles to Ibiza.