C H A P T E R 1
ELEANOR pushes open the door to her boss' office, scrunching her nose at the overpowering scent of cheap perfume. "Hey," Ella starts.
"Yes, Eleanor?" Belinda replies, placing her folder on the desk, offering Ella her full attention.
"I like what you've done to your hair," Ella says smoothly, leaning against the door frame, "Really brings out your eyes," Ella continues, knowing she has Belinda wrapped around her pinky.
"Oh," Belinda replies, touching her hand up to her hair, "Thank you."
"Anyway," Ella goes on, "I've got something of certain importance on the weekend, do you think you could give me Saturday off?"
Belinda sighs, as if considering her options, "Well, I suppose so."
Ella squeals, fist pumping the air, before stiffening as she remembers her boss' presence. "I, uh, thank-you." Ella says quickly, rushing out of the office and closing the door behind her.
"I, uh, thank-you," Alex squeals, impersonating Ella. She brushes past him back into the shop.
"Is that what you tell the girl after you have sex?" Ella replies, struggling to keep a straight face as she fiddles with the cosmetics on the shelf. She pauses, cocking her head. "Oh wait, maybe you just say that to your hand?"
Alex leans on the shelf beside her, tucking one of his hands under his arm to push out his bicep. "Please," Alex scoffs, "I don't need to say anything because Alex Jr does all the talking."
Ella screws her face up. She definitely did not need that visual. "A talking dick? Oh, so that's how you convince girls to sleep with you!"
Alex scoffs again, then stalks off towards the mascara section. He suddenly doubles back, "Hey why are you taking Saturday off?"
"Is that really any of your business?"
"Yes."
Ella shifts her eyes around the shop, before leaning in and whispering, "I'm getting a Brazilian."
The shock on his face is priceless, Ella throws her head back and laughs.
"Alex! Stop distracting Ella and get back to work!" Belinda appears at the end of the aisle, hands on hips.
"Sorry," Alex lowers his head and shuffles off.
Ella meets her eyes and gives her a wink.
***
She leans her head back, breathing out as the bitter air hits her in the face. She grins, letting her feet dangle from the pedals as gravity works its magic, propelling her down the hill. Reaching the bottom of the hill, Ella skids around the corner, onto her street, narrowly dodging an oncoming car that honks at her. Flipping them the bird, Eleanor pedals on, enjoying the feeling of wind in her hair as she nears her house.
Excitement pumps through her veins as she slides into the driveway, spotting an envelope in the mailbox. The bike is left forgotten on her lawn. "Selena!" yells Ella.
She bursts through the door, waving the thick envelope in her hand. Ella's roommate and long-time best friend Selena looks up from chopping carrots. Her knife, too, is discarded as she rushes over to Ella. "Open it, open it, open it!" she urges.
The knife would've come in handy had Selena kept it. Ella and Selena's scrabbling hands rip open the package, a heap of paper messily falling out of the jagged hole. Selena shrieks and attempts to catch the sheets, while Ella tries to hold the envelope together. They pause for a second, and look at the scattered paper at their feet.
Ella laughs, soon joined in by Selena. "'Tis a good day," Ella puts on a posh voice.
"A fair, fair day." Selena bows and gathers the crinkled papers in a pile.
"Y'know, today we had some new stylists in for training, and Alex tried to diss me in front of them all." she puts on a dopey voice, "'Why would a 19 year old like Love Revolution?' So I said, 'Why would a former quarterback be working in a cosmetic shop?' That shut him up. Now all the stylists like me," she brings the top of her finger to the tip of her tongue, then touches the side of her bum. "Tssss, that's the Joyce burn right there!"
Selena brings her hand to her mouth in a mock gasp. "Oh damn girl, you are fire."
The other girl purses her lips and smirks, "Too hot to handle."
"Anyway, let's look at these!" They squeal again, at a pitch high enough to even deafen dogs.
There are four tickets. Ella grabs the two with her name, printed in nice bold letters:
MISS ELLA JOYCE
LOVE REVOLUTION
7:00PM SATURDAY 6TH FEBRUARY
VALLEY THEATRE
SEAT D16
But most exciting of all:
MISS ELLA JOYCE
LOVE REVOLUTION M&G
4:30PM SATURDAY 6TH FEBRUARY
VALLEY THEATRE BACKSTAGE
She can't help it, another squeal escapes her lips before she kisses the tickets. Then she digs around and pulls out the booking for The Palais Hotel, the hotel that Love Revolution are also going to be staying at. Another chorus of squeals emit the smiling mouths of both girls, as they happily dance around the living room. Ella pulls Selena in a hug, letting her best friend's cold skin calm her frenzy. Only a tad.
"I can't believe we won Meet and Greet tickets!" Ella screams, clutching the tickets to her chest.
"I can't believe," Selena adds, sinking into the sofa, "That in less than a week, I'm going to be staring into the eyes of Hunter Fitch, feasting my eyes on his staggering beauty." She sighs dreamily, her eyes glazing over with happiness.
Ella laughs, slumping beside her best friend, the smile still spread across her face.
A prickle itches the back of her neck. She shifts her eyes around the room, but sees no glowing eyes hidden in the darkness. I should stop watching so many horror films.
Shaking her head, she turns back to her best friend. "I bet $20 that I can get Chase's number."
Selena cocks an eyebrow. "$20 says you can't."
YOU ARE READING
PARAPLANO
General FictionWHEN I'M WITH YOU, I FEEL LIKE WE'RE THE ONLY TWO PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD Albeit being cliché AF, this phrase is most unfortunately the grave reality for Ella Joyce and Chase Dartmouth. You see, as babies they were rocketed into the heavens and landed...
