Summertime Sadness

1. Cigarettes on the Balcony

Songlist : Art deco - Lana del Rey, Summertime Sadness (hotel garuda Remix) - Lana del Rey.🎶

May 26th 1966, Los Angeles.

"You have no excuse darling, you're coming with me. it's time you meet new people, so you can get out of the studio for a change." said Richard with his inoffensive sarcastic voice.

It had been a week and a half since Jaime moved to LA for her new job at Fader Magazine. Since her Boss and friend Richard had a huge house in the outskirts of L.A. , he had offered her his small guest house so they could work closer together.

Although Jaime was doing a great job on her first week as the magazine's art director, she had been acting as a workaholic and had barely left the studio office, so Richard invited her to a social event that was taking place at the infamous Chateau Marmont so she could meet some people of the L.A. art scene.

"Yes, you're right. might as well give it a try. I do need a drink actually." Jamie said with a sight while cleaning her brush and putting away the medium sized canvas. Although she wasn't really exited for the party because she knew how superficial people in Los Angeles could be, she thought it might be nice to see a bit more of the glam side of the city and of course, Even though Richard was very fun to be around, she needed to socialize with someone else besides Him.

  She got dressed in a beautiful cocktail dress made out of see-through cream fabric and covered in white flowers from the chest to the thighs, paired with silver knotted heels. Jaime knew about fashion. Enough to pull out a look to go to a fancy party at the Chateau Marmont without none noticing she wasn't exactly from the upper-class.

They drove in Richard's car and as soon as they walked inside the Chateau's lounge, a couple of people approached Richard. He was well know amongst the people of the party, who were mostly business men and people from the show biz. He always politely introduced Jamie to everyone he knew but they never showed a lot of interest in the young girl. Jamie felt like people looked at her as if she were Richard's assistant or something, and none truly bothered to make a conversation with her.

With the exception of a guy, Tommy, who Jamie thought they might be close in age. He approached her and offered her a drink right away. Tommy was the son of a wealthy man, an investor of  the magazine, who was one of the people co-hosting the party. He was very polite but he was one of those guys who couldn't get over themselves. Jamie didn't really had anyone better to talk with so she downed her martini thinking it would be more bearable to listen to the guy talk about his mansion in west hollywood and his 1963' Corvette if she was a little drunk, but the drink didn't really had any effect on her.

Twenty long minutes of conversation later, Jaime thought of going out to the balcony for a smoke to escape from Tommy's blabbing and find Richard. "Would you excuse me for a bit, I need to find my friend because, I need to ask him something really important. Don't move, i'll be right back." Jamie lied without feeling guilty about it.

She escaped from the Lounge and went up the marble stairs up to the terrace looking for Richard. she didn't find him but saw the balcony and went there to lit up her cigarette.

The balcony's view was mesmerizing. it was a mixture from the gray concrete and tall buildings with the dark green of the cypresses and palm trees scattered throughout the city. L.A. looked beautiful. Even more with the sky turning pink and orange from the sunset. She took a cigarette from her case and lit it with her golden lighter. she loved that lighter so much. It was the first thing she had ever bought when she first came to New York. It had flowers embroidered on the surface and her initials, which she had later engraved.