Through A Picture

The Biginning

There were a lot of things going wrong in that period. No money to pay the rent, no job on the horizon and that insidious feeling of doing nothing good with her life. That's what was going on in Jess' life. And she didn't have any idea about how to fix everything. Or at least how to survive till the end of the summer in the City of Angels.
She didn't want to go back to that sadly ordinary town in the middle of nowhere where she grew up, especially after that conversation. The one with her father when he told her she was nothing good except for creating disasters. She wanted to prove him wrong so badly she could even live under a bridge till August.
Even thou she hated all those animals that might find cool to live in the underground. Jess shivered.
-Darling what the hell are you doing home?!
Jess rolled her eyes, thinking about what she must have done wrong to deserve a roommate like Kristal: a perfect, blond haired, LA babe with an undeniable inclination for criticising Jess. Sometimes she thought it was her favourite hobby. But, to be completely honest, Jess couldn't be nothing but grateful to have Kristal, mostly because she was the one who took her inside that extremely cool apartment in the middle of a rainy evening, a month before. So yeah: Kristal was a glamourous heroine in Loubutain shoes. The one she was wearing while walking into the kitchen, where Jess was.
-Is that a giant bucket of ice cream???
Jess tried to hide the jar under the table, but Kristal was faster and grabbed it with an athletic move, probably due to all those gym sessions with her pretty expensive German trainer. Jess was also pretty sure they had an affair, but she wasn't too sure if she wanted to know what kind of activity they practised.
She looked inside the jar and put on a disgusted expression, typically followed by a shocked comment.
-It's cheesecake flavour!!!!
-Yeah... Maybe.
Kristal put down the jar and looked straight into Jess'eyes.
-What the hell is happening cherry?
Okay. Probably this needed some explanations, such as the fact that Kristal had found Jess in a trashy bar, wearing an horrifying cherry costume to serve beers to lorry drivers and pushers. Yeah: LA gave a pretty special welcome to the dreamy Jess.
Jess knew she had to tell her the truth, but that was the third job she lost in a month and the only idea of hearing one of Kristal's sermons about the fact she had to take charge of her own life, made Jess sick.
Anyway, Kristal's deep blue eyes and red lipstick were still waiting to hear the truth.
-I've lost my job. Again, yes. And yep, I know I should be the only one taking care of my life, trying to reach my goals to become successful and happy.... But you know what? Since I came here, the only thing I get to really understand is that not all of us are born to be happy. Or successful. Or just evrn well balanced.
Kristal took a deep breath and Jess could see the leopard printed bra (a Victoria Secrets' one) peaking out of her shirt. Jess wished she had the needed self confidence to wear something like that.
-Okay cherry. It's time for plain B.
-For what?
Jess was quite confused about what the "plain B" could be, but the determined look on Kristal's face made her worry.
The model/influencer/actress/life coach also known as Kristal took her phone out of her bag and sit right in front of Jess and started scrolling down her Instagram feed.
It took Jess some seconds to realize that it was her IG feed.
-Not that I want to sound intrusive but: why are you on my Instagram profile?!
When Kristal brought up her face from the phone, Jess already known that something terrible was going to happen.
-Let's be honest cherry. You're the worst waitress, barmaid or shop assistant ever seen in the entire history of this city.
That hurt. That actually hurt. But Jess knew it was the truth. She didn't get a college degree in media studies to work in a trashy bar, wearing some stupid cherry shaped costume for the rest of her life. Mostly because she didn't have enough balance to bring more than two steins on a tray. But that was another story.
-And that's why I'm scrolling through your Instagram posts.
-I genuinely don't see the connection.
Kristal rolled her eyes and Jess thanked the upper floors for giving her such a patient and caring roommate (even if she showed her affection with direct and harshy comments most of the times).
-I mean: you studied to be a social media manager and from what I see here, you're also pretty good... And it just so happens that you are in the city where the 98% of the population wants to become someone in the media industry. So: here's your chance!
That was a pretty good idea. Well, actually that was the most brilliant idea ever and Jess thought she must be quite stupid to had not think about it before.
-I might also get you to work for me, but I'm pretty sure you're gonna freak out in two days time, but I know some agencies that might need someone like you.
That was the moment when everything started changing.