Limelight (Ruby Rose fan fic)

Fifteen

AN: All the places are real, I mean the restaurants where the girls meet every Monday, the hotel in Los Cabos and this Palmer House in Chicago. You can google them and take a look at the pictures. 

Iselen, can you answer the fucking telephone? I haven't heard from you in four days. I know you're still alive because Roger told me that he met you in a lecture. This is ridiculous. Please, call me.

I read Liz text while I'm having breakfast in the hotel bar sitting on a high stool. I throw my phone in my bag without answering and keep chewing my bacon and mushrooms omelette and sipping my tea. It's not my intention to be mean with Liz, it's just that I don't really know what to say and I don't feel like listening to her giving me a telling-off. I'm just delaying the inevitable, I know; eventually I'll have to come back to Los Angeles and face the situation but I don't want it right now. I'm very good at the "Ostrich Technique:" I hide my head in a hole avoiding confrontations and pretending that my life is wonderful as it is, the problem with this technique is that you end up with your ass up in the air in a perfect position to be kicked hard by reality.

"Roger, you and your big mouth!" I think looking up, the ceiling painted with Renaissance style frescoes is amazing. The bronze sphinx that holds one candelabra next to the staircase seems to follow my movements with her eyes; I look at her beautiful Greek lady face with her hair in an elegant updo while she stays in balance on a granite pillar with her wings spread. "Hey don't judge me!" I think frowning; "It's easy for you, you only have to stay up there holding the lights and watching the people go by. You should come down here and have a taste of the real world. It sucks!"

I swallow the last bite of my omelette and sip my tea calmly. To be honest I can't blame Roger for talking to Liz. We met by chance in a lecture about urban landscaping: who would've thought it was so easy to have your own kitchen garden in your balcony growing tomatoes and strawberries or that, thanks to the flower gardens planted on the shopping centres rooftops, the Major of Paris produces honey in hives on the city hall rooftop. Roger has been my boss' friend for long years and I suspect they went on a date when they were back in college, but their relationship didn't go anywhere. It's a pity because he's a nice guy, maybe a bit serious and probably Liz made his head hurt talking his ear off.

I've been very busy these past four days with lectures and exhibitions, I made lots of new contacts and handed tons of business cards of our decorating firm. In addition to this, my project notebook is full of new ideas about furniture and technology that I've been seeing here. Actually, I've hardly had time to eat some days and the best part is that I haven't had time to think. It has also helped that Ruby seems to have given in and it's been two days since her last message; Liz and my friends have decided that I need my own space to make things clear and most of the time they remain silent. The nights are the worst, when there's nothing to keep my mind busy and the only thing I do is soaking the pillow with my tears. I'm not stupid, I'm aware that this is my fault: I'm terrified, stuck in the past and unable to move on. I'm a coward. The only thing I want to do is curl up in a little ball and spend all my life in my comfort zone where nothing can touch me or hurt me. I love Ruby but I don't think I'm the best girlfriend she could have right now, my heart and my head are too much fucked up to make her happy. She'd be better without me.

- Iselen? – I turn around on my stool to see who's calling me.

- Suzanne? I didn't know you were in Chicago. Have you come to hear the lectures? I'm happy to see you – I greet the beautiful girl standing in front of me with a kiss on her cheek - What have you done to your hair?

- It's called "strawberry blonde."

- All right... you look very good.

To be honest, everything looks good on Suzanne: she's tall and slim, she's flawless skin, she's always smiling and dresses up in elegant clothes, she's smart, funny and respected for her work. You could say that she's the exact equivalent to Liz but in New York instead of Los Angeles. Technically they're rivals but since they've different customers they can keep a friendly relationship and they admire each other's work. I met her a few days after I moved in with my boss when Suzanne was spending her holidays in California and she took the opportunity to pay a visit to Liz in her office and chat about their last projects. We connected immediately since we share and appreciation for modern ambiances with classical touches instead of being obsessed with last trends and neutral shades of colour. Liz had a prior engagement so I invited her to dinner to keep talking about furniture... she invited me for breakfast the next morning when she called the room service of her hotel. I haven't seen her since that day.