Only With You

Chapter 1 : Perfect World

I stare out the glass doors, overlooking the deck, completely lost in thought. I have been standing here staring for longer than I care to admit, but this place holds so many memories, some good, and some bad. I can't believe that I am going to leave this place soon. My visa is set to expire in a month, but when I started this journey two years ago, I never thought it would come to this. It never occurred to me that I would be giving up on my acting dream and going home. I thought that getting a role would be easy and I would be one of the lucky ones that got their big break right away.

Unfortunately, I have not been that lucky and my dream is feeling more like a pipe dream that is going to blow up in my face. There have been small roles here and there, but that elusive breakout role has been harder to attain. After so many auditions and so many rejections I am almost relieved. Almost. The constant rejection and waiting was so hard in the beginning. Now all the auditions blend together, and I am not even sure I want to do this anymore. I can't believe how different my life is, then how I imagined it to be all those years ago.

After I finished school I made up my mind to go to LA and live my dream. I flew the 14 hours from Melbourne the next week. One of my mom's mates from Uni, Gus, lived in LA and agreed to let me stay in his spare room for a bit. I moved in with him and I thought I was set. After a few months of audition after audition and getting nothing, I was running low on funds. I had to get a job and it was time to find a new place to live. I loved staying with Gus, but he had his own life to live. I just felt like I needed to find my own space here.

I got a job waiting tables, thinking how hard can it be, since I was a bartender back home. I was so wrong, it was horrible. I did meet Raven, so I guess it wasn't that bad. Raven was my trainer at the restaurant. I was so terrible that she felt sorry for me after that first shift. She made me go out for drinks with her later that night. At the bar, we both tried to hit on the same girl and both struck out. That was all it took for us to become fast friends. We both needed a new place to stay, so I had a buddy to apartment hunt with. We got extremely lucky in our search, because a friend of Gus' had this place available. They gave us a killer deal on rent and the rest is history.

We started spending so much time together, and got along so well that we decided to move in together. With her dark hair, dark skin and beautiful Hispanic features, Raven was my complete opposite. She was loud and brash and so incredibly smart that she could be intimidating, so we balanced each other out nicely. She is my opposite in every way but somehow it just works between us. She loves to work out and do yoga, while I hate any form of exercise. She is a certified genius, while I am most definitely not.  Raven and I have been each other's wingman ever since and she has become more like a sister to me. I think leaving my newfound family and home here in LA, is going to be harder to leave that admitting that I failed at my dream.

We have made so great many memories here together. Like the time Gus and Raven almost destroyed the deck over some stupid sports argument. The time Raven got wasted and fell asleep on the deck naked, that was more of my roommate than I ever wanted to see. The late night baking. The major cooking disasters that one time I tried to teach Raven to cook. All of the family meals we have enjoyed here together. There is a lot here that I have to say goodbye to. Before I can get too wrapped up in memories, I realize that It is almost noon. If I don't haul ass I will be late for my job at the café, Mugs, down the street.

I scramble to get ready and sprint down the street to Mugs. I crash through the doors about 10 seconds before my shift starts, and run straight to the break room to make myself presentable. Running really does not agree with me. My cheeks are flushed, and my hair is a wreck and I only ran 3 blocks. Looking in the mirror I realize there is not a whole lot I can to make myself presentable, so I splash some water on my face and go clock in.