Chapter 14

I rubbed my eyes and adjusted my vision.  The sunlight was sinking into my room.  After being positive that I was well rested, I kicked my legs off the bed and made it right away.

I laughed to myself in the midst of it, because I realized that Alicia has a butler, so I don't need to make it!  But since I was already doing it, I thought, I might as well finish.

Quickly, I slipped my clothes on looking forward to an extravagant breakfast.

While I walked down to the kitchen, I observed some details of the house.  Alicia sure had a rich daddy!  And I am living in this lap of luxury!

When I made it downstairs, Alicia was sitting on a barstool staring at nothing on the wall, and the butler was making breakfast.

I stopped in back of her without a sound.  "Whatcha doin?"  I hadn't scared her a bit.  She looked at me and smirked.  "Why don't you sit down?"  She patted the other chair next to her.  I did so.

I sat down, and she continued staring at the wall.

"You have nothing better to do?"

"Wanna see?"

"What are you talking about?"

She took a little remote from her hand and pressed a button.  A big tv screen came down and was right on the wall that she had been looking at.  She had heard me coming....

"Wow..." was all I could mutter.

She side smirked and nodded.

As we watched a tv show (which I was only half tracking), I watched the master chef at work.  He had a really nice, complicated pancake recipe goin' on...

In the middle of our delicious breakfast, her cell phone rang.

She squinted a little.  She muttered to herself, "hmm, no one calls me before lunch."

When she answered it, her features contorted into a confused expression.  "Hello...?"

After a minute of her just listening, her features softened and her eyes expanded.  At this point, I was very curious to know who was on the phone.

"Oh my gosh, yes, yes, of course!  I will be there.  Okay, lunch... that sounds good!"

When she hung her phone up, I was positive that it was her ex.  "Was that your ex what's-his-name?"

"No," she said kind of sadly.  "Not Randy.  But...I'm going to be a star!  I'm going to be a star!  Someone from Bridgeview Records thinks I could be right for their record company!"

I grinned at her.  "That's great!"  She deserved it, she truly did.  But we'll see how that goes, not that I was going to tell her that, though...

"Thanks!  Um... I should show you the furniture site before I go!"

"Didn't you say you were meeting for lunch?"

She nodded.  "Yeah, but I gotta get ready!"

"Girls..." 

"Hey!  This is important."

We went in her room and she booted up the computer and pulled up a website called 'living in the lap of modern luxury.'  

Then she called James over.  "James, com'mon and move this chair for me!"  She motioned to an armchair.

He came at her call right away.  He followed her gaze to the one she was pointing at and moved it to the computer with ease.  "Anything else?"  "Nah, I'm good for now.  Thank you James."

"So, why don't you want me to go to the store?" I asked.  She gave me a look that said, 'are you serious?'  "Because there's a way better selection here, and it's all stuff I like!  Not just some dumb old, middle class furniture store!

"Okay, and what kind of stuff do you want?..."

"Surprise me," she said.  "Anything not so serious, which is pretty much everything on this site, so I think you're safe."  I nodded slowly.

I thought it through in my head.  Sometimes, the ones that don't know what they want are the hardest customers, but I think I'm pretty safe here.

She got off her seat and called James back for him to move my armchair back.

As I got up for him to move the chair, she said, "knock yourself out, buy everything you think I need for my bedroom and the living room.  Need anything, ask James.  Measure the rooms, survey the rooms, whatever.  When you go to buy everything, do express shipping.  There is no spending limit."  I smiled, though I wasn't surprised.  Sometimes it was nice to not need to use my mental calculator, and to have an unlimited budget.

"No problem!"

"Now, I'll just be in my closet finding clothes and eventually changing.  Then I'll do my hair and makeup in my bathroom... so you're fine in here."

"You're changing in your closet?"

"Heck yeah!  It's a giant closet."  I wasn't surprised.

For a long time, I measured, envisioned, browsed, added, and finally bought a ton of furniture.  I took a while doing it all, since her rooms are so big, and there is a huge selection on this site.  One moment I thought I was done, then I realized that I needed lights... so it ended up taking hours.  Surprisingly, Alicia took a few hours herself getting ready.  I about thought she died!  But, eventually she went off to meet with Bridgeport Records.

Eventually, I went up to my room, and that's when I realized that Bailey wanted me to call her.

"Hey Bailey, how's it goin'?"
"Nothin' much.  You?"  I was surprised to realize she wasn't disappointed or surprised that it took me this long to call her. 

"Well, I bought the furniture for Alicia's rooms she wants me to make over.  It's really the life here!"

"That's great!  I can't wait for you to send pics of the before and after shots."   She didn't seem sad that I wasn't able to make over her bedroom...

"Um... sure."  I made a mental note to myself that I'd have to take pics of the rooms after this call, or I'd certainly forget.

"Well.... actually, I'll see it eventually in person, since I go to her house all the time!"

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Later, I was outside sitting on her outdoor sofa looking at her amazing view when she finally came home.

"What's up Alicia?"

"Um...."  I could tell she was trying to strain tears.

"Bridgeport Records wouldn't accept you?"

She shook her head and sat down next to me.

Then, she called her cat over (apparently named Dink), that was playing on her giant play set.  He is one lucky kitty!

She was petting her cat and staring at him when she said, "R-r-randy won't take me back."
I looked at her with concern and confusion.  I don't know how to comfort her.  Why was she telling me and not one of her gal friends?

"That's- too bad..."
"I know.  I thought he would since he saw me with you... and because I told him I was going to be famous!  But he said I should just 'get over him.'  Isn't that disgusting?  Nothing was even going wrong and then BAM!  'See ya'."  She sniffled and put her face in his fur.

I put my arm around her and let her cry, since I could think of nothing else.  Surprisingly, it wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was in the newly done living room, tending to the fire while Alicia was gone.  She isn't home often, and she's okay with me just chilling at her place!  It's so nice that when I was told I'd be able to live here, that she didn't think that meant that I'd only be able to sleep here at night!

When I was done fixing the fire, she appeared in front of me.

"Do you want to catch a movie with me?  I can just tell James to keep an eye on the fire."
I nodded.  Lately, she and I have become good friends.

When we got to the movies, the one that we had in mind- Happiness on 32nd street- was going to start in an hour, so she said that we should sit on the bench.  I asked why we couldn't just wait in the theater, but she said that it was such a beautiful day out, so why should we wait in a dark theater?

We talked for a long while, and she was people watching all the time during our random conversations. 

Then, all of a sudden, she leaned over and kissed me with no prior warning.  The kiss was so fast I didn't have time to process in my mind what I was doing.  But- this kiss wasn't just a peck.  It lasted a good ten seconds, and when I looked away, astonished, I saw someone took a picture of us.  My eyes widened, and I looked at her questioningly.  She gave me a sly smile- not that of post-kissing happiness, but that of scheming of some sort.  I swallowed hard.  This must be paparazzi.  Must be the first time she was snapped by one, because Alicia's demo is coming out in just a week, and most celebrities hate paparazzi.

I thought to myself, wow, she's desperate to get her ex back...  I didn't even think about what Bailey would think... if she were to even see this picture.

Then I looked up at a movie poster.  A girl was looking longingly at a middle aged man.  That's exactly how Alicia was acting to Randy.  She'll never get over him.