Starting Over

It’s been almost 3 weeks since I’ve moved from my small town in Pennsylvania to London and so far life has been pretty hectic. Classes started only 3 days after I got here and my stuff arrived from the States the day after that. Since then I have been trying to balance school, starting my new job, my work for my mom, and settling in to my new apartment which I still haven’t unpacked. I have barely had time to talk to my parents, let alone my best friends Chas, Raven, and Stephanie back in the states. I’ve been talking to Eleanor a couple times a week and we have plans to go tour the city today. I wake up to the sound of my computer telling me that I have an incoming Skype call. I run over to the computer and click the answer button without looking to see who’s calling. I’m relieved when Chas and Stephanie’s faces appear on the screen.
“Hey guys!” “Hey!” they both respond. “What are you guys doing?” I ask, knowing that I probably don’t want to know the real answer. Chas, Stephanie, and I have been best friends since we were first year University students in Pennsylvania and Raven and I have been friends since middle school. With Chas and Stephanie, however, there has always been this hidden tension… the sexual kind. The kind of tension that lets you know that they may or may be secretly ripping their clothes off each other when they are alone. I shiver at the thought. No, I don’t think that they would be bad for each other and no, I don’t worry about the possible ruining of a friendship or the awkwardness that it would cause our foursome of besties when (and I do mean when) things don’t work out between them. No, I’m ever so slightly jealous. Chas and I dated for two years before I met Mark and although we broke up and I had gotten married, the idea of Chas being with anyone else still makes me want to beat the crap out of the girl he’s with. Maybe it’s not even jealousy, because honestly we are better as friends and I truly don’t want to be with him like that but maybe it’s just because I’ve always been really over protective of what’s mine and those two people on the other end of the camera (and the absent Raven) are my siblings for all intensive purposes. It would be like having your brother and sister date, only weirder. We are all only children so we are the closest things to a brothers and sisters that we each have and we all know that you protect your siblings.
“Oh, just hanging out” Chas answers with a half smile, the kind of smile that tells me he’s hiding something. I cringe but reply with a calm,
“Oh, that’s cool. Having fun?” …wrong thing to ask.
“We always do!” they both respond with a sudden burst of laughter. Now I want to hurl. This is sickening.
“Yeh, we all used to” I reply with a hint of sarcasm, my signature.
“Sorry, we miss you!” Stephanie says.
“I miss you guys too. So, I was thinking, how about coming to spend Christmas with me? I know your parents won’t be thrilled but they’ll just have to get over it.” I offer. It was only September so Christmas was still a few months away but making plans in advance was just easier for everyone.
“Um… we’ll try, but you know our parents and holidays” Stephanie says looking at Chas. “Speak for yourself, lady! I’m there!” Chas shouts back.
“Yay! At least my body guard is coming, now I just need my wing girl. Anyone know where Raven is? I wanted to ask him too.” I giggle.
“He’s off with Ang planning the wedding, of course. We hardly see the man anymore!” Stephanie said with her usual dramatic tone. Always the dramatic one but that’s why we love her. I think if you sat us down and interacted with us for a few minutes you would easily see who is who in our relationship/family we’ve created. Chas is the defender. He’s quick to come to someone’s rescue and get’s very angry very quickly. Stephanie is the dramatic one. She should have majored in theatre. She’s the one with the “business mind and the musical heart” as we say. Everything is the greatest thing to ever happen or the biggest tragedy to ever befall a human. She’s popular and good with fashion and make-up. The girly girl. Raven is the goofy one. Always looking to have a good time and always making people laugh. That leaves me to be the mut. I’ve never really found a particular “click” that I belong in aside from ours. I wasn’t the popular chick or the jock (though I did play sports all through school), I wasn’t a brainiac (though I did make good grades). I’m just me. I’m always talking to people, reading, studying, or working on a computer. I’m the geek. I’ve never been good with make-up and never really thought much of my body but I have enough confidence to not change who I am.
“Ahhh, well, good to know that not too much has changed since I left” I kid. “Listen guys, I gotta go finish unpacking this mess of an apartment. Talk later?”
“Of course! We love you.” With that we say our goodbyes and end our call.
I glance at the clock and realize that I only have an hour to get ready to go sightseeing with El. I turn my music on to my “shower” playlist. Yes, I’m music obsessed. I quickly throw my clothes on the floor and jump in the shower, letting the hot water run over me. I wash my hair and shave quickly before turning the water off and wrapping myself up in my super soft extra comfy blue towel. I dry off and put on my undies, bra, and jeans before picking out a shirt. I settle on a teal tank with a camel colored loose knit cable sweater over top. You can still see the tank under the sweater giving me some color. I add my bracelets to match and throw on some earrings along with my white flip flops. I quickly put my makeup on, though I never really wear much, just some cover-up and lip gloss. I grab my hairdryer and dry my hair as fast as I can. Within 20 minutes I’m ready. That gives me 5 minutes to spare. I throw everything into my D&B clutch, there is no way that I’m carrying a big purse with me through London all day, and grab a Red Bull from the fridge just as there is a knock on the door.
I glance through the peek hole to see El looking perfect as always “Hey!” I say as I open the door and give her a quick hug. “Hey, girl! You look nice, let’s get going! Lot’s to see and lot’s to spend” she giggles as she wraps her arm through mine. “Let’s do it!” I say locking my door behind us. We grab the elevator and head back down to the lobby, “where to first?” I ask. “Piccadilly” she states. I’m beyond excited. I have been dreaming about seeing these places for ages and now it’s finally happening. I visited London years ago when I was a little kid but I hardly remember much so I’m excited to see it again as an adult. 8 hours, 2 Red Bulls, 1 lunch, and 2 Starbucks stops later we finally return to my flat, as El calls it, with thousands of photos on my camera and several shopping bags including some souvenirs and cheesy tourist stuff for my family and friends back home. It’s already 7 pm and I’m beat but El is full of energy. I swear that girl has a secret compartment somewhere full of wires and energizer batteries that keep her running. Of course, it could also have been all the caffeine we drank today, seriously, she should be a spokesperson for Starbucks. I will say though, El is an excellent tour guide.
I return from putting my bags in my bedroom to hear Eleanor finishing up a phone call, I assume it’s to Louis given the smile she has plastered on her face. We had talked about the boys a bit throughout the day and had even been stopped by a few fans who hesitantly asked for pictures or just wanted to say hi to the famous girlfriend. She happily stopped for the ones that she could. It was only then did it come out that I was a huge Directioner. She has laughed and said that she had known who I was when she met me on the plane because of my Instagram, music review blog, and even my twitter. She said that some of the boys, she wouldn’t say which ones, had seen some of my postings and had even secretly twitter stalked me a few times. On the one hand, I was flattered that the boys would even read my twitter and on the other hand it frustrated me that I had waited so long for a follow and they had been following me in secret the whole time and I just never knew. At least they kind of knew who I was.
“Ok, I’ll ask her. Ok. See you in a bit. Love you too. Bye” El said as she turned to face me, a devious smile appearing on her face.
“Ask me what?” I said abruptly, not sure if I wanted to know the answer.
“If you wanted to go to a movie night complete with movies, popcorn, pizza, and the handsome men of One Direction at Liam’s place” she responded hesitantly, almost afraid of my response. Did she really think that I was going to fangirl? I’m 26 for goodness sake. I’m way beyond that. “Sure, let me go grab some things and I’ll be right back” I said as I walked into the bedroom. A few minutes later, I was ready to go with my big purse filled with a pair of sweat pants, deodorant, a toothbrush, a hairbrush, and my evening medication. I stopped in the kitchen to grab yet another Red Bull and a box of Bunch o’ Crunch that my parents had shipped with my stuff from the States. I cannot see a movie or eat popcorn without my bunch o’ crunch (*a/n true fact lol*). We headed out the flat complex and grabbed a cab. I was on my way to meet One Direction. I guess this was going to be my life now. As long as I was friends with Eleanor, I was bound to hang out with them too.

Notes

So the playlists that I list in the chapters are actual playlist titles from my iPod. If you guys ever want to know what any of the songs are just ask! I have a ton of music so I'm happy to share with ya.
<3Samy<3