Hi, guys! So, Lana almost had us killed with that video from her shoot, but that actually gave me a new idea for a story (and I know I still have 2 others to finish, I will), but I couldn't resist. I hope you like it, and I will try to keep this one light and fun. Let me know what you thought!
Chapter 1.
- Thursday -
January 3, 2019
A new year, a new life. Isn't that what everyone usually says?
Even the trees are bare, providing an opportunity for new leaves to grow on their branches, once the snow melts away and the winter scenes are no longer part of the streets of New York City. The year had just begun, and everyone is still determined to fulfill their new year's resolutions. Parents promise to spend more time with their kids, taking them to the Rockefeller center for an afternoon of ice skating, before school starts after the holiday break.
Regina had done the same, actually. Had taken her godson for an afternoon of fun, and had bought two hot cocoas, one for each one of them, as they sat together on a bench and she struggled to find the best way to tell him she would be gone for a whole month.
It hadn't been easy, Henry is like a son to her, but nothing worth doing is easy, right? It's a lifetime opportunity, traveling to Europe and shoot with the best photographers in the world. The first month is for them to test the waters, and then they will decide what is her future from then on.
Her father had been hesitant as well, not really ecstatic to find out his princess was considering moving all the way to Europe. But he understood it is too good of an opportunity to pass, and he knows she doesn't really have anything that keeps her there, in New York.
"Are you sure about this, sweetheart?" her father had asked, wrapping his arms around her body when traitor tears began to well up in her eyes.
"I have to, daddy," she had said, sighing when he pressed a lingering kiss on her temple.
And so now here they are, wrapped in each other's arms, hugging goodbye before she has to leave the country, and family, behind for a month. She knows this is hard for him too, if not harder. She is his only daughter, and her mother had abandoned them to remarry a rich guy, leaving her father to raise her the best way he could on his own.
She owns him this. The opportunity to repay all he has done for her. She will win more money with this job, she can give him the retirement everyone dreams of.
One of his hands moves to wipe a tear off her cheek, cupping her face in his palm as she looks behind him at the shiny dashboard - she has about forty-five minutes before they begin the boarding, she should probably start heading towards the security if she wants to make sure she catches her flight on time.
But her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a notification on her phone, a new message displayed on the screen when she reaches for the device placed inside her purse: Have a safe flight, I will miss sleeping beside you.
Graham. Regina sighs at the sight of his name, quickly putting the phone back inside her bag.
She tells her father that it's Emma, letting her know Henry was really upset that he didn't get to say goodbye at the airport - she had received that same text earlier in the day, so it is not really a lie, and her father has more important things to worry about than the cop who keeps his daughter company in the lonely nights.
When it comes to relationships, Regina has a poor record compared to other women at her age. Her longest one had lasted for ten years and had begun when she was only sixteen, having fallen in love with a boy during her riding lessons. His name was Daniel, and he was wonderful, caring. He was two years older than her, and she thinks that's what pulled them apart, the different points of view each one had of life. Daniel wanted to marry, settle down, but Regina hadn't been ready for that, not at that time. She was just starting her modeling career, she would need time before she could be committed to starting a family. And so Daniel had told her they shouldn't waste more time, fighting for a relationship without any future.
It had been hard, but she eventually overcame the loss - that's when Graham came into the picture, providing her the opportunity to have just what she wanted (or she thought she did): a relationship with no strings attached. It lasts until today - he's just a good distraction, after all, and she is sure she is the same to him, so she never saw a reason to put a stop to it as long as they know where they stand. She feels a bit lonely sometimes, but she quickly shuts that voice in her head telling her that maybe she made a mistake when she let Daniel go. She tells herself she doesn't need a boyfriend, she was always an independent woman, her father had raised her that way.
So, yes, maybe Graham is her dirty little secret, but, quite frankly, she doesn't intend to do it otherwise.
With a last hug, Regina wraps her arm around her father's, walking with him towards the security. This is it. This is where she really needs to let go.
"I will call you as soon as I land," she promises, giving him a last kiss on his cheek, before she crosses the gate in the direction of her new life.
...
Regina lands in London seven hours later - 9 PM in local time - feeling exhausted and sore.
She needs to get to the hotel and take a proper bath, and then find a place where she can eat a nice plate of food, something that will make up for the junk food it was served throughout the day on the plane. She feels nauseous and tired, her muscles aching from the time she spent sitting on that seat.
God, she really looks forward to that bath, and to the silk nightgown she threw last-minute inside her bag. Maybe she will skip that nice plate of food for another hour in bed, she thinks as she walks towards the baggage claim, collecting her bag before stopping in her tracks to reach for her cell phone inside her purse.
She is searching for her father's number when her phone is, suddenly, tossed away from her hands. It lands on the floor with a harsh thud, a man's voice beating her in her growl of despair as she hears, "I'm so sorry, I'm... shit!" he winces, his blue eyes shifting towards the broken phone in Regina's hand, "I'm a wanker, I'm so sorry, I'll pay it back."
Regina hasn't really realized what happened until she lifts her eyes to see the man looking at her with an apologetic look on his face. Her frown deepens, her jaw tightening as she is finally aware that it was him, who made her lose the grip on her phone.
"Did you not see where you were heading?" she asks through gritted teeth, tossing the phone back into her purse with a movement that makes the man step back. He seems to be out of words, his hand running through his blonde hair as he seems to think about what to do next.
"I..."
"I don't want your money, just... get out of my way," Regina picks up her bag, her dark eyes rolling as she pushes past him and makes her way towards the cab stand.
So much for an uneventful evening.
...
The hotel is nice, at least. Well-located. It's just behind the street of a nice park, where Regina can see herself going out for a run every morning, before spending the day scooped up inside a dark studio. It's one of her favorite things to do, actually, blow off some steam before a busy day at work. It's Regina's escape from reality, so she's glad she won't have to give that up - that's at least one thing that actually worked out about this trip.
That, and the huge bathtub that waits for her as soon as she steps foot into her assigned bedroom.
She places the bag over the bed, then heads downstairs again before she feels too lazy to do it. She still needs to call her father and Emma, and then she will be free to do as she pleases, to spend the night inside that bathtub if she so well desires.
It's when she reaches the reception that the events of the day start to catch up with her. She doesn't have a damn phone, she is hours away from everyone, she doesn't even have a friend to share a coffee with after a day like today. God, how did she think this was a good idea? How did she leave her father, and Emma, for an attempt to get a job that seems way out of her league? She should just go home to her family, to the small shoots that give her enough money for her to live. She needs the weekends with her godson, and the dinners with her father, even the stupid jokes her best friend makes about Regina's lack of (or so she thinks so) love life. She thinks she almost misses Graham.
She feels an expected tear running down the skin of her cheek, just as she accepts the phone from the man at the front desk. Her fingers move quickly to wipe the wetness off her face, dealing her best friend's number and relishing in her confused, "Hello?" when she finally picks up the phone.
"Emma," Regina sighs, relieved, glad to hear a familiar voice.
"Regina?" the blonde asks in confusion, "Whose number is this?"
Regina actually smiles at the baffled tone in her friend's voice, and tells herself the last few minutes were just a relapse, perfectly normal for someone spending the near future in a totally foreign country. She just needs to cool down, sleep it off. Tomorrow she will, hopefully, feel so much better.
"I'm calling from the hotel. I had an incident with my phone."
"An incident?" Emma asks, and Regina just nods her head as she recalls that moment in her mind.
Now that she's here, sitting at the hotel front desk, she definitely can think more clearly about everything. Can recall the British asshole who bumped into her, his piercing blue eyes wide opened as he promised that he would pay for a brand-new phone. It's absurd, really, as if she would accept his money out of pity, "Some idiot bumped into me and I dropped my phone. I'll buy another one tomorrow, I just wanted to let you know I'm fine."
And she is, really, she just needs a long bath and a well-deserved sleep to warm her up for the next day.
"If you need anything, you know you can call," Emma tells her, needlessly, though it feels good to hear the actual words coming from her best friend's mouth, "And call me once you buy the new phone, Henry will want to make a video call."
She loves that boy, Regina smiles, her gaze moving towards the man at the front desk, who gives her a 'be quick' look when she gets ready to shift the conversation towards her godson. She could spend hours just talking about that child, but, right... this was meant to be a quick phone call, and she still needs to call her father next.
"I will, but I have to go now," Regina tells her, a hint of hesitation in her voice. She wishes she could have a little more time, this was the only highlight in a terrible, hectic day.
"Alright, Regina, be safe, and good luck."
The brunette hangs up the phone at those words, a sigh of disappointment leaving her lips. She dials her father's number next, muttering to the guy who keeps staring at her to just charge the phone bill to her room.
...
The bath is a good idea. A long, and hot bath, just what Regina needed to get her mind off the events of the day.
She hasn't even bothered to unpack anything first, had just made use of the hotel samples, shampooing her hair with the white lotion while she soaked in the water for about forty-five minutes.
One month, she repeats to herself, the mantra she will cling to while she has to spend time away from her family. It's not that long, thirty days, and she doesn't even know if she will be selected for the job. She thought it will be easier, to be honest, she doesn't have that many friends, but the ones she left behind make up for the small number. There's her father, and Emma, and Henry, of course, and her agent Mal when she is not traveling around the world herself. And well... there's Graham, but he's not really a friend, is he? He is just a booty call and the least of her problems right now.
There's a part of her that wants to believe this is the opportunity she needs, the opportunity to start a new life in a new country. She doesn't have anything in New York - except her four friends, that is - but everyone needs to have its own life, she can't live for the others.
They understand, and they support her.
Maybe she needs to start looking at this with fresh eyes, she decides, maybe something good can come from it.
She steps out of the bathtub feeling calmer and refreshed, reaching for a towel to wrap around her naked body. She will put on her pajamas and have a good night of sleep, and tomorrow, everything will be brighter.
Her black suitcase is still resting on top of the bed when she steps into the bedroom, her hand reaching for the zipper to open the lid.
"You have to be kidding me," she mutters to herself, finding a bunch of man clothes tucked inside the narrow space.
Could this day get any worse? It wasn't enough that she broke her phone, now her clothes are lost somewhere too.
She closes the bag with a needless amount of force, falling to the bed with a heavy sigh.
C'mon, Regina, there has to be something here that will help you find the owner of this bag, she thinks to herself. She doesn't like the idea of snooping through this man's clothes, but she will do it if it means she can have her own things back.
Sighing in despair, she sticks her hand in one of the front pockets, finding nothing inside as she was already expecting.
She moves to search the inside, then, undoing one of the zippers - there are socks, and God, some pairs of boxers, but nothing that would be useful.
It's when she is about to give up and contact her airline, that she catches something from the corner of her eye, a flyer for a bar, she supposes, 'The Rabbit Hole' written in big and neon colors. And then on the back, there's a name in bold letters, together with today's date and 'live performance' written on top.
Well, it's not like she has any other clues, is it?
With a sigh, she puts back on her clothes and places the flyer safely inside her coat pocket.
No doubt this year is off to a great start.