The jetlag wasn't as bad she pictured it. It was exhaustive but not like the other times. She'd always been a bit skeptic of flying and as of now, probably her altered state helped her stay in a little gray area inside her head where she wasn't in the flight but more so around her own mess. The flight was an afterthought or probably not even that.
She plugged in her headphones and then took them off after a while as if it was done habitually and not voluntarily.
The hotel room in Philadelphia had a moderate sized rectangular wooden glass paned window but due to some reason the room seemed exclusively private...situated in a remote place but when you go out into the alleyway you realise that you were inside the hotel all along but the room...it always seems to exist elsewhere. She liked this provocative feeling for some odd reason.
Her phone was somewhere, her suitcase was elsewhere and Edward was nowhere in the room but then she had already left all three...a long time back.
She went towards the cupboard which digged even more deeper into the room and then she took a long look at cupboard inspecting something and then went towards the window slamming the door of the cupboard back in. A coffee shop was in the view and pedestrians on the street. It was different from New York. She didn't like it for some reason. They all seemed annoying. Everything seemed stupid and pointless. It felt utterly pointless to be here. More than pointless, her body felt weird in here...in this city, but not so much the room. Hence, she closed the window and threw the curtains on.
A bedside table with a lamp placed on it, black tiled floor and a dressing table with a massive vertical mirror with elegantly thin rustic borders.
Her stuff was lying carelessly on the ground. She tried to remember where Edward had gone but when she couldn't remember she just left the thought hanging in the air.
The mirror looked as if it was vintage...or more so experienced just like a person who's gone through ages and has learnt a lot about people and how they are. Mirror teaches people the biggest lessons of their lives. It unveils their flaws and people can see right through themselves and face their fears and everything that is usually buried deep in the back of their heads. A soft cushioned chair just like the one she sat on back in Room 33. That day seemed like it didn't even existed...that's how far she'd come.
She looked taller than what she was in the mirror but not when she was close enough. Sitting on the chair, facing the mirror was so mundane but she didn't remember when she did it last. Maybe she did...but not consciously.
She leaned towards the mirror looking deep and closely but she saw nothing...
They say mirror shows the fake image of a person. She smiled at the mirror and it looked as fake as it could with no creases forming at the outer corner of her eyes and her lips stretched into a smile as if someone deliberately pulled them apart with a thread stuck to the outer corners of their lips.
Her lips got back to their natural position, not smiling with a straight face. She felt convoluted but it was so secretive now at this point that even the mirror didn't know. Her own reflection was a whole another person who was not acquainted with her at all. How crazy it was that she looked exactly the same as what she did back on the stage singing in front of millions of people. No inflicted wounds, no pain, no scars, and no despair showing up on the face. People can convey it through expressions but then again, to what extent?
That's why the saying exists...that no one can really feel what the other person feels. The expressions are also another veil to hide your true agony within. This smile and this giggling laugh...all just a jape onto the deep despair. Edward didn't know anything. He was probably in a whole another world indulging with his own intimate affairs. Who was Edward to know her secrets when her own reflection didn't?
"Babe...got to be ready around 7:30. We're leaving... remember?" Edward barged in fixing his bowtie who just showered and had been in the powder room for more than an hour.
She stood up not wanting to reply to him but went and got down on the floor to unzip her suitcase.
"Not from here...I got you a dress. Look there in the wardrobe." He said instantly looking at her unpacking the suitcase.
She looked at where the mahogany wardrobe stood and she opened it up and saw a black velvet dress with a slit running down the back ending a couple inches above her lower back hanging on the right counter inside the wardrobe.
"Okay...you may leave now." She muttered closing the door of the wardrobe and taking the dress out which hanged on a hanger inside the right counter of the wardrobe.
"Sure...but be quick." He left the room closing the door behind him.
She got inside the dress easily due to her body being slimmer. But whatever curves she had, the dress accentuated them as if it hugged every nook and crevice of her body making the dress pop even more than what it would be pictures in everyone's head right off the bat.
It looked perfect as if it was made just for her.
She sat in front of the mirror for a while until...
"Can I come inside?" A woman spoke.
"Yes." Bella said
The door opened with a click and an Asian woman entered the room wearing a white shirt with sleeves folded up to the elbows and a black mini skirt showing off her thin gaunt waxed legs.
She smiled at her and Bella smiled back.
"Mr. Flint sent me to get you ready." She said
"May I?" She added
Bella nodded and turned towards the mirror and the woman held a huge Gucci bag which she kept down on the bed and unzipped it. She took out a couple of mini pouches and transparent bags with cosmetics and other products inside it.
She clipped her hair back with a round clipper but still a couple bits framed her forehead messily yet beautifully and then, she applied a creamy rosy pale base to her face with a tinge of glimmer in it.
"What's your name?" Bella asked
"Tina." She smiled again and her eyes got closed completely while she did that. A cute smile... Bella thought.
Tina padded products after products onto Bella's face with a sponge and they both chatted along the whole process about the hotel and Tina's background. Tina unknowingly made Bella feel a little lighter due to her having no connection to Bella's recent past events and probably also due to her bubbly personality which was so needed in Bella's grim life right now. In about forty minutes, Tina and sprayed a fine mist of setting spray onto her face and also untangled her hair with a brush and a hair cream to set everything. With every movement, her body glimmered in a million different ways. She looked stunning with her hair adorned with all the metallic accessories.
She looked like the death goddess with the maroon classic lip and a black velvet dress.
Bella went to the other side of the room and grabbed her nude stilettos and put them on and moved around to check everything.
"Are we ready?" Edward knocked on the door.
"Yeah..." Bella blurted automatically and remembered those dates Edward took her to and his last dialogue always used to be "are we ready?"
He caved in with his mouth curved slightly into a grin as if he were imagining the same thing as her.