Chapter 2: iFeel Homesick
Throughout the four years following graduation, I continued to send Freddie text messages and e-mails to no avail.
My career as a renowned online influencer began to take off while the relationships with my friends and family began to dwindle. Sam decided to go on a road trip to try all the foods in the world after she had made it out of Juvie. The only time we would ever be in contact was if she was near a payphone and had the spare change on her to call me.
Spencer's art career really took off about two years ago. He had made an accidentally sculpture that a wealthy art collector really fell in love with. The art collector loved Spencer's artwork so much that he bought all of Spencer's previous artwork for a hefty price tag.
Dad was still working with the military; he had retired from his position to help train new recruits in the Air Force. Due to his new career change within the military, he was constantly having to travel to the different bases throughout the US to help with training as well as overseeing the new recruits that were coming through.
With my father constantly being gone, I was starting to feel a little bit homesick. Don't get me wrong, Italy is a beautiful place, and their cheese and wine is to die for… But it doesn't feel the Grand Canyon sized void that was growing bigger and bigger inside every day.
I ran a brush through my hair as the messages in the chat continuously flew by. Putting a smile on for the camera, I started singing the latest Post Malone song while staring into my bedroom mirror. Occasionally, I would receive a gift in the chat with a cheesy message from a fan praising me or sending me some cheesy message about how lucky some guy would be to be in a relationship with me. Tonight, I was going out for a drink, so I was doing a 'get ready with me' livestream. I was putting my lip gloss on in the mirror while rambling on to the chat about perfect lip gloss colors when a message came across my chat that took me completely off guard.
'Byte_Shift: Carly, you look so beautiful, but your eyes look so sad.'
In a wave full of compliments and Carly-obsessed fans, someone was paying enough attention to me to see the real me. My mask began to falter a little bit as some of my true emotions began to shine through. I abruptly ended my livestream, promising my followers that I would livestream again the following night and that I was running late and needed to go. I gripped the edges of my dresser taking a deep breath and facing myself in the mirror. Was my misery really starting to show through? I really needed a drink.
The closest restaurant to me was named 'La Pergola' and it was conveniently placed on the top floor of my hotel. It was a restaurant that I came to almost regularly since my arrival in Italy. I made small talk with the hostess as they walked me to a booth in the corner of the restaurant. The restaurant itself was beautiful and was on the top floor of the Cavalier Hilton Hotel and I was always in awe upon opening the doors. The tables were placed in front of wide-open windows that were decorated with beautiful white flowers and gave you a beautiful panoramic view of the Eternal City. The restaurant itself had a dim and cozy atmosphere.
I slid into the booth and immediately pulled out my phone to scroll through what was currently trending. There was no need for me to look at the menu as I already knew what I wanted, the same thing I constantly got from here which was their pasta alla carbonara accompanied with a champagne flute of Prosecco. I replied to some of my followers on Tweeter while I waited for the waiter to come take my order. Once my order had been placed, I leaned my back against the booth I was seated at and closed my eyes the comment that was made in my chat buzzing in my head like an annoying wasp.
My phone began to buzz in my hand as the name 'Spencer' lit up my phone screen. Spencer seemed to always have this sixth sense of when I needed someone to talk to as he always called me at the most perfect times. I slid my thumb across the screen, answering the video call. "Hey Carls! How is the Italian Republic treating you?" I rolled my eyes and smiled trying to cover the tone of homesickness that I could feel seeping through my voice and held my phone out to show Spencer my dinner, "Hey Spencer, it's going okay. How is everything going at home?" Spencer shrugged and groaned "Socko's cousin Boomer has been helping me with a piece that involves some fireworks..." I took a sip of my Prosecco while Spencer continued with his trial and error that he and Boomer had been experiencing. We talked some more about life in Italy and some of the clients he has had along with showing me some of the new pieces he has come up with.
"Are you eating there alone? Where is your boyfriend?" I took another sip of my Prosecco contemplating how much of my personal life I wanted to spill out to my brother. "We broke up… A couple of weeks ago. He just didn't like my profession and didn't really… Understand it." Spencer nodded, taking this information in. "Well, you know what? I'll be your dinner date. Has your food arrived at your table yet?" I shook my head. "Perfect, I'll get my personal chef to whip me up something real quick and we can eat together." I smiled and tilted my head up to hide the tears that were beginning to fill my eyes.
"I'd like that, Spencer. Thank you." Not long after, my food was delivered to my table and Spencer's chef brought his food to him a few minutes later. A direct message popped up on my screen during my conversation with Spencer, I swiped it off my screen and made a mental note to look at it later. Two glasses of Prosecco later, the topic of Freddy came up. "Sooo… Have you heard from Freddie at all?" Spencer shook his head, "Nope, I haven't. Not since he went off to college and began his own production company." My heart fell into my stomach, but I tried to play it off with a smile. "That's amazing that he was able to follow his dreams! Is he still in Los Angeles?" Spencer bit his lip and turned away from the camera slightly, lost in thought. "As far as I know he is, I haven't heard from him in quite a long time so it's hard to say." The notification that my phone battery was running low appeared on my screen, "Oh crap." I groaned, "What? What's going on Carly?" I sighed and fell back against the booth placing a hand over my face. "My phone is about to die and stupid me didn't bring my portable battery charger so I'm going to have to cut this conversation short, Spencer. I'm sorry."
Spencer let out a sigh of relief, "Oh you had me worried something major had happened. It's okay Carls, you can call me back later! Love you little sis!" I said my goodbyes to my brother, ending the call. I finished my Prosecco, paid for my tab, and walked back down to my hotel room. I placed my phone on the charger and began my nightly bedtime ritual. I took the make up off my face and washed my face with my Neutrogena face scrub and brushed my teeth. I turned off all the lights in my hotel room, leaving the light on that was on my nightstand. I pulled my comforter up and slid underneath enjoying the cold blankets, reaching over to grab my phone off the nightstand and turning off the light.
I scrolled for a while through TokTik, looking at the likes and comments on my newest videos. A new notification popped up on my screen from Tweeter highlighting some replies to a few of the tweets I posted at the restaurant. I was getting ready to turn off my phone for the night before I remembered to look at the direct message I had received earlier when I was talking to Spencer. I tapped on the letter icon to see that the sender was Byte_Shift.
"Hey Carly, I just wanted to say that I'm sry if I'm the reason u ended the livestream early. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, but I couldn't help but say something. If you ever need some1 to talk to, my inbox is open."
I'm not sure if it was the Prosecco talking or if I just really needed a friend, but I decided to respond to their DM.
"Hey Byte_Shift…? Sorry I don't know your name and it's kinda weird for me to call you by your username… So, I'll just call you Byte if that's okay with you? Lol. You weren't exactly the reason that I ended my livestream early, your comment just caught me by surprise… No one has ever paid that much attention to me to notice such a minor detail."
I hit send before I could second guess myself, turned my phone off and went to bed.
Spencer's POV
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It was evident to see that Carly was upset, but I know how stubborn she is and that if she wanted to talk about it, she would. She hadn't been happy in Italy in a long while even though she tried to put on a brave face for everyone, she wasn't being true to herself.
I didn't have the courage to tell her that Freddie was sitting across from me on the couch when I made the call to check on her. He was intently listening in on our discussion and would occasionally catch quick glimpses of Carly when she was preoccupied or not looking at the camera on her phone. I pulled off a sticky note that I had sitting on my table and wrote a note to Freddie, "Did you send her a message yet?" sliding it his way.
Freddie gave me a thumbs up writing back, "I did, but she hasn't read it yet." I gave a thumbs up in return and continued our phone conversation like normal. "Oh crap." Carly groaned and I immediately looked at Freddie. Was she getting suspicious? Did I do something to set her off? "My phone is about to die and stupid me didn't bring my portable battery charger so I'm going to have to cut this conversation short, Spencer. I'm sorry." I sighed in relief. "Oh, you had me worried something major had happened. It's okay Carls, you can call me back later! Love you little sis!" We hung up the phone and I threw my phone on the couch, falling back into the chair. "Whew thank God, I thought she caught onto me. Has she read your message yet Mr. Byte_Shift?"
He shook his head looking intently at his phone screen. "No, not yet."