Vanessa and Tim Meet Up in Buffalo

Vanessa is from Syracuse, New York, but for the winter of 2006, she moved to Dallas, Texas because she absolutely hated snow. She did not keep in touch with her college friends much while she was in Dallas so she was sort of out of the loop as to what everyone was up to. On April of 2007, she returned to Syracuse, New York. Once she arrived she decided she wanted to hang out with her ex-boyfriend from college, Tim. Vanessa and Tim had the same classes in Syracuse University together where they had met. Both were communication majors and had met by chance at a persuasion communications class they had to take. They became friends and then later started dating.

Vanessa and Tim’s relationship were rocky at best. Both were very jealous types and often got into a fight over you were talking to so and so are you cheating on me. Most of the time it was Vanessa though who badgered Tim about who she thought he was cheating on her with. One day Vanessa thought Tim was really cheating on her so Vanessa broke it off with him, but the two remained friends. She loved Tim at one point and couldn’t imagine a life without Tim so the two continued to hang out with him.

Vanessa called Tim thinking he was in Syracuse. She said, “Hey Tim, I’m back in town. Do you want to hang out?” Tim replied, “I’m in Fort Lauderdale right now, but I am planning to buy a restaurant in Rochester called Mac and Cheese Grill. My staff and I will be meeting with the Mac and Cheese Grill owners in Buffalo to discuss plans for our LLC to purchase Mac and Cheese Grill. Do you want to come meet me in Buffalo? I’ll be staying in Hilton Hotel?” She replied, “Sure. That would be awesome. I can’t wait to see you.”

Vanessa drove to Buffalo and arrived at the Hilton Hotel before Tim had arrived. She called him from the parking lot and told him she was at the parking lot Hilton and he met her at her car once he arrived. She was very happy to see Tim. She gave him a big hug and a peck on the cheek. The two were ecstatic to be hanging out together again so they hung out at the hotel for about an hour just chatting and catching up. Afterward, they went to a mall in Buffalo, went shopping and had dinner, the usual Vanessa and Tim activities.

There was an Apple store at this Buffalo mall so Vanessa and Tim went in to play with the computers. Both were Mac fans and loved the new computers that were on display. Vanessa opened up Photobooth and the two posed for Photobooth taking silly pictures. Once finished, Vanessa uploaded the pictures onto her Facebook. Then the two became exhausted from wandering around in the mall so they both agreed they should go back to the hotel.

Once at the hotel, the two decided to chat some more because in 2005 both had graduated from Syracuse University and now their friends from the university had gotten jobs in different cities. Vanessa talked to Tim about so and so is now in this city working for this company. She said, “Can you believe that? I can’t believe he actually has a job and is like a professional.” Tim then told Vanessa about where his friends from college were now. Then about a half hour of chatting Tim said to Vanessa, “Hey did you know Mike died?” Vanessa thought Tim was joking so she laughed and said, “No, you’re kidding right?” Vanessa and Tim had been good friends with Mike during college so Vanessa figured someone would have told her about Mike sooner than today if he had actually died. Tim said, “No, he accidentally shot himself in the head. He died.” Okay, so now that Mike supposedly “accidentally” shot himself in the head, of course, Vanessa thought Tim was playing a joke on her. So she replied, “Okay Tim, stop it. That’s a horrible joke.” Tim who was sitting on a rotating chair by the desk was swiveling around and around smiling and said, “No, he’s really dead. He moved to San Diego for a job and I guess in February a little bit before Valentine’s day he accidentally shot himself in the head.”

Vanessa still not believing Tim just said, “Oh wow. That’s sad. This conversation is getting boring do you want to watch a movie.” So the two browsed through the hotel movies and settled on watching De Ja Vu with Denzel Washington. It was a good movie, but Vanessa had seen it in Dallas so she was not really paying attention and started to talk to Tim again about Mike’s supposed death. She said, “So what’s Mike up to now really?” Tim replied, “Umm, he’s dead. Like he really accidentally shot himself in the head.” Vanessa at this point started to believe Tim. Vanessa, still in shock did not react. She wasn’t sure how to react because Tim didn’t seem sad about it so it might still be a joke, but the joke was becoming real.

After the movie, the two went to sleep and in the middle of the night Vanessa woke up and realized that until now he still has not told her he was joking. She really did start to believe Mike had died and she started to cry. She didn’t want to bother Tim with all of the crying so she went into the bathroom to cry. After about a half hour of crying, she felt nauseous and started to vomit. Tim woke up and asked her if she was okay. She said, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Then it dawned on Vanessa why did Tim not tell her right away? Mike was their good friend. Why was Tim not sad? Why was he smiling about it? This is strange. Vanessa got scared, but she went back to bed anyway and fell asleep.

The next day Tim was flying out of Buffalo and Vanessa was driving back to Syracuse. The two didn’t mention Mike’s death at all. They just went to the mall and pretended everything was normal. Tim bought a Nintendo Wii for his maid’s kids in Fort Lauderdale and Vanessa bought a Sublime CD. The two acted like nothing was amiss and had lunch at the mall then said good bye to each other. Tim flew back home to Fort Lauderdale and Veronica drove back to Syracuse. The two stopped talking to each other and never saw each other again.

Author’s note: This is a fiction story. It is not based on anything. All characters are not real.

Posing for Gabriel

Romantic Artist Part II

On Saturday afternoon I went to the apartment on the upper east side that Gabriel was staying in. I knocked on the door and Gabriel answered in clothes covered in paint. I said, “Hey Gabriel long time no see.” He replied, “No kidding. It’s been days since we’ve seen each other. I missed you already.” I giggled thinking here we go, the flirting has started already.

I didn’t have a dress so I borrowed one of Lily’s dresses. Manuel helped me pick it out. It was a long red dress with a low neckline. It was beautiful. Worried that my dress wasn’t what Gabriel wanted for his painting I said to Gabriel, “Is my dress alright?” He replied with a sly grin, “Yes, I love your dress. It looks gorgeous on you. Is that Lily’s dress?” Surprised by the fact he knew it was Lily’s dress I said, “Yeah, it is. How did you know?” With a look of despair, he replied, “We dated a little bit before she died. She wore that exact dress when she and I went to a formal dinner once at The Russian Tea Room.” I didn’t know what to say so I just said, “Oh that’s cool. So you guys were close?” He replied teary eyed, “Yes, we were. We grew up together.”

Gabriel led me into the room where his easel, canvas, paints, and paint brushes were. He had arranged a place for me to sit and had set up the room with a white drape in the background, a potted plant was situated in the back, and there were white roses next to the stool where I was going to sit. Gabriel draped the stool with white sheets and asked me to sit. Then he put his hand on my chin and turned my head, moved my hair to the side, and pulled down the strap of my dress so my shoulders were exposed. He then caressed my neck. I didn’t know to react, his touch made me quiver, but I just ignored him.

He then started to paint with hurried strokes at first then more detailed slower strokes. I could hear the brush making beautiful marks on the canvas because both of us were silent for a few minutes. Then he started asking me questions. He said, “How did you and Manuel meet?” I replied, “At Rochester Institute of Technology. We are both fine art undergrads and we were in the same drawing class. I was sitting in the back of the room and he sat next to me. After about a half hour of lecturing, I fell asleep and he woke me up. We ended up talking after class then he gave me his number. I called him and we went to dinner. We’ve been hanging out ever since.” He said, “Is he your boyfriend?” I replied, “You could say that. We were just friends, but we’ve gotten very close lately.”

Afterward, he came up to me and moved some of the strands of my hair that had gotten misplaced. He said, “So then if I were to kiss you, you would be mad and Manuel might be upset with me?” Unsure of what to tell him, I just said, “Yeah, us kissing would be a bad idea. Manuel might be a little jealous.” Gabriel was very handsome so it was tempting. There was friction in the air. You could just sense this was not going to go well at all. Gabriel stopped painting and waited for me to change my mind. When I didn’t he walked over to me then he bent down and kissed my cheek, but I ignored him again so he went back to painting.

With a tinge of despair in his voice, he said, “You know you remind me of Lily?” I replied cautiously, making sure not to upset him, “Yeah, I hear that a lot. I guess I look like her and act like her.” He said, “Yeah you do. I miss her a lot and having you here makes me feel like she’s here with me.” I replied, “That’s cool. She seems like she was a really nice girl. I’m flattered that I remind you of her.” Gabriel then started to talk about his memories with Lily and about childhood anecdotes of him and Manuel.

A few hours passed and Gabriel finished his painting. I got up to take a look at it. It was beautiful. Manuel was right. Gabriel was an awesome painter. I’m glad I posed for him. Gabriel then says nervously, “Umm, can I paint you again?” Excited about getting a chance to hang out with Gabriel alone again I replied, “Sure, I would love that.” He then said, “Can you come back tomorrow afternoon?” I replied, “Yeah that would be cool.”

Gabriel finished painting and I didn’t know if I should hang around for a bit or go home. I did love his company so I decided to stay for a bit. Unsure of what to do, I paced around the room nervously when I noticed he had a guitar by his easel so I went to pick it up and I strummed the strings and asked him, “Do you play the guitar?” He replied, “Yeah, I do. Do you want me to play something for you?” I sat back down on the stool and said, “Yes, I would love that.” He then grabbed another stool sat next to me and played Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. He sang the song as he played the tune. What a beautiful voice he had. I was impressed.

Afterward, he said with a naughty grin, “Now that I’ve played you a song can I kiss you?” I replied, “No, Manuel seriously would be really mad.” But he kissed me on my lips a deep, long, sensuous kiss and I felt really guilty, but his kiss was so soft and tender and he was so handsome so I kissed him back. After we kissed I got up in a hurry. I became nervous about the situation and I didn’t want it to get out of control so I told him, “I have to go home. Manuel is waiting for me.” He replied with a disappointed tone, “That’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

About Gabriel the Handsome Artist from Palm Beach

Author’s note: Read Resurrecting Lily Series before you read Romantic Artist Series

Romantic Artist Part I

I was asleep in Lily’s bed when Manuel woke me up. My eyes were still closed when I heard, “Carmen! Carmen! Are you okay?” I opened my eyes and replied, “Yeah Manuel, I’m fine.” He said, “Oh good. I was really worried about you. You were puking all night at Exit.” I replied, “Yeah, I know. I remember.”

Manuel said, “Lily, I mean Carmen, sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have given you acid and ecstasy.” I replied, “It’s okay and technically Mark gave them to me.” He said, “But I said I would candy flip only if you did it too so technically I peer pressured you into it.” Ugh, Manuel can be so annoying sometimes. I replied, “Look, Manuel, stop apologizing. It was my choice to candy flip. It’s over now. We’ve both learned our lesson. We won’t do it again.”

Manuel then hugged me and said, “I know I said I loved you last night, but I was on ecstasy and I think you might have thought I didn’t mean it, but today I’m not on ecstasy and I still love you. I just wanted to let you know.” I replied, “I remember you saying that. I said I loved you back and I meant it and today I still love you. Sorry for puking all over you.” “That’s fine,” he said.

So we got up went to the kitchen and Manuel made us breakfast. Manuel doesn’t know how to cook so he prepared cereal for us. He got out two bowls and poured in Special K cereal and some milk and voila breakfast for the two of us. While eating breakfast, Manuel’s phone rang. After Manuel got off the phone he explained to me that his best friend, Gabriel from Palm Beach just called. It turned out Gabriel was staying at a friend’s apartment for the summer in the upper east side. Gabriel’s friend was out of town so Gabriel was apartment sitting for him and Gabriel wanted us over to have lunch with him.

So we took a taxi to the upper east side to a high-rise apartment building. It was a really fancy apartment building. There was a concierge on the first floor who verified who we were. We told him we were Gabriel’s friends and we were going to the 7th-floor apartment 737. The concierge staff called Gabriel and told him, “There’s a Carmen and a Manuel to see you is that correct?” Gabriel must have told him yes so he led us to the elevator and pressed the 7th-floor button. We got out of the elevator on the 7th floor onto a nice plush maroon carpet and headed to room 737. We knocked three times on the door and Gabriel opened the door.

Oh my God! Gabriel was the most handsome boy I had ever seen. He had light brown eyes, dark hair, and was muscular. He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts covered in acrylic paint. It turned out that he was an artist just like Manuel and I. Gabriel had just been painting before we got there.

Manuel introduced me to Gabriel and Gabriel shook my hand and said, “Nice to meet you.” I replied, “Nice to meet you too.” Gabriel then led us into the beautiful apartment and out onto the balcony and said, “You guys want to come sit out on the balcony with me and have lunch?” Both of Manuel and I replied in tandem, “Sure.” Gabriel replied, “Uh oh you two must be double trouble peeps. You must hang out all of the time to be replying at the same time.” Again, Manuel and I spoke at the same time, “We do.”

So we went out to the balcony and had lunch. Gabriel had prepared turkey sandwiches for us with Caesar salad. It was delicious. I had a marvelous time getting to know Gabriel. He was a lot of fun to be around. Very carefree. He gave off a surfer vibe. It turned out Manuel and Gabriel were very close and had known each other since they were in kindergarten because Gabriel used to also live in Soho. The two of them went to the same school up until high school when Gabriel moved to Palm Beach.

Once we finished lunch we chatted some more in the living room, watched TV, and drank some wine. After a few glasses, we all got a little tipsy and Gabriel started flirting with me. He told me, “You have very beautiful eyes. They are so blue. I love them.” I replied shyly, “Thanks.” I wasn’t sure what Manuel thought about Gabriel flirting with me, but why not accept Gabriel’s compliment graciously. He was just making a comment about my eyes. Everyone notices my eyes and compliments me. Then Gabriel adds, “And I love your lips. They look delicious.” Then I was like oh my God, Gabriel then touches my chin tilts it up and touches my lips. And so I looked at Manuel to see what his reaction was and Manuel just laughed. So, of course, Gabriel thinks it’s okay to flirt with me some more because Manuel is so amused that Gabriel continues by telling me, “Get up. I want to see your figure. And turn around slowly for me.” And I was like oh my God, what is going on? I didn’t know what to do. I looked at Manuel with a look like WTF is going on, but Manuel just smiles and says, “Get up and show him your figure.”

I got up and stood in front of Gabriel who was laughing. Then he touched my hips with his painter’s hands covered in paint and turned me around slowly. Then he said, “You’re perfect. Will you pose for me? I want to paint you.” I replied, “Sure if it’s okay with Manuel.” Manuel laughed some more and said, “Yes, of course, that’s fine.” Gabriel then looked at his schedule and said to me, “Great I have free time Saturday afternoon. Can you come by to the apartment by yourself then? And can you wear a dress?” I replied, “Sure, I would be honored.”

Once Manuel and I left I punched Manuel on the arm. Manuel said, “Ouch. What is that for?” I replied, “You don’t care if he flirts with me like that?” He said, “Look Gabriel and I have been friends forever. I trust both you and him. Plus he’s a really great painter and you’ll make an awesome model for him.” I replied, “Fine as long as you’re okay with it.” I had a bad feeling right then that Gabriel was going to be trouble.

To be continued…Part II: Posing for Gabriel

Candy Flipping with Carmen and Mark

Resurrecting Lily Part IV

The day after Carmen and I tripped on the psychedelic chocolate balls from my cousin Mark was a really boring day. The world looked dull and bleak and it didn’t help that it was raining outside. Both Carmen and I were tired so we just stayed in and drank some wine and sat around smoking marijuana in Lily’s room. It was then that Mark called. He said, “What’s up Manuel? How are you?” I replied, “Man, me and Carmen are bored. We’re just sitting around drinking wine.” I didn’t want to say we were smoking pot on the phone so I left that out. Mark said, “Can I come over?” I replied, “Sure. Come join us.”

Marked arrived within half an hour. He was grinning ear to ear so I asked him, “Why are you so happy?” He replied, “I just scored some ecstasy pills and tabs of acid.” I was like, “Dude! Those are pretty hardcore drugs. What are you going to do with them?” Mark replied, “I’m going to candy flip. You know, you take a hit of acid and then about 30 minutes later you eat a pill of ecstasy. I’ll be tripping and rolling at the same time. I can’t wait. Do you and Carmen want to join me? Dude, it’s lots of fun and you’ll be hallucinating so you’ll see Lily.” I replied, “What? Are you crazy? I have not done ecstasy or acid.” He replied, “Oh come on. Just try it with me this one time.” I said, “Sure only if Carmen wants to also. Do you want to Carmen?” Carmen who is now drunk from the wine and high from the pot gets up lackadaisically from the couch and says, “I’m down for anything. I’m so bored right now. What are we going to do? Go to a club or something?” Mark replied, “Yeah, we can go to a club. I heard Exit was an awesome club. We should all go. It will be fun.”

So the three of us discussed our plans for the night. We decided we would take a tab of acid each then 30 minutes later take the ecstasy then get a cab and go to Exit. The three of us went to the kitchen and each of us put a tab of acid on our tongues and let it dissolve then drank orange juice. We went to Lily’s room and listened to music and smoked pot. The three of us started hallucinating a little bit. I looked at the pictures of Lily on her table and the pictures started to pop out at me. When I looked at the pictures of Lily they seemed to look at me intensely and then one picture even started talking to me. Lily’s picture said, “I miss you, Manuel.” When I turned to look at Carmen I saw that she had turned into Lily. I hugged Carmen and she laughed that same bubbly laugh that Lily had. I was in heaven.

Mark then got the most brilliant idea to watch The Wizard of Oz with the Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd playing in the background. It was so cool. I didn’t know that you could sync Wizard of Oz to Darkside of the moon. It was amazing. Acid plus Wizard of Oz plus Darkside of the Moon I thought life could not get any better, but it was about to once I took the ecstasy pill. The movie and the music go perfectly together. If you don’t know what I’m talking about look it up on Youtube. Type in Wizard of Oz Darkside of the Moon and you can see it goes together.

After 30 minutes passed all three of us took an ecstasy pill and drank orange juice. We sat around in Lily’s room for another half an hour to wait for the pills to hit us. It hit hard and I mean hard. My pulse quickened. My eyes started to roll to the back of my head. I looked at Carmen and she looked absolutely beautiful. I kissed Carmen and it was the best, softest kiss ever. It felt like Carmen’s lips were melting onto my lips. It was our first kiss and it was delicious. Mark stared at us so we stopped kissing. We didn’t want to make Mark uncomfortable. Then Mark said, “Umm, okay do you guys want to go to Exit now?” “Yes,” I said. Carmen nodded her head. So we got up from the couch. It was a struggle at first because when you’re candy flipping you kind of just want to sit and chill I guess. Well, that’s not the case for everyone apparently, but I did anyway, Mark explained it was because our ecstasy pills were cut with mostly MDMA meaning it was going to be a mellow roll. I just nodded. Okay, whatever that means. I’ll take his word for it.

We walked outside to hail a cab and that’s when I started to notice that Carmen looked really out of it. The drugs must have hit her hard and she started laughing and couldn’t stop laughing. I asked her what she was laughing about and she said, “Your eyes! They’re huge!” Then we finally got a cab. We got in and after about a 15-minute drive we arrived at Exit. Once at Exit, I was a little worried that the bouncer might not let us in because he thought we were candy flipping, but he seemed to not notice and we got in with no problems.

Once inside the music was blaring and it sounded awesome. I had never heard music sound so loud and I could feel it. It was as if the music was making the room vibrate. The DJ was spinning electronic music and I was loving it. Mark got us drinks and Carmen and I danced. Mark came back with Red Bull and vodkas. The best drinks ever! And I mean ever! The Red Bull and vodkas seemed to enhance the drugs and I was loving life. I loved Mark for getting us the drugs and I loved Carmen. I turned around to look at Carmen and I saw Lily dancing and laughing, carefree. I felt alive for the first time. I told Carmen I loved her and she said I love you back. I thought that’s sweet. Yeah, we’ve known each other for about a year, but we’ve always had just been friends, but tonight we love each other. It might just be the ecstasy talking though.

After a few hours of dancing, Carmen sat down. I sat with her then she closed her eyes and fell asleep. I let her sleep on my lap and just watched the crowd dance and Mark sat next to me. After about a half hour Carmen started to vomit. It was a mess. We didn’t know what to do so we took Carmen to the bathroom. She vomited and vomited and when she finally stopped we decided to go home. Once at home, I carried Carmen to Lily’s bed and she just slept. After a few hours, Mark decided we needed to wake up Carmen because he thought maybe she was dehydrated from vomiting so we gave her water. Carmen struggled to drink the water, but she managed. By then I had come down and I was really worried about Carmen.

I was really sorry I had gotten Carmen into this mess. I should have never let her candy flip. Right then and there I decided I would stop doing all drugs and especially stop giving drugs to my friends. Luckily the next day, Carmen woke up. I didn’t sleep all night because I was afraid she might die of dehydration so I wanted to watch her and make sure she was fine. I apologized to Carmen once she awoke. She said it was okay, but I knew it was not. That was quite a lesson and one I will always remember. I hugged Carmen and said, “I know I said I loved you last night, but I was on ecstasy and I think you might have thought I didn’t mean it, but today I’m not on ecstasy and I still love you. I just wanted to let you know.” She replied, “I remember you saying that. I said I loved you back and I meant it and today I still love you. Sorry for puking all over you.”

Note by author: I read about The Wizard of Oz and the Darkside of the Moon syncing together on a blog and so I included it in my blog post above. I found the video. Check it out so you can see how perfectly Wizard of Oz and Darkside of the Moon go together. Skip to the part where Dorothy is in Oz and the Good Witch arrives. That’s the best part.

Eating Sushi with Carmen

 

Resurrecting Lily Part III

After having tripped on the psychedelic chocolate balls from Mark while I was hanging out with Ginny I got the brilliant idea to call up Carmen, my beautiful friend with blonde hair and blue eyes who looked just like Lily. Carmen was in Rochester, New York for the summer and I was still in New York City living in my parents’ apartment in Soho. I called Carmen and told her my parents were going to Cuba to visit family so I would be home alone in our apartment in Soho. I asked Carmen, “Do you want to fly to New York City and stay with me for the weekend?” Carmen replied, “Sure, Manuel I would love that.”

Carmen flew to La Guardia via Jet Blue from Rochester and I picked her up. Carmen and I arrived at the apartment and without wasting any time I told Carmen about the psychedelic chocolate balls I got from my cousin, Mark. I knew Carmen would be cool about it and might even want to try some. I told Carmen while pointing to my Ziploc baggie of three chocolate balls, “Check this out. They’re chocolate balls from my cousin, Mark. They have psychedelic mushrooms mixed in them. Do you want to try some? It’s the best trip ever.” Carmen replied, “Oh my God! Are you serious? That sounds awesome, yes I want to try one. How was the trip?” I replied, “It was awesome. The music sounds better. It’s louder. It sounds like someone turned up the volume extra high and everything is so colorful, but it’s not a really hard trip like tripping on acid, not that I’ve tried acid.”

So Carmen and I ate the chocolate balls. I ate two and Carmen ate one. Afterward, we hung out the apartment. I took Carmen to Lily’s bedroom that had been painted in a deep blue and after 15 minutes Carmen turned into Lily and the deep blue walls of Lily’s bedroom turned into an ocean. Carmen went into Lily’s closet and put on one of Lily’s dresses. And oh my God Carmen turned into Lily instantly. I was enthralled. We hung out in Lily’s room and played reggae music. Carmen and I just sat on the floor in front of a table that had Lily’s photos and chatted and listened to music.

After about a half hour Carmen got the idea that we should go explore downtown Manhattan. Yes, we were tripping, but the trip wasn’t that hard so we managed to take a taxi to downtown and we got out in front of an Urban Outfitters. Carmen and I walked into Urban Outfitter and the colors of the store were awesome and seemed to mix together like paint. Carmen tried on clothes. She tried on a pink polo shirt then bought it. Then she and I went downstairs to the home décor section where she found a lamp that looked just like an onion. Carmen said, “I love them. It looks just like an onion.” So I bought the lamp for her.

We left Urban Outfitters and went into a jewelry store. They had all kinds of necklaces, rings, and earrings out on display. Carmen tried on ring after ring. Then she said, “Let’s go.” So we left. After we left the store she holds up her hand and said, “Check this out!” Carmen had stolen a large ring shaped like a rectangle with all sorts of colored gems on top. I cracked up and told her, “You are awful. What if they arrested us? I’m still tripping. You know I ate two chocolate balls.”

After shopping, we went to a sushi restaurant. We ordered all sorts of sushi rolls and hand rolls. We chatted and after eating lots and lots of sushi both of us came down from our trip. It had been a few hours since we ate the chocolate balls. Carmen turned back to Carmen, but this time I was not depressed. It was then I realized I liked Carmen for being Carmen and that even though she was not Lily she was like a sister to me. Carmen was now my new little sister and I was glad she was there with me at the sushi bar just chatting and laughing.

To be continued…Part IV: Candy Flipping with Carmen and Mark

Resurrecting My Sister Through Ginny

Resurrecting Lily Part II

A few years after I lost my sister, Lily. I really really missed her and I expressed that to my cousin, Mark on the death anniversary of my sister. That day we were holding a remembrance party for Lily at my parent’s apartment where I was staying in Soho. My relatives, family friends, and Lily’s closest friends were there. I was about ready to cry so I stepped out of the balcony to have a cigarette. My cousin Mark was there too smoking a cigarette. He saw that I was about to cry so he said, “Manuel are you okay?” I said, “Yeah, I’m fine. I just really wish Lily was here with us today. If I could bring her back I would.” Manuel replied, “You know we can’t bring her back, but maybe you can see her. Here eat these chocolate balls. They have psychedelic mushrooms mixed in them and when you eat them, man you will trip. You will have the best hallucinations ever and maybe you will be able to see Lily again.”

I took the chocolate balls from Mark and ate two. I went back into the party and Ginny came up to me and started talking to me. I knew she was Ginny. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes, she kind of looked like Lily. Ginny was talking to me about all the memories she had with Lily and how much she missed Lily then after 15 minutes of talking to Ginny she turned into Lily. Ginny eyes were the ones I noticed first. They looked just like Lily’s eyes. Then Ginny laughed and it was as if I heard Lily laugh. It was incredible. I couldn’t believe it. Lily was there right in front of me. When I came down from the psychedelic chocolate balls after a few hours I became depressed and Ginny turned back to Ginny and Lily was gone.

I wanted more of the chocolate balls so I found Mark mingling with our relatives at the party. I took him aside and said, “That was an amazing trip. Do you have any more of the chocolate balls?” Mark replied, “No, I don’t but I can get you some more tomorrow.” True to his word, Mark got me more chocolate balls. He came by to my apartment and gave me five chocolate balls in a Ziploc bag. I wanted to recreate yesterday’s trip so I called up Ginny to invite her over. Ginny said she would love to hang out with me so within an hour she arrived at my parent’s apartment.

Once Ginny arrived I ate two chocolate balls and sure enough, I started tripping within 15 minutes. Ginny and I just sat and talked. Then after a few minutes of chatting, I took Ginny to Lily’s old bedroom. We had kept Lily’s old bedroom just like how she had left it before she died. The chocolate balls were really hitting me then. Ginny sat on Lily’s bed and I swore I saw Lily. Then Ginny got up and started looking at the bookshelf and then she touched Lily’s book and turned into Lily browsing her books. I felt like Lily was with me again. I hugged Ginny and I felt like I was hugging my sister whom I had missed so much. I know I know eating psychedelic chocolate balls is really bad for you, but it was the only way for me to see my sister and I was thankful that Mark gave them to me.

To be continued…Part III: Eating Sushi with Carmen

The Girl with Green Shoes Part IV

Gemma and Ryan Exchange Christmas Gifts

After the Halloween party, Gemma and Ryan started hanging out more often. The two met up at the gym in the mornings and then afterward the two would go back to Ryan’s apartment where Ryan would cook breakfast for the two of them. Often times he made scrambled eggs with spinach. He found the recipe from Men’s Health Magazine. The ingredients were six egg whites, two full eggs, ham, cheese, and spinach. According to the magazine, it was the perfect breakfast food because it was fuel for the body and could help you build muscles.

The holidays were coming up so the mall had Santa Claus. Gemma’s mom had called her and asked her to take her little brother to the mall to see Santa. Gemma called Ryan to see if he would come and he said he would so Gemma, her little brother, and Ryan went to the mall, stood in line to see Santa and after a few hours all three got to meet Santa. Afterward, they went shopping for gifts for each other. They went to store after store in the mall to get an idea as to what to get each other, but they did not buy the gifts that day in order to keep the gifts a secret.

The next day Gemma and Ryan went back to the mall separately to buy each other gifts. They hung onto the gifts until the day before Christmas break started when they presented each other the gifts because Ryan was going home to North Carolina for Christmas break. Gemma opened her gift first and she saw that it was a beautiful gray sweater with a blue stripe across the chest. She absolutely loved it. Then Ryan opened his and it was Cool Water cologne. He sprayed it and it smelled amazing. He too loved his gift. After exchanging gifts and ooh-ing and aah-ing over their gifts the two kissed for the first time.

The Girl with the Green Shoes Part III

Gemma and Ryan’s Halloween

It was Halloween and Gemma and Ryan were going to a party. Gemma dressed up as an alien and Ryan dressed up as a pirate. Ryan drove them to the party, they found a parking spot near the house where the party was going to be held, got out of the car and were walking towards the house. “I can’t wait to play beer pong. Will you play on my team?” said Gemma. “Yeah, I’ll play on your beer pong team, but I’m not drinking the beer,” replied Ryan. Gemma laughed and said, “You dork. You need to drink.” Ryan said, “No thanks.” Gemma didn’t want to peer pressure him so she said, “Yeah, okay that’s fine you don’t have to drink.”

As the two neared the house they heard someone yell, “Gemma get in the car right now.” Gemma turned and saw it was her ex-boyfriend James. He was in his Nissan Altima and driving closer to them. Gemma turned to Ryan and said, “Umm, that’s my ex-boyfriend. He’s drunk. He wants me to get in the car. We need to hide. Run with me to the next street over.” The two ran until they could not see James anymore.

Ryan unsure of what just happened asked, “Who was that and why was he yelling at you? Are you two broken up?” Gemma replied, “Oh that was James. We didn’t exactly break up, break up. I just sort of stopped talking to him because I think he was cheating on me this past summer. It’s not a big deal we’re over. He knows we’re over. I have not picked up his calls, but I think he’s drunk right now and is under the impression he can yell at me to get me back.” Ryan said, “Uhuh. He seems really rude. I can’t believe you were with him.” Gemma said, “Yeah, tell me about it. He yells at everyone. We were in a restaurant in New York City this summer and he yelled at our waiter. And I mean yelled at the waiter, not just be rude to the waiter, he actually yelled.” Ryan replied, “Yeah, maybe he was not a good boyfriend for you after all.” Gemma said, “For real, yeah, no, he’s not a nice person to be dating.”

Instead of going to the party Gemma and Ryan ended up walking around the streets just talking, laughing, and having a good time. Gemma turned to Ryan and said, “Hey, I’m having a lot of fun just taking a walk with you and chatting. I think we should skip the party.” Ryan replied, “Yes, great idea because your psycho ex-boyfriend might be there and try to pick a fight with me.” Gemma found out that just being with Ryan was more fun than playing beer pong at a party and getting trashed. And that was the start of Gemma turning sober. She realized she didn’t need to drink alcohol to have fun. She just needed to be hanging out with the right person.

To be continued…Part IV: Gemma and Ryan Exchange Christmas Gifts

The Girl with the Green Shoes Part II

Gemma’s Very Own Portfolio Site

After having gone on their grocery store adventure Gemma and Ryan exchanged phone numbers and added each other on Facebook. The two chatted on Facebook and one day Gemma convinced Ryan to go to a dinner date with her to King and I.

The two were seated in the booth at the back of the restaurant. They talked to each other about their classes and their projects. It was another one of those get to know each other moments and it was just mostly small talk.

Then Gemma got the idea to make the conversation more interesting by asking Ryan what he first thought of when he first saw her. He replied, “I saw you and thought you were beautiful and I instantly knew I would be going on a date with you. What did you think when you first saw me?” She replied, “I thought you looked very innocent, handsome, and I actually thought you were a freshman.” The two laughed. He said, “Are you disappointed I’m a senior and not a freshman?” “No because you being a senior means you’ll be able to help me with my projects,” she replied. “Oh, what do you need help with?” said Ryan. “Umm, I need your help in making a website for my photography portfolio pieces. I’ll pay you $50,” she said. “Sure I can. You don’t need to pay me though it will be easy,” he replied.

The next morning Gemma got her photography pieces ready. She turned them into jpegs as Ryan had suggested. She also made sure they were retouched and sized for the web. Afterward, she put her images in a USB flash drive. She then designed the layout of what her site was going to look like. She just drew it on a piece of paper. She figured it would be good enough and Ryan would know what she was trying to have her site look like.

After all of the planning for her site was finished Gemma drove to Ryan’s apartment and gave Ryan her USB flash drive. She showed him her drawing of what she wanted her site to look like. Ryan then designed her site and uploaded it and for the first time in her life, Gemma had a portfolio site of her own. She was ecstatic and very proud of it. She showed it to her friends. They told her her site was awesome and her photography pieces were beautiful.

Of course, after all of Ryan’s hard work, Gemma wanted to repay Ryan. She tried to pay him $50 again, but Ryan refused. So Gemma got an idea. “How about we go on a movie date and I’ll pay?” she said. “I would love that,” he replied. So the two went to Regal Henrietta and saw a romantic comedy and had a great time.

To be continued…Part III: Gemma and Ryan’s Halloween

The Girl with the Green Shoes Part 1

Gemma and Ryan’s Grocery Store Adventure

Gemma and Ryan have not spoken for years, but Gemma can still remember the first time she saw Ryan. She was at the Rochester Institute of Technology gym stretching on the mats on the first days of fall quarter in 2013. He was running on the treadmill staring straight ahead completely ignoring her stares. Gemma turned to her roommate Anna who was on the mats stretching too and said, “That guy is hot. Do you think he’s a freshman?” Gemma was a junior, but she had a penchant for freshman boys. She loved how they were so sweet and innocent. Gemma had never seen this boy running on the treadmill so she thought he must have been a freshman. Plus he had that handsome boyish look with the bright blue eyes. Yup, she thought, he had to be a freshman.

Anna replied, “I think he is. Why don’t you talk to him?” Gemma said, “I will one day.” Before and after classes Gemma would look for Ryan on campus. She never saw him, but one day after class Gemma was walking in the parking lot near the gym in search of her car when she saw Ryan so she called over to him, “Hey, I’ve seen you at the gym. Do you go there often?” Ryan turned around saw Gemma and thought. Oh, it’s the girl with the green shoes that walks like she’s all high and mighty. Ryan replied shyly, “Yes, I do.” Gemma said, “Cool, I go there lots too. What’s your name?” He said, “Ryan.” She said, “Well Ryan, my name is Gemma. What are you up to right now cause I just finished class and I’m free so do you want to hang out?” Ryan said, “I’m going to the grocery store actually.” She said, “Awesome. Can I come along?” He said, “Sure.”

So they went to the grocery store. They got to know each other. Gemma learned that Ryan was an information technology major and he was actually a senior, not a freshman. His GPA was a 4.0 meaning all of his grades from all of his classes were all As. And as soon as Gemma learned that she instantly thought, OMG what a nerd! He must study all of the time and never go to parties. She also learned he played intramural volleyball and went to the gym every day. And Ryan learned that Gemma was a visual media major and her GPA was somewhat close to a 3.5. She likes to drink vodka, smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, and only went to the gym every other day or so.

Gemma looked for her normal food at the grocery store, which consisted of ice cream, cookies, chips, basically anything junk food and soda. Meanwhile, Ryan went for the foods that were super healthy like fruits, vegetables, eggs, and milk. He bought Kashi cereal aka the healthy cereal while Gemma bought Honey Bunches of Oats. Before Ryan put food in his basket he read the labels on the back. Gemma was perplexed at what Ryan could possibly be doing so said, “What are you doing?” Ryan replied, “Umm reading how much calories and fat is in the food?” “Oh really? You do that?” she replied. “Yes, it’s a good idea to know how much calories there are and if you look over here it tells you how many grams of fat there is in the food,” he replied pointing to the back of a box. Oh dear, Gemma thought. He’s one of those guys. She didn’t know they actually existed at RIT, but they must and he’s one of them.

Gemma and Ryan wandered all over the aisles looking for healthy food for Ryan and right then and there Gemma decided this boy needs some help. He needs to eat some ice cream. And she realized OMG! He probably does not drink and never ever has any fun so she thought to herself he needs to start drinking, go to bars, clubs, and parties. She was going to make it her mission to get him to have fun.

Meanwhile, Ryan thought to himself. OMG! This girl is out of control. She needs to stop drinking, stop smoking, eating healthy, and going to the gym more often. He was going to make it his mission to tame this wild, but beautiful girl with the green shoes.

To be continued…Part II: Gemma’s Very Own Portfolio Site