Once Upon A Time, I Was a Writer

Hello everyone, and sorry for the delay.

Something came into my email today that I just have to share with you.

Back in May of 2007, I was partying it up with my best friend, CK. It was, by far, one of the most memorable summers of my existence. On one of the rare nights when we weren't "hanging out with friends", we convened around my kitchen counter and decided to write a story. We spend HOURS coming up with characters, a plot, an ending, tons of twists and turns. This was supposed to be out masterpiece. Needless to say, I am not a published author. But, the long missing first 7 pages of the book have turned up! Not to toot my own horn, but it seems that I'm a pretty good writer. Its a story I would read. But I'll leave that up to you. For your literary pleasure, please enjoy the beginning of the first chapter of my not-so-novel (caution, some material not suitable for children):

Dimitrius
By Sylivia Jones
Started: May 3, 2007

-One-

The theatrics were over. All of the beautiful people had filed out of Velise’s main hall. Only Otis the janitor remained to clean up the mess. Anyone who celebrated New Year’s with Gabrielle and the rest of Velise knew it was the event to attend. New Halo boasted some of the most lavish parties both big and small. But it was the atmosphere and the networking that could only be witnessed at 104 Winchester Place that drew crowds every year. Just hours ago, tall models were hobnobbing with the rich and married, discussing things not meant for their wives to hear. Every inch of the enormous space was covered in some kind of silver and black material. Bolts of French linens and silks hung from high windows. The booths along the back wall, usually used for brief business meetings, had been transformed into intimate lounge spaces for who knows what. As in years past, the music had fallen to a soft melody and the boisterous crowd had quieted for Gabrielle’s New Year’s Eve speech. Sitting in one of the back booths still sticky from spilled champagne, she giggled to herself. How rehearsed it had all sounded. She closed her eyes and redirected her mind to 11:55pm when she took the podium. Her husband was at her side, looking dapper as ever. At the age of 37, almost ten years her senior, he was just as radiantly disheveled as the day she’d met him. Before she began to speak, he winked at her, just as he always did before these speeches. With a deep breath, Gabrielle put on the smile she’d trained herself to fake at these occasions and addressed her admiring public.


“New Halo, it has been another wonderful year and we’re off to a great start for the next. On behalf of my husband Dimitrius, my entire company, and myself I would like to offer my deepest thanks to those who have made this dream a reality. I really could not have done it without you all. Velise loves New Halo and New Halo has shown love to Velise!”

“Mrs. Velise? Is everything okay?” There was genuine concern behind Otis’ simple question. Gabrielle realized that she was actually talking out loud, giving her speech all over again. By now, she was much more intoxicated than she had hoped to become. Maybe sitting in the back of an empty party with a now empty bottle of champagne was not such a great idea.

“Yes, Otis. I’m fine. Thanks so much for looking after me. Remind me to give you a raise on Monday,” Gabrielle said as eloquently as she could. She sensed her words slurring and her eyes becoming heavy. “Otis, dear, could you get my husband please. I think I’m ready to go home.”

“Yes ma’am.” At this request, Otis shuffled out of the hall in his dingy work uniform that smelled of bleach and cigarettes. He found Dimitrius chatting up a group of Velise hopefuls who had crashed the party. Though fun and attractive, Dimitri found them a bit snobbish and too immature for the agency. Although he would love to party with the young beauties, he knew they would never get the chance to succeed with Gabby. So he did what he always did while playing his wife’s wingman: smile, be courteous, and revive his accent, now rusty since he had been away from England so long. In the middle of telling a thrice-told joke about a man in a canoe, Dimitri felt the signature tap on his shoulder. The simple drumming of the janitor’s fingers on Dimitri’s shoulder said more than words ever could. No matter what time of day or where Dimitri was in the vicinity, the tap always meant that Gabby needed him right away. Every employee at Velise knew about it. While promising to get in touch with the ladies soon and turning on the heels of his perfectly shined Cole Haan shoes, Dimitri reminisced on how excited he used to get from receiving the tap. That was back when the simple things were what mattered in his relationship with his wife. But all that had changed. There was a strain present, like a fly that you swat at constantly but are never rid of. And this was no fault of his wife’s. Albeit her effortless charm that drove Dimitri to stay with Gabby, it was her quick and venomous tongue that had first attracted him to her.

He still remembered the first day he saw her. It was a dreadfully hot summer in New Halo the year Dimitri decided to study abroad. The apartment he’d rented was not nearly as equipped as the advertisement had made it seem. It was when he saw the fifth drop of sweat roll down the defined muscle of his arms that he took to the streets and found himself buried in a textbook outside a local coffeehouse. If you would have asked him, Dimitri would have said that is was one of his worst days. He was thirty years old and had decided to pursue his Ph.D. in medicine in the States. His hair was especially disheveled from sweating during his sleep and the lack of water pressure in his building had deterred him from showering. The results of last night’s partying made it feel like a celebration was still going on between his temples. He couldn’t focus.

He got up from the small table of the outdoor cafe with the intention of getting another iced coffee to help him finish digesting a chapter on proper bedside manner. But he lost all memory when he saw her. She was so beautiful he blinked again and again to confirm that he wasn’t hallucinating from the heat. The Earth’s rotation slowed and everything moved at a snail’s pace. She was crouched down, flowing auburn hair lying gracefully over her shoulders. Her flawless legs led from a high cut corporate-type black pencil skirt into a pair of traffic-stopping red stilettos. Her stark white Oxford shirt, fitted seamlessly across perky breasts made a halo of light form around the woman. Dimitri breathed in her sweet aroma of flowers mixed with sweat and instantly fell in love. I must have her, is all he could think to himself.

The world regained its normal rate and when everything came back into focus, Dimitri realized that all was not as perfect as he thought. His dream girl actually did not look so dreamy. She was hastily throwing an array of items back into an oversized handbag that looked to be stained with hot chocolate, cursing to herself. Dimitri bent down to help her. “Do you need some help, miss? It looks like you’ve dropped an entire drug store onto the floor here,” Dimitri said sweetly. But his attempt at humor was quickly rejected by the words that escaped the mouth of his angel.

“Oh, I should be so pleased as to accept some help from the man who knocked my bag out of my hand. Thanks a lot. You have no idea how much of a rush I’m in. My boss will kill me if I’m late to the office again. Congratulations, mister. You have officially ruined my day,” she snapped. Humiliated but not put off, Dimitri helped her with the rest of her things. While she muttered on about some coffee drinks she had to reorder and the blouse that would need dry cleaning, Dimitri continued to take in this creature. It seemed that her annoyance with him only made him more determined. He picked up a stained piece of paper with drink orders he couldn’t even read and handed them to the woman.

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to. I’m just in such a haze today. I have this huge test tomorrow and I haven’t had any time to study. The ladies of New Halo really know how to wear a man down, right?” Dimitri tried. He had to soften her up. He hadn’t encountered an American woman that didn’t love his accent during his entire visit. But Gabrielle was unfazed.

“Well, if you’re so busy, it would suit you right to just keep on studying. You trying to help me right now is really putting me behind. I have to leave. I have to go get Mitzy’s things. I really need to keep moving.” Gabrielle’s gaze trailed off and her frantic cleaning transformed into a sort of trance. Dimitri was stunned and bemused by what was happening before him. He closed his eyes to blink once more and as he opened then, he saw mascara-stained tears running down the woman’s face. His first instinct was to hold her. He forgave the make up stains that would inevitably be on his shirt and did not concern himself with the scene they were making outside the coffeehouse. Dimitri let the force behind Gabrielle’s frustrated outburst of sadness release itself within his arms. She did not fight his embrace. It all felt natural.

Once she stopped sobbing, he invited her to his apartment to wash up and they made fervent love on the futon Dimitri called his bed. They sipped wine naked in the kitchen while discussing a fantasy world where Gabrielle would be the CEO of a multimillion-dollar talent agency. Gabrielle spoke with the fancy and naivety that made her seem every bit of twenty-one years old. She had never endured the pain that came from dreams getting smashed and hearts being broken. So in his kitchen, sipping cheap wine out of orange tumblers, admiring the rich chocolate colored complexion and voluptuous curves of his newly found princess, Dimitri made a vow within himself to be there every time life knocked Gabrielle backwards. He would be her protector, her shield and her strength. And this is exactly what he said to her six months later when she told him she was pregnant and they got married.