"Why are you recording me?"
"Because I love you. And because you're beautiful."
"Yeah, yeah..."
Janis picks up the remote control and rewinds the video one more time. She looks intensively at the television, trying to absorb every detail of the person that appears on the screen. "Why are you recording me?" she imitates, making her voice slightly higher to match Veronica's.
"Come on, give me a smile," Jason Dean's voice echoes through the living room as Janis unpauses the video. Veronica rolls her eyes playfully and stops walking, hands shoved into the pocket of the black trench coat she is wearing. Her big brown eyes look directly at the camera as her shy smile turns into a chuckle, her nose and cheeks blushing and hair strands whipping in her face.
"Happy?" she asks him, tilting her head a bit.
"Very," is Jason's response. The joyful look Veronica gives to the man behind the camera, with her eyes wrinkling in the corners thanks to the bright smile still present on her face, and the sunlight illuminating her from behind, give the video a cozy, blissful feeling. The whole scene looks like a painting. Everything is so perfect. Almost too perfect.
Janis spends over an hour watching the recordings she found. She studies every single one of Veronica's actions; the way she talked, moved, smiled, laughed; she had a pretty funny laugh, the kind that infects everyone else in the room, even if they're not in on the joke. She takes notice of the way Veronica looks down at the floor when she seems embarrassed, how she fidgets with her hands a lot and how she is always wearing something blue, whether that's something eye-catching like a blazer or knee-high socks, or something small like a pair of earrings.
After she's finished with the videos, Janis heads in the direction of the bathroom with the box of hair dye she bought from the drugstore and a pair of scissors in hand
***
The sound of her heels clicking on the floor reverberates through the otherwise silent lobby. Janis walks with her head high and her heart thumping.
"Hi, I'm Veronica Sawyer," she says when she approaches the receptionist, "I have an appointment with the manager, Dennis Wallace."
The old woman behind the desk gives her a polite smile, as she looks up from the computer, "Sure, I'll let him know you're here," she says. "You can take a seat, in the meantime."
Janis thanks her with a quick smile and settles herself on one of the armchairs. She takes a deep breath, realization hitting her forthwith. She is doing this. There's no going back. She runs her hand through her hair, still getting used to it being so short. Her long, blond ends are gone and now she sports completely brown locks at the length of her shoulder, just like her mysterious lookalike. She also ditched her heavy eye makeup and multicolored clothes for a little bit of blush and lipgloss, a long sleeve blue dress and high heels.
Suddenly, Veronica's phone starts vibrating, startling Janis. She ignores it, and doesn't even take it out of the purse; She knows that if she does she will see the name Chandler on the screen again. That's the ninth time this guy is calling. Janis has no idea who he might be, but clearly, he wants to talk to Veronica.
Good luck with that...
"Veronica!" Janis turns her head to see a tall, dark-skinned man in a suit standing to her right. "It's good to see you again! How are you?" he says in an excited tone as he shakes her hand.
YOU ARE READING
Endless Forms Most Beautiful
FanfictionJanis opens her mouth but nothing comes out of it. The other woman doesn't share the same reaction as her. She doesn't look surprised. Doesn't look confused. She just looks tired. Minutes could have passed as they stood there, the two faces -the sa...
