FAT and in Love

Chapter 21: It Has begun

We check into a ridiculously large hotel called the Duncan Palace.

"Stop gawking Lizzy. Your poverty status is so painfully obvious. It's an embarrassment, " says Kiera rolling her eyes.

I ignore and keep taking everything in. I can't believe I'm here... with the OWNER OF YOUR CHOICE GAMES and one of the most beautiful men in the world.

Everything was already taken care of and all Dominic had to do was pick up the keys. The people at the front desk seem to already know him. We don't have any luggage as someone came to get it for us. This feels weird. I remember going on trips with my family and having two hefty old grips behind me. It seemed normal, but because Nick is wealthy, he doesn't seem to have to do anything for himself, save focus his energy on stuff he likes. Wow.

I put the earbuds in my ears and turn on Little Mix - You Gotta Not. This is my jam right now and Dominic seems like that certain 'man'. I feel like I'm in a music video as the song plays, because I see things passing by me that you only see in music videos. Sexy people, beautiful architecture. The air feels free. No one here is in need for money. Wow. A group of young women in bikinis run pass us laughing at winking at Dominic. Dominic turns his head to look at them run by and then looks at me and smiles.

"You wanna go with them Lacie?"

I smile. "Maybe later."

He laughs. OMG. He's laughing. Man. His sway on them hips. Have you ever been listening to an upbeat song and then watch people and realize they look like they're walking in rhythm to the music you're listening to? That's what his hips are doing. I laugh to myself as I stare at his cute butt in those red shorts. I feel eyes on me and look over at Kiera glaring at me. I look away. She trots up to walk right beside Dominic and grabs his arm and sashays with her non-existent curves. She does look way more beautiful but oh well. I'm happy to be here!

"Dominic!" says a clean shaven Indian man.

"Dalek!" Nick calls out.

The both of them hug after having their arms extended exaggeratedly. Must be a rich people's thing.

What kind of name is Dalek? Does he represent the nation of aggressive robots from Doctor Who?

He tells Nick to enjoy his stay again.

"Thanks babes," says Kiera.

We go into the elevator. No matter where Dominic is, Kiera always makes sure she's on the side where she can be between us. Dominic and her talk about God knows what. I have my earbuds in and I don't care anyway. Maybe a little, but I try not to.

I see a lot of beautiful guys too, but it's like they don't see me. Whatever. We reach the hotel room. Are we all staying in here?

Dominic opens the door and my breath catches.

My next song Ariana Grande- Side to Side (High-Rizers Remix) [Dubstep/Future Bass] plays. Four shallow porcelain steps lead down into a pearly open area. Directly in front of us all the way on the other end is a large open window with white curtains billowing in towards us. The rims of the railings in the room are all gold.

Kiera squeals and runs towards the windows. It seems to take her all of four seconds to reach it.

"Nicky! There are cruise ships out there having a party!"

"Oh yeah?" Nick says, walking down and taking a left to head for a really large rich wooden door.

I follow him even though I want to check out that window. I try to stay as far away from Kiera as possible. There's a foyer to the right of this door. The doors come together to form an arch. When closed, they look like a semicircle.  Nick opens them both and the threshold looks like an archway. How beautiful.
"This is my room Lacie."
"Wow," is all I can remark.
He looks over at me sweetly and says,
"You wanna see yours?"
"Yes please."
He leads me down that hallway and at the very end there are two regular but really tall doors.
He opens the one to the right and the first thing that hit me is the scent. It's a soothing and wonderfully calm odor. I inhale like I'm in a febreze commercial. Sia- Alive plays in my head. It's the largest and most luxurious room I've ever had the pleasure of staying in. It's so large two cars and some pickup trucks could fit in here. Wow.
"Like it?"
"What? Nick... I... wow."
He just laughs, pleased with himself I'm sure.
"Relax for a little. We're meeting everyone soon to eat."
"Can I see your room?" I say running up to him, jumping up and down like a dumb dolphin... ... or... or walrus. -_-
"Yeah come on then," he replies.
I walk behind those swinging man-hips.
He shows me his California king bed. However, there are five other rooms in this one. He shows me one which is a studio, complete with lighting equipment and gaming computers. The next room is just a very glorified walk in closet. The other two rooms consist of a really large kitchen that looks more like a restaurant in my opinion, and beautiful bathroom that looks similar to the one he has at his home in Pennsylvania. On the other side of this room which houses many rooms, is a gym.
"We have everything we need in this room! Why would we ever want to go outside?!" I proclaim with a chuckle.
"I don't know LaCie, to work and network."
"I was joking Dominic. You don't do jokes very well, do you?"
"Where's Kiera?" He asks, completely ignoring my observation.
I look over to the window and realize that she's not there. Of course she's not, otherwise why would Dominic ask where she is? I'm such an idiot.
We find her outside of the hotel room on the phone. Dominic silently signals to her as if to ask her, "Who are you talking to?"
She finishes the call and says,
"Just making sure everyone's ready. They're going to meet us down by the beach."
She grabs her bag from the doorway and kisses Dominic on the lips. I roll my eyes inwardly.
"Lacie did you see your luggage," Dominic asks.
"Um," I reply looking around the airplane hangar of a room.
"There. Just make sure you have everything that you need because we're gonna be out for a few hours."
I have my little mini book bag on my back that I carry around with me with my lip gloss, phone charger, phone, tissues and other essentials.
"I do."
"Nicky come on. They're waiting on us!" Yells Kiera.
"Lacie. Here. You have experience with handling video equipment I know. There's going to be a lot going on and I need you to take it down. There's 128 gigs of footage in there, so that should be enough for you to use for the blog and I might need you to edit some of that later. This video camera so high-tech you can take notes while you're filming a section. That's one of the main reasons I bought it."
He stands really close to me and leans in to show me how the camera works. It's a small little thing and so as I'm holding it, he has his hand over mine to steady it and hold it up better. I feel shivers running down my spine.
"What are you doing?" Asks Kiera as she walks in closer to us.
"Kiera would you shut up or do something?! Clearly, I'm in the middle of something I know you can see that," Nick blurts out frightening the both of us. Whoa. I try my hardest not to smile. Keira glares at the both of us and rolls her eyes before walking off, or should I say stomping off through the door.
"OK Lacie, you listening?"
"Yes Nick. I'm listening," I reply submissively and with the shiver in my voice. I'm so embarrassed. It's a good thing his hand is steadying mine because otherwise this camera would be shaking like a leaf in hurricane weather.
As he touches the camera's LED screen, he says,
"If you're filming something that you want to take note of, just tap the icon here and it will allow you to type a note while it's recording."
"That's actually pretty cool," I say.
"Yep. What's even better is that when you're ready to edit, whatever software you're using will register those stopgaps or notes as markers in the editing software; or at least the new editing software do. Alright let's go. I don't have to tell you to make sure it's recording."
"Haha no."
He smiles back at me.
"No seriously or I'll fire you."
What? I can never tell if he's joking or not.
"Hey don't you want to do an intro?" I ask.
"Yeah why not."
"You want to go by the window?" I suggest to him.
He walks over to the window with the ethereal curtains and steps out onto the balcony. We both look over the railing at the ocean and the beach out yonder. The sky is blue with sparse clouds and the wind blows as though caressing our faces in a warm welcome. Dominic turns his whole body to face me.
"Well get on with it," he says.
"You ready?" I ask teasingly.
"Yeeesss," he replies.
This time though, he seemed annoyed and back and boss mode.
are use my fingers to signal 5,4,3,2,1 and then point my finger to him to let him know he's a go.
"Yo, this is Dominic Boveri, and this is day 1 in Florida. We're gonna walk around and see if we can find some interesting people who'd be willing to share their life stories. My goal with this game is to study people and capture the realism of their situations in life so the players aren't just playing a game,  but experiencing life from another real person's perspective not just some idea thought up in an office of what a person's life struggles entail."
He nods a quick sharp nod to let me know that's enough. He's so cute. Ugh!!!
"Alright let's go," he says as he hurries away, not waiting for me.
This place is like a theme park. I get my device out and start taking pictures to send to Sandy. She's had a rough time so I want her to feel like she's here with me. I send the picture of the ostentatious golden spiral staircase. Right next to it is a spiral escalator; something I've never seen in all my life. Of course, Dominic opts for the staircase which is so wide it could hold three Cadillac cars side-to-side. I trot down the stairs. Why? Well, for one, because I want to, and two, because I want to show him an Kiera I can. I wait at the bottom for them. My knees are screaming, "Hell's wrong with you man? You know you can't be doing this! What you think we are, the Ringling Brothers?"
I smile at that but then my face drops as I see how elegantly Kiera and Nick are descending the stairs. Everyone else is for that matter. I'm the only plump bunny that saw the need to trot down the thing at breakneck speed. I sigh. I feel like an idiot. As Nick and Kiera catch up to me, I walk beside them.