Limelight (Ruby Rose fan fic)

Sixteen

We leave the restaurant quietly heading to the great marble staircase. Once we're at the top of the stairs we wait for one of the elevators to open its beautiful golden door decorated with medallions, they're the oldest elevators of the city: a wonderful work of art in wood with bronze details and mirrors in which our faces are reflected right now, standing side by side with my arm touching hers slightly. A couple gets off the elevator when it reaches the fourth floor, leaving us alone to go up to the ninth. Suzanne's knuckles graze the hand where I keep my room card when she changes her body weight from one foot to the other. I take a deep breath and ding! This is our floor. The problem with these kinds of historic buildings is that the rooms layout are often chaotic forcing you to walk up and down, turning the corner of several hallways before you find your own room. I insert my key card and open the door, the light is automatically switched on. I turn to my companion.

- Suzanne I...

- Just promise me that you'll think about it, right? – She cuts my speech while rubbing my cheek with the back of her fingers. Then she turns around with a wink and walks away looking for her own room in this maze of hallways.

I walk in the door throwing my bag on the bed and then I sit down on an armchair upholstered in pistachio coloured velvet to take off my boots. The rectangular shape of my black phone that fell out of my purse stands out on the white sheets. I bite my lip, looking at the bed thoughtfully before standing up and going to the bathroom: I need to take my make-up off of my face and brush my teeth. The task is challenging because old buildings often have very small bathrooms since they weren't planned when the hotel was built and they've had to remodel each room adding a new partition. At least this little bathroom has plenty of light and elegant black and white wallpaper. Rummaging in my suitcase I found a pyjamas and I put it on. I can't delay it anymore, sitting on the bed I check the time: it's almost midnight, 10 pm in Los Angeles; maybe it's too late to call and I should try tomorrow morning. I take a deep breath unlocking the screen and I press the button. It keeps ringing for a while but finally she picks up the phone:

- Hello Liz.

- Thanks God, please listen to me. Hold on, Iselen, don't hang up. I know you don't want to talk about this, you don't want to listen to what I have to say but it's necessary. Please I beg you, let me speak and after finishing my speech if you want to hang up you can do it. But at least let me explain you everything, all right?

- All right Liz, tell me.

- Fine. Mmmm... I know you're scared and I know Ruby messed things up with that interview, she struck at the heart of your deepest fears and that's why you run away. She just got totally carried away by the friendliness of Ellen, she didn't mean to hurt you... you know that, don't you?

- Yes, of course. I don't blame Ruby and never did. This is my fault, I'm afraid of commitment and I admit it – I answer holding back my tears.

- Okay, fine. But she blames herself, she's been crying a lot and I'm sure you were sobbing too. She understands why you run away... or rather she understood. Iselen, you been missing in action for almost five days without sending news and I'm afraid that Ruby's feeling of guilt has turned into fury. She's angry with you, really pissed off at you, she stopped crying two days ago and now the only thing she wants is to never hear your name again. I've never seen her like this before, she's livid.

- Liz, I didn't mean to hurt her.

- I know honey but you need to understand that she's been very worried about you, on the verge of going mad. She bought a ticket to go to Chicago because she wanted to talk to you in person and fix things but, suddenly, she finds out that you're doing your normal routine, going to lectures, taking pictures of furniture and having lobster roll for dinner with Roger in the lobby restaurant of Palmer House. "As funny as always" said my idiot friend.