July 17, 2014 - New York City
Ashton was gone on tour and I took that as a chance to familiarize myself with New York City. So, I properly moved into my apartment last month. New York City was no Malibu and I think that was the thing I loved about it. The people seemed real here and weren't trying to keep up with a façade and weren't trying to impress everyone around them with material things. They were laid back and just going with the flow of the crazy city around them. That was something I quickly eased into. My Mother thought I was insane for believing that people over here were nicer than they were in Malibu and I thought she was insane for believing the opposite.
I spent lunch at a cute little bistro named Raoul's. It stood a block away from my apartment and I was in love with the place. I was intrigued by the peculiar paintings hanging on the walls. I couldn't sum the art into one category because of the wide spectrum they had; naked women, animals, people playing instruments, family portraits, to individual portraits. It was a really inviting space and the employees were sweet. I went there so often for lunch that a few of the waiters had my order memorized.
I choose to take the stairs up to my floor instead of the elevator because I felt I needed to walk off today's consumption of roasted chicken. It was never too late to add a bit of a healthy routine to your lifestyle even if I only planned to do this like once month because I would either forget or get too lazy.
There was a medium sized box placed in front of my door. Was it even safe to drop off boxes like that in an apartment complex? The box had no clue to who it was from. It only had my name and mailing address. I was still appalled at the box just hanging out in the hallway like that. What if my neighbors decided to take it? Speaking of neighbors, I had never met them either, so wouldn't that be an awkward confrontation if they did take it? Instead of putting further thought into this, I picked up the box and entered my very own space. My living room was harshly bright. Sometimes I think it was brighter than it actually was outside because of the obscene white paint. I only wished I could paint the place - give it more of a Talia personality. I reminded myself to buy curtains at some point.
I sat down on the couch after finding a pair of scissors to open the box. The last time I opened something like this I ended up slicing my finger open, it wasn't one of my greatest moments. I was cautious while opening this one because I didn't want to stain the couch with my idiocies. I was met with bubble wrap and I popped just one of the bubbles, giggling because I knew I'd have fun with this later on.
The distinct smell of books danced through my nostrils as I came in view of folded up paper that had 'Talia' written out across it in big letters. Wow, let me get my reading glasses. I unfolded the papers and recognized the handwriting to be Ashton's. What the hell was he up to now?
June 28, 2014
Talia,
I know how worried you were about filling up that darn shelf in your new apartment, so I've made it a mission to buy you a couple of books in each city I stop in. In this specific set I've mailed you a book from London, two from Amsterdam, and one from Milan. The one from Milan is in Italian and the two from Amsterdam are in both English and Dutch, but I still bought them because the covers caught my eye. Maybe you'll have better luck understanding them if you ever decide to read them. Which I doubt, since we agreed the books were more for show.
Can I say how lonely it is on tour without you? Days seem to drag on and on, setting in the same routine. And it's not ideal to be around eight other smelly lads on the daily. You aren't here to have random sessions of mockery. You're probably thinking, 'But Ashton we do that via text, phone calls, and Skype' but let me tell you, it is not the same as doing it in person. I'm laughing because that sounded severely suggestive in a sense.
