somewhere || George Russell

eight

"Miss. Blanhir," the receptionist called for Laurel's attention as she slowly walked into the Maracay, "someone sent something for you..."

"Was it Mr. Blanhir?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and the woman opened her mouth to try and say something. "Never mind, is it already in my room?" she interrupted. She's not in the mood for talking to anybody and just can't wait to go lay on her bed.

She spent two or three hours sitting in the Starbucks Reserve and making Richard her new friend, so, by the time she stood up from her seat, her legs, abdomen and even arms were sorer than before.

"Yes, of course," the woman replied and nodded.

"Fine, thank you," Laurel continued her way.

She dialed Gemma's number, willing to tell her that she will definitely not attend to the pole dance class today, and instead she's going to try to go back to her swimming training.

"How did your lunch with Richard went?" was the first thing Gemma said when she answered the phone, "he was really looking forward to talk to you."

"I know," Laurel nodded, "he is so nice. I think we already bounded, and we can be good friends."

"Good, because he is your co-star," Gemma giggled.

"That's not why I called," Laurel cleared her throat and searched for the right words, "I'm not going to that killing class today, my body is still sore and I'm not willing to make it worse."

"Come on!" Gemma complained.

"I am sorry. Plus, I think the Rafael finally sent me some factures from the hotel, so, I have work," she remembered about that 'something' that someone sent to her.

"Laurel..." Chase, one of the hotels managers, talked to her, and she rolled her eyes. When David is gone, Chase has to come to make sure that Laurel doesn't burn down the hotel, since she has zero experience on managing hotels. "Rafael already..."

"I know, I know...." She interrupted, "the receptionist told me that someone sent me something so it's probably him; I'm sure that girl is new and doesn't know that if I ask for 'Mr. Blanhir' I'm talking about Rafael."

"Are you sure he..."

"Chase, I'm on a call right now," she whisper-yelled and pointed to her phone in her ear, "wait until tomorrow to bother me. I promise I'm going to read everything today and we can meet tomorrow."

"But..." he tried to say again. Laurel gave him an unfriendly look, "fine."

Chase stood there confused. What information is Laurel supposed to read, if he is the one who got the paperwork?

"You see?" Laurel said to Gemma on the phone, "I have work to do. I just want to go to my home and lay in my sofa and watch Univision."

"First world problems," Gemma teased. "It's fine, you actually only had to go to one class."

"Then why you wanted me to continue attending?"

"Because I told you that you need to exercise."

"And I told you I'm going back to my swimming classes."

Laurel called the elevator and thank God it didn't took much time to arrive, because she was willing to yell at the maintenance guy to fix it in that exact second.

"Why do you like to swim anyway?"

"Do I have to remind you that I grew up in Miami, near the beach?" Laurel rolled her eyes and the elevator doors closed. She pressed the button of her floor and the elevator started to move. "Also, is the most complete sport, swimming moves all the major muscle groups, is an exercise without impact and it improves endurance. It's beneficial for the heart because is an aerobic sport and it's the best sport for weight loss."

"I stopped listening since you said you grew up in Miami," Gemma laughed, "shut up, smartass."

Laurel looked at the time in her Apple watch and shrieked. "My telenovela is about to start," she started to walk fast to her room, holding the pain, just wishing to arrive to her penthouse as fast as possible.

Ah, yes, Laurel can seem grumpy, bad-tempered and a person who is also searching for right and logic answers, but she also likes telenovelas. Telenovelas are a style of limited-run television soap operas, particularly prevalent in Latin America.

"Which one are you watching?"

"Cuando me enamoro," Laurel replied in her perfect and enviable Spanish. The name in English of course is When I fall in love.

"Why is your Spanish so good?" Gemma yelled, annoyed.

"I go to Mexico three times a year; my parents always speak Spanish..." she took off her key card and opened the door. Yeah, she had to learn because her grandparents were never willing to learn English.

She dropped her backpack on the couch with her spare arm and took the TV control, turning on the tv and changing to Univision, the quintessential Latin channel in the United States, glad that her telenovela was just beginning.

"You're right, I have never been in Colombia since I was born," Gemma replied.

"Si pudiera bajarte una Estrella del cielo, lo haría sin pensarlo dos veces," Laurel sang along with the intro of her telenovela. "I love this song."

"Which telenovela is next?" Gemma interrupted Laurel's inspiration.

"Mmm," she took the TV control and looked for the TV guide, "Mañana es para siempre and after that A que no me dejas," she named two more telenovela titles.

"I'm going to your home right now to watch telenovelas together," Gemma warned.

"Be my guest, I'll wait here for you," Laurel smiled, "don't hurry too much because I still have to read that paperwork," she scanned the room, looking for some kind of envelope with everything that Rafael wanted her to read.

She suddenly stopped when she saw a vase with dahlias.

"Okay, I'm on my way," Gemma started to say things while Laurel walked towards the dining table.

"Cheesy," she whispered and smiled widely when saw George's name on the little card, feeling a tickle in her stomach. A tickle that she perfectly knows that is produced by her brain.

"What?" Gemma said.

"Nothing, I'll wait for you."