International Love

Chapter 9

“We did it.” Lacey said falling back into one of the office chairs, “We actually created a hologram of you. Ivy.”

I smiled and clapped my hands together. I picked up my dry erase board and wrote on it, We’re going to blow all those performances out of the water!

“Alright. We need to get back to the hotel. Our stylists just showed up and they’re mad that we are here instead of there.” Steven said hanging up his phone.

“Oh s**t. I didn’t even realize what time it was.” Derek said as he headed toward the door.

When we got back to our hotel room, we could see the anger in all of our stylists’ eyes. They were not happy. Lacey and I should’ve been in hair and makeup an hour ago.

“You four,” Samantha began, “Have absolutely no sense of anyone’s time but your own.”

Chill out. We were putting finishing touches on our performance. I wrote on my dry erase board as I rolled my eyes.

“You’re not even performing.” She snapped.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms and legs. She was ruining my night and I wasn’t going to let her do it. We were up for 6 Grammys and no one was going to take that feeling away. We had just as much of a chance to win those awards as anyone else. I was on cloud nine.

Since being released from the hospital I’ve been starting to feel better. I spent most of my time sitting and lounging around while working on the hologram for the performance. Today was really my first day getting out of the house. We had to put the finishing touches on the hologram and have it submitted before walking the red carpet. Between the four of us we easily dropped $10,000 to get this up and running. I’m happy to say that’s exactly what we did.

“Don’t listen to her.” Mandy whispered in my ear as she curled and wrapped my hair up into the big curlers, “She’s had a rough day.”

Mandy, Amanda was her real name, and Samantha were identical twins. They’ve been apart of my prep team for the last 3 years. Mandy had pink hair and green eyes while Samantha kept her natural red locks and shared the same eyes with Mandy. They were both petite firecrackers.

Mandy was more reserved like me and Samantha was very outspoken. If she was upset with someone she was going to let them know. Just like she let me know today.

As Mandy was curling my hair and then placing each curl into a big round curler, Samantha was working on my makeup. She needed Mandy to finish what she was doing so she could move to my neck.

My neck was still tender and had started turning yellow from the bruises healing. Samantha went in with a foundation brush and started lightly brushing the foundation along my neck up to my chin. Each time she touched my neck I winced. I guess it was more tender than I really realized.

I felt tears threaten to spill over as the pain got even more intense the longer she messed around my neck.

“Hey Samantha,” Derek said, “She’s visibly uncomfortable can you hurry this up.”

“Sir, I’m doing the best that I can. I will be finished shortly.” Samantha responded.

Tears spilled over and down my face. Samantha took a piece of tissue and wiped them away. She was finally done around my neck and when I looked in the mirror I saw that she had covered the bruising extremely well.

The pain was worth it. I wrote on my board as I flashed her a smile.

She giggled and went back to doing my makeup.

In typical Samantha fashion, my makeup was dramatic. She did a classic smoky eye with champagne colors and lots of shimmer. My eyebrows were perfect. She even glued on fake eyelashes. My lipstick was a nice nude color. My makeup was going to match my dress perfectly. She set the makeup with some setting spray and took a step back.

“Perfect.” She smiled, “Doing your makeup makes me so much more relaxed.”

She stepped away from me satisfied with her work and walked off. Now it was time for Mandy to work her magic on my hair. As she was pulling my hair out of the curlers and fluffing the curls Lacey walked in with a huge bouquet of pink roses.

Who are those for? I wrote on my board.

“They’re for you.” She smiled handing the card to me, “I read the card and it’s so freaking adorable. I knew you had yourself a little secret admirer! He better be nice to you.” She winked as she bounced away.

It’s you because no one else makes sense. Meet me by the pool at 5:30. -D

I smiled and held the card to my chest. I pulled it away and showed Mandy.

“Looks like we have 30 minutes to get you ready.” She smiled, “I’m almost done and Daniel is in the next room waiting for you.”

Mandy parted my hair to the side and took a diamond encrusted pin with pearls and clipped one side of it back behind my ear. She sprayed some hair spray to set it and smiled crossing her arms. I knew she was done.

I got out of the chair and went into my room in the penthouse and saw Daniel fluffing the skirt of my dress.

“Hello darling.” He said as I walked in, “Get those clothes off.”

Daniel was the only male who could talk to me like that. I let him because, well, he didn’t like women.

I stripped out of my button up shirt and stood there with nothing but my panties on. I covered my breasts with my arms as Daniel walked over with the first part of my dress.

My dress was a custom Dior. It was champagne in color. It had two pieces. The first piece was the actual dress portion that was floor length. It was full of Swarovski stones. So many stones and colors all over the dress that it imitated the look of glitter. It only had one shoulder strap. There was also a thigh high slit on the front of the dress. The second portion of the dress was a silk champagne detachable skirt that had a small train on it and tied at the waist with a bow. Swarovski crystal lined the bottom of the dress. The only negative about this dress is that it was so incredibly heavy.

Once the dress was on my body I slid into a pair of champagne closed toed high heels. I turned around and looked in the mirror and I was shocked at what I was looking at in the mirror. Who was this girl staring back at me?

I turned to Daniel and put my hands over my heart to let him know how thankful I was for him.

“You look gorgeous.” He smiled, “Now, finishing touches.”

He slid a pair of diamond studs in my ears and a diamond bracelet around my wrist and stepped back for a final look. He smiled as my hands flung up to my neck. No necklace.

“You’re not getting the necklace from me.” He winked, “I do believe there is a special someone waiting for you by the pool.”

Daniel, Mandy, and Samantha knew about my relationship with Derek. The only reason they knew was because they walked in on an intense make out session a few weeks back when we first established a relationship. It was incredibly embarrassing to say the least.

I looked over at the clock and saw that it was already 5:20. I took a deep breath and headed toward the door. I caught myself fidgeting with my fingers the whole walk to the pool on the roof. When I got up there I took a deep breath and walked out on the the patio where I saw Derek standing in a suit with a tie that matched the color of my dress holding a single pink rose.

I smiled and walked up to him and kissed his cheek.

“You look stunning.” He whispered, “Better than any girl out there in the world.”

I knew I started blushing as soon as Derek started giggling.

“Close your eyes and turn around.” He said.

I did as he asked and I felt a cold sensation around my neck. I opened and looked down and saw that he just put a diamond necklace on me. This is why Daniel said he wasn’t providing the necklace. It was a simple diamond necklace. Just what I liked. Simple. Although my dress said other wise.

I turned around to face him and mouthed, ‘I love it.’

“You deserve something special.” He smiled, “Nothing is going to happen to you ever again.”

He rested his hand on my cheek and caressed it with his thumb. I smiled and placed my hand over his and leaned into his hand. Before I knew it he was kissing me softly.

“You’re perfect.” He whispered pulling away.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around him. I inhaled is scent and felt a sense of comfort wash over me. This night was as perfect as I was to Derek in that moment.