Euphoria

by Erin Noelle

  “I’ve just had such a good time hanging out with you, I’m going to miss you during the days. I don’t want to leave you here by yourself,” I whined.

  “Awww… that’s so sweet of you. I’ve had a great summer too… all of our day trips, hanging out with your sister and Will, all of it, but I don’t want you to not enjoy your first day cause you’re worried about me being lonely. I’m gonna do my usual ~ read, blog, play some music… I’ll keep myself busy, love.”

  “I know, it’s just a little bittersweet, ya know,” I said as I devoured the plate of food in front of me.

  She nodded. “Yeah, I understand, but I want you to go lose yourself in all those particles and gamma rays and whatever the hell else you’ll be working with.”

  I got up to put my dishes in the sink, kissing the top of her head on the way by. “I’ll be good, butterfly. I’m gonna shower and get ready now.”

  Thirty minutes later I was headed down the highway on my way in to my first day on the job. As soon as I parked and checked in through security, I was greeted by a guy named Louis who was my trainer. The first thing he did was walk me around the massive institute, pointing out things and places that I would need to know. We then made the way to the office that he and I shared, where he jumped right in showing me the project he was working on. Enthralled by the complexity of the work and the overall massiveness of the facility, I got right to work with him. Louis turned out to be a pretty cool guy, and I was thankful that I was paired with someone so easy to get along with. Before I knew it, lunchtime was upon us, and what seemed not long after that, it was time to go home.

  Scarlett had dinner nearly ready when I got home that evening. As soon as I came through the door, I picked her up and kissed her hard. “Hi, butterfly, how was your day? It smells delicious in here, by the way.”

  She mumbled against my lips, “My day was good. I did everything I told you I was gonna do, plus cooked you dinner.” Tapping the end of my nose with her finger, she continued, “But don’t get used to this. I’m not turning into Martha Stewart… I just wanted to celebrate your first day… which I’m dying to hear about.”

  I sat her back down on the ground. “Okay, just let me change into comfy clothes real quick and then I’ll tell you all about it.”

  We spend the next hour enjoying her homemade lasagna and just talking about our days. Then she dropped the question on me. “I need to talk to you about something,” she began nervously. “As I’ve told you, Jobu’s Rum is going on tour later this year, and well… Mase texted me that their first show is gonna be in Vegas on July thirty first, and he wants us to come.”

  I snorted. “I’m sure he wants us to come.”

  She sighed at my response. “Well that’s what his text said. I thought it would be nice to support him at his first big show, plus I’d like to see Vegas.”

  I wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but I could definitely do with a Vegas trip, I asked, “What day of the week is it on?”

  “Thursday.”

  “Scarlett, there’s no way that I can take off work for that. I just started today, there’s I can’t ask off already… especially with us having a deadline coming up,” I explained.

  Groaning, she sat back in her chair, looking at me with her sad puppy dog eyes, but saying nothing. I hated seeing her disappointed and sad, but I knew it was literally impossible for me to take any time. Then I did the unthinkable ~ I asked her if she wanted to go by herself. Holy shit! I needed my brain checked. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to take them back.

  “Are you serious right now?” Her face lit up like a Christmas tree, looking at me in disbelief.

  “Well I’m not sure how much fun Vegas will be since you aren’t twenty one, but if you want to go to the show, there’s no reason you can’t fly down there that day and come home the next. I trust you and I know that it’s important to you.”

  She flew out of her chair and into my lap, hugging and kissing me. “Oh, thank you! Thank you!”

  I held her tight and kissed her back, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Three weeks came and went in what seemed like three days. I was living the life I had always dreamed of. The work I was doing was just bad ass, there was no other way of putting it. I knew that I had made the right decision in not only my career field but the place I had chosen to work at. I was closer with my sister than I had been in years, and even though I didn’t live close to my mom anymore, we talked frequently and I knew that she was finally happy with her life. And then there was Scarlett… my butterfly… my Psyche. She wasn’t perfect, but she was perfect for me, and that’s all I needed. I was overjoyed that she had taken to the move so well. She had really delved into her new blog and her music, and watching her blissfully float around the apartment, made me feel like a king.

  The day that she left for Vegas, I was a bit nervous about her traveling alone, but I reminded myself that she was plenty capable of getting where to she needed to go. I never thought I’d think it, but I felt comfortable knowing that she’d be with Mason when she was there. Crazy, I know, but I was confident that he would keep her safe and not allow anything to happen. I couldn’t live the rest of my life scared something was going to happen between them. I knew that they were special to each other, and would always have a love and respect for one another, but for whatever reason, she had chosen to be with me.

  I dropped her off at the airport on my way to work that morning, kissing her long and hard on her full lips. “Remember… have fun. Don’t get arrested or married while you’re there,” I joked.

  She rolled her eyes and laughed at me. “I’ll try not to.”

  Embracing her one last time, I whispered in her ear, “I love you, butterfly… ‘your curves and all your edges, and all your perfect imperfections.’ I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

  “I love you, too, Ash. ‘You’re my end and my beginning; even when I lose, I’m winning,’” she whispered back. Then she grabbed her bag and headed for the security check point. Right before turning the corner where I couldn’t see her anymore, she looked back at me and blew me a kiss and made hand hearts. Damn, she was beautiful. I stood there for several minutes with a goofy ass grin on my face. I wasn’t expecting her to sing the next lyrics of the song to me, but it filled me with an indescribable feeling of warmth and love.

  That afternoon at work, Louis and I actually hit a part in the project where we couldn’t move any further until we received info from a different team, and surprisingly, we were excused early. When I got to the apartment, the quiet and emptiness of it began to eat at me almost immediately, so I decided to change clothes and throw my board in the car for a late afternoon session. There was nothing else in the world that I had experienced that could compare to the feeling of surfing. Being out in the middle of the expansive ocean, the smell of the seabreeze, the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore, the exhilarating feeling of riding an incredible force of nature… it was my heaven on earth.

  Paddling out into the endless blue waters, the endorphins began to pump through my body, inspired and exhilarated. I made it out to the first break with relative ease, and sat up on my board waiting for the next set to come in. There weren’t very many people out that afternoon which was a welcome sight. I hated competing with a bunch of people for a wave. As I saw the swell begin to form behind me, I laid down on my belly and begin to paddle into the first wave. I hopped up on the board, just as I had done a thousand times, but somehow the leash wrapped around my ankle awkwardly and snapped. I never caught my balance and purged forward off the front of the board. I tried to surface, but for some reason I kept getting pulled under. Spinning underneath the water in an undertow, I lost my sense of direction and couldn’t tell which way was up and which way was down. I tried telling myself not to panic, but my body instinctively fought the current. Finally, I just let go, relaxing my body and thinking about Scarlett’s beautiful face that I would see the next day.
>
  SCARLETT

  Getting off of the plane in Las Vegas was a bit overwhelming. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but slot machines in the terminal, definitely wasn’t it. I had never traveled anywhere alone before and I was a little nervous at first, but the enthusiasm began to take over quickly. As I walked through the airport, the buzz of the people combined with the constant dinging from the multitude of machines got my adrenaline pumping. Since I was only staying one night, I had fit all of my clothes and stuff into a carry on, so I bypassed baggage claim and went straight out to the taxi line.

  Fifteen minutes later, I was dropped off outside of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and I hesitantly ventured inside. Once I stepped through the front doors, I was completely mesmerized. Thankfully one of the employees found me standing with my mouth gaping open in the foyer and helped me find the line to check in my room. Upon giving my name to the lady behind the counter, she smiled brightly at me and said, “Welcome, Miss MacGregor. I see that you’ll be staying in the Stones Suite for your stay here. I have you just down for this one night. Is that correct?”

  Confused, I pulled out my reservation from my purse. “Well, yes I’m just here for tonight, but I didn’t book any suite. I just had a regular room.”

  She looked at her computer screen, reading through something, then looked back up at me. “It appears that you’ve been upgraded as a guest of Jobu’s Rum, and you are indeed staying in the Stones Suite, ma’am.”

  A few minutes later, she gave me a little folder with my room keys in it and reminded me that check out was noon the following day. I thanked her several times, still in shock over the upgrade, and followed her directions to the correct elevator bank. I only had to stop and ask directions once as I traveled through the half mile maze to get to the all-suite tower. Finally, I made it to my room. I slid the key card into the device and upon activation of the green light, I stepped into the most luxurious room I had ever seen in my life.

  The living room area of the suite was decorated in gray, white, and a muted purple, and combined with the soft lighting and ceiling adorned in crystals, it truly felt like I was inside an amethyst. I continued further into the room, through a doorway, which led me to the bedroom. I think my heart stopped beating when I saw not only the huge four-poster, king-sized bed in the middle of the room, but the huge flower arrangement of every shade of pink flower that existed sitting on the banquet at the end of the bed. In addition, there was a basket of wine and chocolates on the bed and a box gift wrapped in silver paper with a huge pink bow on top of it. I slowly made my way over to the bed, noting that the box did indeed have my name scrawled across the small card. I dropped my bag to the floor and opened the card to read the note.

  Scarlett,

  I can’t thank you enough for being here for me… not just tonight but always. Because of you, I have come to realize that I do deserve to be loved, and most importantly, I’ve learned to love myself. I’m not there yet, but I’m much closer than I’ve ever been to finding my euphoria. Here’s a little something to remind you to never stop until you get there too. Later I’ll show you my new reminder I’ll see you tonight after the show, Angel.

  Love you always,

  Mase

  With trembling hands, I opened the package, anxious to see what was inside but scared at the same time. I opened the top of the Pandora box and found a beautiful charm bracelet staring back at me. When I took the bracelet out of the box to better study it, I saw that each charm was separated with a diamond encrusted pink spacer. However there was no holding back the tears as I ran my fingers over each of the five charms: a guitar, a piano, a heart, an open book that had “Ever Afters for Evie” engraved on it, and finally, angel wings with the word Euphoria etched on the back. It absolute perfection. I had no other words.

  An hour or so later, I changed into my solid black bikini and decided to go down to the pool for a couple hours of sunbathing before meeting Aaron’s girlfriend, Sophie, and Smiley for dinner. Before I left my room, I sent Ash a quick text letting him know that I had made it safely.

  ME: Hey babe, just letting you know that I made it safe and sound. Heading down to the pool and then dinner with the girls before the show. I hope your day at work is good. See you tomorrow night. I love you! ~ Butterfly

  Not that I should’ve been surprised at that point, but the pool area was just as breathtaking as the rest of the resort. Because I was staying in one of the suites, I got a complimentary cabana at the Paradise beach area. When I gave the waitress my name and room number, she told me that all of my food and drinks had been taken care of; I was to simply relax and enjoy. I ordered one of their specialty drinks, thankful that she didn’t ask for any identification, and did just as she said. I laid back with my ear buds in, ereader on my lap, and frozen yumminess in my hand and dove into the second installment of Jake Wethers, which I felt was completely appropriate seeing that I was going to a rock concert that night.

  Just after seven o’clock that night, I was putting the final touches on my makeup when there was a knock at the door. I looked down to make sure that my robe was covering me completely and went to see who was there. I thought I couldn’t be surprised any more that day, but when I opened the door, Max and Andi were standing there with huge smiles on their faces and dressed for a night on the town. Squealing commenced followed by a bunch of jumping around and hugging.

  “What in the world are y’all doing here?” I shrieked once we had all calmed down a bit.

  “Oh, I don’t know… we just decided to fly to Vegas for the hell of it,” Max said sarcastically.

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Well, come in, come in. I’m almost finished getting ready. Please make yourselves at home. I’m supposed to be meeting Sophie and Smiley for dinner in about twenty minutes at the steakhouse downstairs.”

  They both walked into the suite, looking around, obviously as impressed as I was. “Wow, this room is amazing,” Andi said. “And yes, we know, we are going to dinner too. No one told you so that we would be a surprise.”

  My face was starting to hurt I was smiling so much. I just couldn’t believe how amazing the day had been. “Okay, well let me finish getting dressed real quick. I shouldn’t be any more than ten minutes. Y’all take a look at the bedroom too, it’s so posh; I feel like a rock star myself here.”

  In the bathroom, I quickly changed into my a short black dress and black heels. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, pleased with what I saw. The dress was sexy but not slutty, and as if all the stars were aligned just perfectly, my hair and makeup looked pretty good too. Evie would’ve been so proud.

  Stepping back into the bedroom, I burst out laughing as Max and Andi were sitting on the bed, helping themselves to a glass of wine and some of the chocolates from the basket. Max looked up at me, with a smirk. “You said make yourself at home.” Both of them started giggling like little kids and I couldn’t help but think how cute they were together.

  “Come on you two, you’re going to ruin your dinner,” I scolded them as I shooed them off of the bed. “Let’s go downstairs.”

  Right before we walked out the door, I grabbed my new charm bracelet off of the night stand and clasped it around my wrist. I looked down at it, thinking what a perfect day this had turned out to be. I only wish that Ash could’ve been there too.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Counting Stars ~ One Republic

  Chemistry of a Car Crash ~ Shiny Toy Guns

  MASON

  I was a nervous fucking wreck. Damn if I didn’t crave a shot or five of whiskey for the first time in over seven months. I had been on stage in front of people hundreds, maybe thousands, of times before, but for some reason, that night seemed so different… so significant. Jobu’s Rum had finally gotten our big break ~ we were headlining in Las Vegas to kick off our tour! It was if the night set the tone for the next four months of shows, and I wanted it to be flawless.

  My schedule had been booked solid from nine o’clock that morni
ng straight through until show time. After breakfast, we had interviews, followed by a photo shoot, and then a sound check. We were fed a late-lunch-slash-early-dinner before attending an autograph signing and photo hour. There was barely enough time to shower and get dressed before we were due backstage for the show. Everything was so different from when we opened for VanderBlue, when we just showed up, went on stage to perform, and then hung out backstage signing a few autographs. We were really given the star treatment, and it was cool as shit. I made sure to tell Jag how appreciative I was several times throughout the day.

  As I got dressed for the show, I wondered how Scarlett’s day had gone. I had done everything I could possibly think of to make it a day that she’d remember forever too. She had played such a huge role in getting me to that point, and I wanted to not just show my gratitude, but to let her know that I would always love her and wanted the best for her always. I stood in front of the mirror in just my jeans and ran my fingers over the word I had tattooed on my upper chest. Euphoria. It was my reminder every day of what I was striving for. I smiled as I thought about her reaction when she opened the bracelet. I really hoped she loved it; I thought long and hard about each of those charms and I knew each one would be special to her. Flying Max and Andi out to be with her once I found out she was coming alone was just a bonus. I loved knowing that the three of them, along with Marcus, would be in the front row, experiencing it first hand with me.

  Cruz tapped on the door and walked in the bathroom without waiting for a response. “You ready for this, man?” he asked me.

  I turned away from the mirror and looked at him. “More ready than I’ve ever been. Let’s do this.” I slid the plain, fitted black t-shirt over my head and my feet in my black and white checkered chucks before following him out of the room.