The Future's So Bright
Title: The Future’s So Bright
Author:xjekkix
Word Count: 1246 words
Summary: Sometimes things have to fall apart before they can be fixed.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: This is not real.
Life is perfect - everything she always imagined it could be. She has just landed an extremely coveted movie role; the one that could solidify her career and her place in Hollywood history. Buzz is she’ll win a little golden statue for her performance, but she doesn’t talk about that - no sense jinxing it.
With a little money in the bank, she is days away from owning her house outright. It’s been years since she had somewhere she could call home. It’s a humble abode in every sense of the meaning - but it’s hers and that’s what really matters.
She’s gained back the respect of her peers. Fans of her early work are spilling from the woodwork to express support, and say, “we knew you could do it!” Her parents can stand to be in the same room for her sake; baby sister Ali is following in her footsteps, only treading much carefully having learned from her sister’s mistakes.
And most importantly, she’s finally figuring out who she really is. Everyone goes through several phases of self-discovery, and while she thought her teen years were that time for her, she feels more fulfilled now as she approaches her mid-twenties.
But money and fame can’t buy you happiness - and it certainly can’t buy you true love. And what good is success without someone to share it with?
She and Samantha remained friends for months after their break-up and both of them worked incessantly to fix what was wrong. It was hard to go back to being friends after having such an intense connection but they had agreed early on that nothing would change even if they went their separate ways.
The hardest part was seeing her former love with other girls. She wasn’t serious about these women, but after becoming a tabloid regular, everything Samantha did was high profile and covered heavily by the paparazzi.
She didn’t like seeing other girls riding shotgun in Samantha’s Porsche, walking her dog, sitting VIP at her DJ gigs and wearing the same t-shirts she once wore during their sleepovers.
But she did what she knew was best and threw herself headfirst back into her work. This decision, of course, wasn’t entirely for her own benefit - she was desperate to make Samantha proud; for the girl to see how much she had matured since they had first met.
However, when they slowly lost touch it became much harder to prove how responsible she could be. Samantha stopped returning phone calls, her texts became short and generic and they rarely saw each other, even just in passing.
After having had many of their mutual friends stab her in the back post-breakup, Lindsay struggles for a while with no one to lean on. And aside from the tabloid rumours, she has no idea what Samantha is up to. She doesn’t need to know what the girl is up to all the time, but wants to know that she’s okay; that she’s looking after herself.
She decides to take her chances one evening by picking up the phone and giving the DJ a call. As expected, her call is directed to voice mail. She feels silly, but she smiles when she hears the girl’s voice even though it's just a recording.
“Hey…haven’t heard from you in awhile so I just thought I would say hi. I’m not sure if you’re in LA right now. If you are, I’m doing a fragrance launch next week at Sephora. You should come check it out. I…” she says, and then pauses, tempted to tell the girl she misses her. “I hope you’ll come. Take care,” she finishes, hanging up quickly before she starts spilling her heart.
She sets her phone on the table in front of her and sighs, hoping she won’t regret the phone call later. The last thing she wants is to push Samantha even further away.
Going about her evening in the usual way, she tries to keep her mind off the phone call. She puts on a movie and curls up with the new puppy her mom bought her, insisting she needed some company around the house. Though the dog isn’t much of a conversationalist, it gives her someone to cuddle with and talk to - someone unbiased who won’t talk back.
Her eyes flutter open while the credits are rolling and she stretches, realizing she slept through nearly half the movie. “I think it’s time for bed soon, Monroe,” she says to the flop-eared puppy that she named - of course - after her idol Marilyn Monroe. She straps the dog’s leash on, throws on a sweater and her slippers and heads out for a brisk walk.
She loves her new neighbourhood - quiet and gated, paparazzi free. It’s great to have the freedom to wander around in her pajamas without worrying about her picture and some outlandish headline appearing on the next morning’s front page. This is the sort of privacy she wishes she and Samantha had been able to enjoy when they shared a home.
A nice lady from down the street is bringing out her garbage and recycling. She smiles at Lindsay and tells her how lovely it is to have her as a neighbour and that she’s pleasantly surprised to see the girl lives up to none of the vicious tabloid reports.
She smiles all the way home, content to be able to live such a domestic life after such a whirlwind experience with the media through her teenage years. She wouldn’t brag about it, but she’s pretty proud of how well she has turned out despite being trapped in the spotlight during the years of her life that would ultimately mould who she is - and who she will become.
The puppy runs excitedly inside the house and jumps on its bed, a shapely pillow embroidered with his name. Lindsay giggles and kicks off her sandals when she notices a green light flashing on her phone.
She picks it up and reads the display - 1 Missed Call.
Just as she’d hoped, she has managed to preoccupy herself enough to forget her earlier phone call - and is therefore momentarily surprised when Samantha’s name appears on the top of her call history list.
She firmly presses the ‘1’ button on her keypad to call her voice mail and quickly puts the phone to her ear.
Never before did she realize how many options there are and how many menus must be passed before listening to messages but she’s increasingly frustrated by how long she has to wait.
“You have one new voice message,” the automated voice says. “Would you like to listen to your first voice message?”
“Of-fucking-course I do!” she yells at the recording.
“First voice message.”
At first all she hears is dead air and is worried that Samantha hung up, knowing the girl is adverse to leaving messages.
“Uh, hey. I should be back in LA by next week so I will try to stop in. Might need some more details though.” A second’s pause. “Anyway, it’s good to hear from you. Really good. I....” Another second’s pause. “I hope you’re doing well. Have a good one!”
A beep signals the end of the message and Lindsay follows the prompts to save the message. She smiles, her face beaming with happiness.
“Come on, let’s go to bed,” she says, picking up the affectionate puppy in her arms. “The sooner we get to sleep, the sooner next week will come.”
Author:xjekkix
Word Count: 1246 words
Summary: Sometimes things have to fall apart before they can be fixed.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: This is not real.
Life is perfect - everything she always imagined it could be. She has just landed an extremely coveted movie role; the one that could solidify her career and her place in Hollywood history. Buzz is she’ll win a little golden statue for her performance, but she doesn’t talk about that - no sense jinxing it.
With a little money in the bank, she is days away from owning her house outright. It’s been years since she had somewhere she could call home. It’s a humble abode in every sense of the meaning - but it’s hers and that’s what really matters.
She’s gained back the respect of her peers. Fans of her early work are spilling from the woodwork to express support, and say, “we knew you could do it!” Her parents can stand to be in the same room for her sake; baby sister Ali is following in her footsteps, only treading much carefully having learned from her sister’s mistakes.
And most importantly, she’s finally figuring out who she really is. Everyone goes through several phases of self-discovery, and while she thought her teen years were that time for her, she feels more fulfilled now as she approaches her mid-twenties.
But money and fame can’t buy you happiness - and it certainly can’t buy you true love. And what good is success without someone to share it with?
She and Samantha remained friends for months after their break-up and both of them worked incessantly to fix what was wrong. It was hard to go back to being friends after having such an intense connection but they had agreed early on that nothing would change even if they went their separate ways.
The hardest part was seeing her former love with other girls. She wasn’t serious about these women, but after becoming a tabloid regular, everything Samantha did was high profile and covered heavily by the paparazzi.
She didn’t like seeing other girls riding shotgun in Samantha’s Porsche, walking her dog, sitting VIP at her DJ gigs and wearing the same t-shirts she once wore during their sleepovers.
But she did what she knew was best and threw herself headfirst back into her work. This decision, of course, wasn’t entirely for her own benefit - she was desperate to make Samantha proud; for the girl to see how much she had matured since they had first met.
However, when they slowly lost touch it became much harder to prove how responsible she could be. Samantha stopped returning phone calls, her texts became short and generic and they rarely saw each other, even just in passing.
After having had many of their mutual friends stab her in the back post-breakup, Lindsay struggles for a while with no one to lean on. And aside from the tabloid rumours, she has no idea what Samantha is up to. She doesn’t need to know what the girl is up to all the time, but wants to know that she’s okay; that she’s looking after herself.
She decides to take her chances one evening by picking up the phone and giving the DJ a call. As expected, her call is directed to voice mail. She feels silly, but she smiles when she hears the girl’s voice even though it's just a recording.
“Hey…haven’t heard from you in awhile so I just thought I would say hi. I’m not sure if you’re in LA right now. If you are, I’m doing a fragrance launch next week at Sephora. You should come check it out. I…” she says, and then pauses, tempted to tell the girl she misses her. “I hope you’ll come. Take care,” she finishes, hanging up quickly before she starts spilling her heart.
She sets her phone on the table in front of her and sighs, hoping she won’t regret the phone call later. The last thing she wants is to push Samantha even further away.
Going about her evening in the usual way, she tries to keep her mind off the phone call. She puts on a movie and curls up with the new puppy her mom bought her, insisting she needed some company around the house. Though the dog isn’t much of a conversationalist, it gives her someone to cuddle with and talk to - someone unbiased who won’t talk back.
Her eyes flutter open while the credits are rolling and she stretches, realizing she slept through nearly half the movie. “I think it’s time for bed soon, Monroe,” she says to the flop-eared puppy that she named - of course - after her idol Marilyn Monroe. She straps the dog’s leash on, throws on a sweater and her slippers and heads out for a brisk walk.
She loves her new neighbourhood - quiet and gated, paparazzi free. It’s great to have the freedom to wander around in her pajamas without worrying about her picture and some outlandish headline appearing on the next morning’s front page. This is the sort of privacy she wishes she and Samantha had been able to enjoy when they shared a home.
A nice lady from down the street is bringing out her garbage and recycling. She smiles at Lindsay and tells her how lovely it is to have her as a neighbour and that she’s pleasantly surprised to see the girl lives up to none of the vicious tabloid reports.
She smiles all the way home, content to be able to live such a domestic life after such a whirlwind experience with the media through her teenage years. She wouldn’t brag about it, but she’s pretty proud of how well she has turned out despite being trapped in the spotlight during the years of her life that would ultimately mould who she is - and who she will become.
The puppy runs excitedly inside the house and jumps on its bed, a shapely pillow embroidered with his name. Lindsay giggles and kicks off her sandals when she notices a green light flashing on her phone.
She picks it up and reads the display - 1 Missed Call.
Just as she’d hoped, she has managed to preoccupy herself enough to forget her earlier phone call - and is therefore momentarily surprised when Samantha’s name appears on the top of her call history list.
She firmly presses the ‘1’ button on her keypad to call her voice mail and quickly puts the phone to her ear.
Never before did she realize how many options there are and how many menus must be passed before listening to messages but she’s increasingly frustrated by how long she has to wait.
“You have one new voice message,” the automated voice says. “Would you like to listen to your first voice message?”
“Of-fucking-course I do!” she yells at the recording.
“First voice message.”
At first all she hears is dead air and is worried that Samantha hung up, knowing the girl is adverse to leaving messages.
“Uh, hey. I should be back in LA by next week so I will try to stop in. Might need some more details though.” A second’s pause. “Anyway, it’s good to hear from you. Really good. I....” Another second’s pause. “I hope you’re doing well. Have a good one!”
A beep signals the end of the message and Lindsay follows the prompts to save the message. She smiles, her face beaming with happiness.
“Come on, let’s go to bed,” she says, picking up the affectionate puppy in her arms. “The sooner we get to sleep, the sooner next week will come.”