"I'm never going to get this done with you breathing over my shoulder like that," Danielle sighed, grinning to herself. Melanie rolled her eyes and took a step back from the dark haired girl. The painting was coming along beautifully. After a few minutes Dani glanced to the picture beside her, checking the proportions of her painting to the photograph of Melanie on her wedding day. It was turning out nicely, and she was nearly finished... just a couple more strokes around... "Done," she announced, smirking as she stood from her canvas and placed her hands on her hips. Melanie rushed over, eager to see the finished product. It was outstanding. "You're a miracle worker," Mel breathed, in awe of the artistic talent. Danielle laughed a bit, brushing off the compliment. Melanie dug through her purse to give Dani the agreed upon eighty dollars as Danielle walked over and picked up her phone to keep it from vibrating off the counter in her apartment. "Em! Hello, my darling, how are you?" she sang into the phone, pleasantly surprised to hear Emily's soft voice on the other end of the line. "... yeah, just let me finish up here, okay?" Melanie glanced up from her wallet, glancing over at Danielle with a raised eyebrow. Dani offered her client a smile, accepted the money and rushed her out of the door. She hadn't seem Emily in forever, and it would take her a while to get up with everyone.
Later that day
"SHUT UP! Vous devez me badiner! Oh mon Dieu! C'est étonnant! Merde sainte! Emily! Êtes vous-- naturellement vous êtes sérieux! L'OH MON DIEU!" Her squeals continued to raise in decibel as she began to jump up and down excitedly. When asked if she was still in on traveling the world, her excited answer was;"Of course I'm still in! YES! Oh mon Dieu!" Danielle collapsed onto her chair, ignoring the looks the people around them were giving her. Her cheeks were literally aching from grinning so much. After the meeting with the girls Danielle drove back home in a slow daze. She'd have to get her father to watch Shane, but other than that she didn't have too much tying her down. Her school would understand; she'd spin it to be an educational opportunity to broaden her artistic horizon. When she got back home she made a b-line for her computer, where she pulled up an e-mail to Augustus explaining everything that had happened that day, expressing her joy, her disbelief, and her excitement. She asked in the e-mail for him to meet up with her while she was in the country, and expressed how amazing it would be to see him. At the end of her lengthy e-mail she added;
See you soon. X's and O's!
Present day
Danielle carefully carted around the busy hotel lobby, having just gotten back from the small cafe across the street. It seemed as though the other cab had taken the long way because the rest of the gang had yet to arrive. As she walked up, Emily was just finishing a text message. "Any word? Her phone didn't work now that she was in Italy and it was more than a little annoying. She made a mental note to buy her an international phone card so that she could turn hers back on without the fear of a dollar per text message charge. The thought made her pause, and giggle a little to herself. "Here I am, worried about a dollar per text message, and I just experienced highway robbery for this cup of coffee," she had to laugh at herself as she offered Emily the red coffee cup in her hand.
That's when she saw it. She was casually reaching over to hand her best friend a drink when her eyes slowly drifted to the right, catching sight of a well-placed magazine stand in the hotel lobby. And what did she see? The Italian version of GQ... and who, of all people, were on the cover? None other than her long-time pen pal and compulsive liar; Augustus. The tray she held in her other hand, which held her coffee and scone, slowly tumbled to the ground as she stood in shocked horror. A flashback memory of an e-mail Augustus had sent her describing his day on the set of a photo shoot kept her frozen in time. She had laughed it off then, as she sat in her apartment reading over the e-mail. A model; pfft, yeah. Right! But there he stood, looking like that, on the cover of a magazine, shirtless. Fat women everywhere would be running to lick melted butter off those abs. The thought was enough to jolt her back into reality-- the reality where her very expensive coffee was running across the floor of the grand hotel lobby. "Shit," she hissed, bending to clean up her disaster.
As she knelt, she couldn't help but feel numb all over. If he wasn't lying about that, what else was he telling the truth about? She rescued her scone from the lava of escaping coffee and scooped up her half empty cup. The lid had done a poor job of holding back the contents, but it had managed to preserve some. "I'm so sorry," she gushed, apologizing to the wait staff of the hotel that had rushed over to help clean up the slippery hazard. "Well, there goes my snack," she sighed, holding up the dripping paper bag that held her now soppy bread. She sighed, walking over to a near by bin and tossing the bag away, deciding to hold onto the coffee for a bit longer. Their bags had already been whisked away to their hotel room, which was no doubt lovely but Emily has insisted they wait for everyone to arrive before going up. "How's the coffee, Em?" Her smile was back. What was a bit of spilled goods when you were a billionaire on holiday with your best friends? Nothing. She turned her gaze to Jay and Ash, " Anyone heard from the others?"
[Ooc: Danielle's French-to-English translation on her freakout = " You have got to be kidding me! Oh my God! That is amazing! Holy shit! Emily! Are you-- of course you are serious! OH MY GOD!" ]