LEVELING UP
THE ANDAZ HOTEL in West Hollywood was suiting Celeste surprisingly well. It was eclectic and historic—so that part easily matched up with who she was—but she even quite liked the rock-and-roll art that hung on the walls. And West Hollywood was undeniably full of characters. Yes, it was showy and she could hardly count the number of spray-tanned bodies that had paraded past her in shocking outfits today, but the truth was that the people were actually quite friendly.
Which was good, because it was giving her the confidence she needed to approach strangers to assist in the plan.
The hotel lounge was buzzing this Friday afternoon, so she had plenty of potential people to target. The ceilings were nice and high, and that helped ease the claustrophobic feeling that her nervousness was bringing on. Celeste took a sip of her ginger ale and then hopped from the bar stool and smoothed down her navy dress. She had to get moving. An hour better be enough time. She picked up the stack of poster board sheets that were leaning against the stool and tossed her hair back. She could do this.
The couple at the corner table looked friendly enough, although Celeste was hesitant to judge based on looks alone. A young man with long dreadlocks and a sleek, stylish suit sat with a woman whose hearty laugh had been echoing through the room for the past ten minutes. So at least one of them was in a jovial mood. Next to them were two Austalian women, and Celeste had been delighting in their accents since she’d first entered the lounge. She would start with this section of the room.
But her phone rang. “Dallas!”
“Hi! How’s the plan moving along?”
“I am glad you called. I am zeroing in on my first set of candidates. Do you have words of support?”
“Kick. Ass.”
“I do believe you have captured the spirit needed for this endeavor,” Celeste said. “Dallas?”
“Yeah?”
“I apologize again for my sour attitude this past month. You have been patient with me, and you stuck by me when most wouldn’t have. Thank you.”
“We’re friends. Friends go through rough stuff, and they come out better friends.”
“I like that sentiment very much.” Celeste smiled. “Send my greetings to Zeke, and I will report in with the results of today’s event.”
“Check ya’ later, kid. Good luck!”
The poster board sheets were rather awkward to carry, but she did her best to look self-assured. Amusingly ironic, she thought, that she’d just rid herself of one cardboard item only to replace it with this stack. These cardboard pieces were for the future, though, not the past.
Her heels clicked across the wood floor, alerting the hotel guests to her approach. She cleared her throat. “Good afternoon. My apologies for disturbing your evening, but I am in need of cohorts who might wish to join me in a clandestine caper of the most fun sort.”
“A caper!” The woman with the laugh clapped her hands together. “I’m intrigued!”
The man elbowed her. “By ‘intrigued’ she means ‘tipsy.’”
“So then perhaps she’ll be inclined to help?” Celeste asked with hope.
“What sort of caper?” The brunette Australian asked. “Is it illegal?”
“No, no. Nothing like that,” Celeste promised. “It is more of the… fairy tale sort.”
Her girlfriend scooted in closer. “Like Rapunzel?”
“There will be height involved, so you could say that.”
“Well, grab yourself a seat, and do tell us all about this fairytale caper.”
“Oh. Really? Thank you.” She glanced out at bustling Sunset Boulevard. Sunset Boulevard! How could one not be inspired to go after one’s dreams? It was then, as she looked at the wild chaos of honking cars, flamboyant locals, flashing billboard signs, and nightclubs, that she knew the plan was going to work out. Celeste sat on a bench between the two tables. “I will need to gather more volunteers for this to play out perfectly, but here is the story. It all started many years ago…” She detailed the best parts of what she felt to be a true epic saga, thanked her now-enthusiastic assistants, and with their help, found the necessary additional people.
At precisely two o’clock, she moved to the front lobby and took a seat on one of the leather loveseats—very much a fitting place to wait. She crossed her legs and watched her ankle bounce up and down. The minutes ticked by. Celeste frowned and clapped her hand down on her knee. It took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves.
But then the person she was waiting for appeared. The plan was now fully in motion.
She leapt from the cushion. “Julie! You made it!”
Julie was in red heels and a black sheath dress, looking glamorous with her hair and make-up done and a wide silver bracelet around her wrist. She rushed over and embraced Celeste. “You weren’t kidding when you said to get dressed up, were you? Check you out, all glammed up for Los Angeles!”
“And you look stunning, as well. I am so glad you agreed to meet me while I’m here looking at UCLA. After that terrible visit in San Diego, I am pleased to the utmost degree that you are willing to show me around town and allow me to take you dinner.”
Julie squeezed her hard. “I’m so sorry about that day, Celeste. I feel just awful. About so much.” She sat down and patted the spot next to her. “Tell me how the college trip is going. Where are Roger and Erin?”
“Oh, my parents wanted to give us a night alone. You know, just us girls!” Celeste sang out too loudly. “You and me, hitting the town,such as it may be!”
“Well, okay, then…” Julie said with a somewhat worried look on her face. “Should we get going? Where are we eating? I don’t know why you didn’t let me make reservations. I live here after all, silly.”
“I just had a particular spot in mind, and it was fun for me to browse online through all that this city has to offer. Did you know about something called Yelp? Quite useful, that site.”
She laughed. “I do know about Yelp.”
“Do they have Yelp for London?” Celeste asked pointedly.
“Ah. You heard.”
“I think it is wonderful for you.”
Julie paused. “Matt told you.”
“Matt told me a lot of things. Anyhow… I would very much like to show you my room here at the quirky and unique Andaz before we depart. Shall we?”
“Oh. I guess so.” Julie followed Celeste out of the lobby, past the front doors, and to the area in front of the elevators.
Celeste hit the button and looked at the floor numbers as they lit up, as the elevator came to the lobby. She stared straight ahead. “Elevators are always so interesting, are they not?”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“One never knows who one might encounter, what wild adventures might happen.”
Julie bit her lip and looked down, pretending to examine her shoes.
“Huh.” Celeste touched a hand to her cheek. “I do believe that you and Matt had a rather unusual elevator experience, did you not? When you were trapped in a broken one and having a bit of a panic attack. He was pretending to be Finn, for whom you had feelings, and I do believe there was a rather titillating message exchange.”
“Oh God, Celeste. He told you about that?”
“Yes. I gather a thinly veiled skydiving metaphor was used to in an effort to conceal an intense romantic and sexual attraction?”
“Celeste!” But Julie could not help laughing as she pushed the elevator button again. “Come on, come on….”
“How does one begin a conversation like that? Just out of curiosity.”
“Technically, it was two messaging sessions. One then, one a few months later.” Her face sobered a bit now. “But I don’t know how it started… I don’t remember. It was ages ago. It doesn’t matter.”
“You must remember something,” Celeste prompted softly. “A back-and-forth series of progressively heated prose, the outpouring and confessing of love? Those cannot be easily lost, no matter when they took place.”
Julie allowed the hint of a smile to touch her lips. “I was scared. In the elevator, I was scared. Matt tried to reassure me. Distract me. Make me feel safe.”
“And did he?”
“Yes. He asked… “ Julie took a breath and then her eyes focused from the memory. “He asked if I’d forgotten that he was a superhero.”
“How fascinating. Well, that situation is all dead and buried now, isn’t it? And lucky for you, you won’t have to see Matthew ever again. I know how you are thoroughly finished with all of that nonsense. Delightful! Our elevator has arrived.” Celeste gestured for Julie to go ahead and then followed. Celeste swiped her room key to activate the elevator and then punched a bunch of floor level buttons. “There. Look at all those pretty lights. Like a Christmas tree.”
“What the hell, Celeste? Why are we stopping on so many floors?”
“Because this is a wonderful hotel, and we must appreciate what it is that various floors have to offer.”
Julie was sullen as they rode to the third floor. “You know, I never said that I couldn’t stand ever to see Matt again,” she said without hiding her irritation.
“Whatever. Cool beans and all.” When the doors opened, she pushed the button to hold them there.
Julie started to step off the elevator, but stopped sharply when she was blocked by the brunette Australian girl who stood in front of her on the landing. In her hands she held up one of the cardboard poster signs that Celeste had given her.
It took Julie a moment. Then she stepped back, wobbly on her feet, catching her balance on the rail. She was visibly shaking.
“Read it,” Celeste encouraged. “Read aloud what the sign says.”
The shock poured from Julie’s entire being. She looked at Celeste with such confusion and wonder that Celeste had to nod and again tell her to read it.
“It says,” Julie started. But she had to stop and close her eyes for a moment before she continued. Even then, her voice broke. “It says, Have you forgotten that I am a superhero?”
Celeste nodded to her sign holder and then pushed the button to close the doors.
“What is happening?” Julie whispered more to herself, it seemed, than to Celeste.
They rode to the next floor. And when the doors parted, another helper was there with a sign. This time the man with the dreadlocks, and enthusiasm for his part in this had him struggling to stay still. Celeste widened her eyes at him, and he settled down.
Julie read the words printed on the poster board. “Tell me that you trust me.” They rode to another floor, and Julie reached a hand out to Celeste for support.
Celeste could barely take her eyes from her friend, but she had to focus on her role as director of this show.
The doors opened again, and Celeste held her finger on the open button.
Now Julie’s eyes were wet as she read another quote from the messaging session that may have left her head, but never her heart. “As much as you’re terrified right now, you’re also starting to feel the rush. The thrill from being on the brink.”
Another floor, another sign. “I want to feel like this forever, lost in this experience.”
Julie was now leaning against the back wall of the elevator and holding Celeste’s hand so tightly that, were it not for a good cause, Celeste might have shaken her off.
And the next floor. “I want to drift together.”
On the next floor, Julie laughed through her shock. “I want to give you the slow version. The hot version.”
They were lifted higher. The next floor couldn’t come fast enough for either of them now. Julie read the sign held out for her. “Right now, only one thing scares me. That you’ll get up and walk away from me.” Julie was shaking her head as she made Celeste look at her. ”No, I won’t. I couldn’t. Oh God, where is he? Where is he?”
Celeste wiped Julie’s wet cheeks. “Soon.”
The hum of the elevator echoed around them as they rode to yet another floor. “I think about you all the time, and I can’t get you out of my head.”
They were getting closer to the top. “Julie, right now, today at this hotel, I am asking you to ignore everything you think you know and listen only to your heart, without doubting anything.” Julie’s hands were over her face as she shook, the full impact of what was happening hitting her now.
“You have to look up,” Celeste instructed. “Do not cry so much that you cannot read. You are going to want to pay particular attention to this next one.”
The doors parted and Julie let out a beautiful sob. “Will you marry me?”
Celeste was in awe. How could she not be? She was in the middle of life–changing bravery. Julie leaned into her, and Celeste put an arm around the friend who had once saved her. It felt remarkable to finally be able to repay—even if just a bit—what Julie had done.
And then—at long last and many years overdue—the final floor.
The elevator doors slide apart. And Julie nearly collapsed.
Matt, in a full suit and tie, was down on one knee. And in one hand he held a ring.
“Julie.” He radiated relief. And love. “You… You stayed through every floor.”
“Of course I did,” she said through tears. She flew forward, and he stood, catching her in his arms. Matt held her, his body trembling because he was back with the person he belonged to and who belonged to him.
Now, through her tears, Julie reflected back more words that Matt had written to her. “And then you kiss me. Matt, then you kiss me, and make me feel everything that you feel.”
So he did.
Celeste slipped out from the elevator and moved off to the side, watching from the edge of the waiting area. She didn’t want to miss a moment. With her hands clasped with excitement, she welled with pure happiness for her brother and for Julie. They were going to get their happy ending.
But the kissing went on and on until Celeste was tapping her foot with impatience, and she couldn’t hold it in any longer. “You must respond to his question, Julie! You must say yes, or it is not official!”
Julie dropped from her tiptoes, but kept her hands in Matt’s hair as she moved her mouth from his just enough to respond. “I have to check something first.”
“You do, do you?” Matt asked, so deliriously in love that Celeste almost didn’t recognize him.
“This hotel is not you, but it’s very me. And these clothes are not you, but they are very me. And I appreciate those things, I really do. But I just need to make sure…” Julie nodded mischievously and slowly slid her hands to the top of his shirt and began undoing the top buttons.
Matt raised his eyebrows. “Look, I seriously can’t wait either, but to be completely honest, you shouldn’t have high expectations because it’s been a while, so the phrase ‘eternal voyage’ may not come to your mind when—”
“Matt!” Julie laughed, but continued undoing a few buttons and pulled open his shirt. She sighed with happiness. “Good. You’re still my superhero under these dress clothes. You have on your Nietzsche is My Homeboy shirt. As handsome as you look in this suit, now I really know that everything is as it should be.” She started to kiss him again.
Celeste tossed up her hands. “ANSWER THE QUESTION!”
This time Matt pulled away. “Yeah, let’s hear it.” He bunched his shirt closed. “No answer, no Nietzsche!”
Julie pulled open his shirt again. “I say yes to Nietzsche and yes to my favorite homeboy.” She looked up at Matt. “That’s you. Yes, yes, yes. I will marry you, Matthew Watkins.”
Celeste jumped up and down and cheered as Matt slid the beautiful ring onto Julie’s finger. It was not, as engagement rings often were, a diamond, but rather a purple stone much the color of one that Matt had given Julie years before. It was the perfect ring. Celeste could not stop clapping and celebrating. Not that Matt and Julie noticed at the moment due to the resumption of the kissing. And the groping. Granted, it was a little creepy watching her brother make out with someone so passionately, but she did know what it felt like to love someone so much that—
Oh no.
She couldn’t do this now.
Or could she? Maybe it was the perfect time. Maybe there was a lesson here.
Celeste backed down into the hallway and walked the corridor to her room. Her suitcase sat on the bed, and very slowly she unzipped it. It was time. She rooted through her belongings until she located what she was after. Then she walked to the window that took up most of the far wall and sat down in the chair that faced Sunset Boulevard.
In her hands was the box from the Christmas tree. She’d felt compelled to toss it into her luggage, and now she knew why. She lifted off the top and took out the two pieces of paper, slightly water damaged and wrinkled, but still intact.
She reread hers first.
Live the life you’ve dreamed.
It was a quote from Thoreau. The sentiment had been her intention. That night she’d been at the top of the tree, so filled with the hope and the delight that came with Justin’s romantic gesture, and she had meant with all her heart to do just that: to make the dreams she’d only just started to allow herself to have to become her reality. But instead, just when they were falling into place, she became filled with terror. That was when she should have known that she was on the brink of great change. That was when she should have bitten the bullet and continued on.
Justin’s paper was folded into a small square, and she slowly pulled apart the paper, careful not to tear it. Celeste inhaled sharply and held her breath. He’d also written down a quote. Of course he had. They were both quote people. His was an Emerson quote. One she knew well, but had never thought to apply to herself. But Justin had thought to.
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Celeste stood, paper in hand, and walked to the window. Justin believed in her. She touched her forehead to the glass and looked down at the street. Out there, there were characters, and personalities, and interesting people. Some would be wonderful and magical; some would be awful and cruel.
And some, she understood, would not only love her, but would teach her to love herself.