Be Anyone Ch. 02

"You must be celebrating something," I hear him say beside me.

I glance over. "Excuse me?"

He nods to my drink. "Chardonnay is a celebratory drink. You must be celebrating."

What a dumb line.

I shrug. "No, just another day."

"And do you normally dress so nice for 'just another day'?" He asks.

I give a little chuckle and then look him in the eye. "I always look nice."

"I bet you do." He extends his glass to me for a cheers. "To just another day."

I clink my glass with his. "To just another day."

We both take a drink and then he continues. "My name is David. And you?"

"Cameron," I answer as it's the first name that comes to mind.

"Beautiful name." He looks down at his drink, swirling it in his cup. "Are you staying in the hotel?"

I shake my head. "No. You?"

He shakes his head. "I just like this bar."

"Are you waiting for anyone?" I pry.

Again he shakes his head. "No. You?"

I glance away from him and take another sip of my drink. "I figured you'd be with that girl from last night."

This takes him off guard and I can hear him shift in his chair.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"I saw you here. Yesterday. I was hoping you'd buy me a drink, but you ended up leaving with some other girl."

He smiles at that. "That's a shame. Had I saw you..." He trails off, leaving the implication hanging in the air.

What an asshole.

"But now?" I ask.

"But now..." He thinks for a moment. "You're here and I can't seem to remember anyone else."

I was dumb to think he would ever text me. Now I see that. I should've saw him for what he was. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself. I was born yesterday.

"And if she were to show up right now? What would you do?"

He smiles, but I can tell he's getting a little uncomfortable.

"I would continue talking to you."

I let that settle for a moment, making sure I want to do what I'm about to do.

"You want to get out here?" I ask him.

He almost jumps out of his seat. "Lets."

"Okay," I say as I stand up. "I'm going to go to the bathroom, and then we can head out."

He takes the last sip of his drink. I turn and walk towards the hallway, out of the bar. Luckily the bathrooms are near the elevators. I walk past the bathroom and go straight to the elevator and up to my floor. I try to be as quick as possible without looking like I'm running. A kind of "olympic walk". When I get to my room, I strip out of my clothes and change back into Amy. I throw her clothes on, check myself in the mirror to make sure my makeup didn't get messed up. Then I take Cameron's dress and shoes and put them in my purse and am out the door. I'm surprised that I'm down in the lobby after only about a couple minutes. First I stop in the women's room and leave my bag in one of the stalls. I walk into the bar and head straight for David.

"David!" I call out, waving with a big smile on my face.

The look on his face makes all of it worth it. I walk over and give him a hug and kiss on the cheek, which he does return. I sit in the same seat I had been in a moment ago as Cameron.

"Back at the bar I see," I play along teasingly.

He nods. "Of course. I told you, this is my favorite place."

"You never texted me," I say, sounding disappointed.

"What?" He thinks for a moment and then puts his hand to his forehead. "Oh right! I'm so sorry. It kind of slipped my mind."

"It's okay," I wave it off. "I know you have a really busy job."

I hope I'm not laying it on too thick. I know he won't figure out that I'm the same person as Cameron, but maybe he'll think we know each other and this is a setup or something.

"So, do you want to come up to my room again?"

He looks at me and I can tell he's trying to make a decision. He glances toward the entryway, the direction I left when I was Cameron.

"You don't want to?" I say since he doesn't answer, sounding pouty.

"Well..." He starts but trails off.

"I thought you enjoyed last night?"

He puts his hand on my hand. "Of course I did," he says. Again he stops as if trying to come to a decision. "Sure," he says finally with a smile. "I just wasn't sure if I would stay out late tonight, but I can't resist you."

I lean in and give him a kiss.

"I just have to close out my tab," he says.

"Okay," I say. "You remember my room number?"

He nods.

"I'll be up there getting ready for you," I say and run my finger along his chest. Then I turn and walk out the entryway again and back into the hallway. I go into the bathroom praying that no one took my bag. When I enter the stall I see it's just as I left it. I quickly get changed, both into the dress and into Cameron. I leave my purse in the stall again, this time with Amy's clothes. When I walk out of the bathroom, I run right into him.

"Hi," I say, startling him. I look at the elevator button he just pressed. "I thought you weren't staying at the hotel?"

"Yes. I'm not," he starts to ramble.

"So where are you going?"

He doesn't say anything. I can tell he's trying to think of something but can't.

"You're going back to her room, aren't you? The girl from last night?"

"No, of course not. I'm waiting for you."

"If you like her more, you can tell me."

He grabs my hand. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

I pretend like I finally give in. "Okay." We start to go but I stop him. "Oh jeez. I'm so stupid. I left my bag in the bathroom."

Before he can say anything, I turn and go back into the bathroom and to the stall with my bag. I change clothes again and change back into Amy. This time, I take my purse and dress with me. When I walk out he sees me, looking startled once again, but it quickly fades away into a stern look.

"What the hell is going on?" He demands. "I thought you were back up in your room?"

"And I thought you liked me. Apparently you prefer someone taller."

The elevator beeps and opens from when he pressed the button. I turn my back on him and walk into the elevator. He follows me and stands in the doorway.

"You can have her," I say. "She'll be right out."

He scoffs at me as the elevator door closes. A part of me would love to know how long he actually waits for Cameron to come out. Probably not long at all. I'm sure he'll figure out that we "know each other". But I'm sure it'll kill him trying to figure out how he saw her go in the bathroom but never come out. I could change into someone else and go back down, but the whole thing seems pointless. I shouldn't have done anything with this guy to begin with.

When the elevator comes to my floor, I make my way to my room and collapse on the bed. I turn on my new laptop and start looking for modeling auditions.

Is that even what they call them? Auditions?

I find a message board dedicated to photography. I start to become a little disheartened when I see quite a few postings asking for submissions from agents only. Do I really need an agent? There are a lot of calls that don't mention agents, so I focus my time on them. They ask for something called a headshot. I mean I know what it is, it just never occurred to me to have one. I'll probably need to contact a photographer and schedule a time to get pictures taken, then wait for them to come back. Seems like a lot of time. I glance over at my phone and realize I can take one now. I don't need to print it. These posts are asking for email submissions. Tomorrow I can go find a photographer and get real ones, but no reason why I can't submit to something tonight.

I strip out of my clothes and change into Cameron. I put her dress back on and then...

Her. Am I really starting to think of "Cameron" and "Amy" as different people?

I change into my dress and go to the bathroom to fix my makeup. When I decide I look as good as I ever will, I find a spot on the wall that doesn't look too "hotel-y" Holding my phone out, I try to angel myself so the picture doesn't look like a selfie. Although who am I kidding? It's not going to look good no matter what I do. I snap a few shots and look at how they turned out. Most of them look the same, but there is one that looks better than the others, so I email it to myself so I can pull it up on my laptop. I put together a short email, attach the photo, and my first application is off! I click through the message board and find a couple more postings that sound promising and send an email to them as well. After a handful of emails, I'm feeling pretty good about myself.

Then an image pops in my head. It's a bedroom. I can't quite picture it but I know it's there. Almost like a word on the tip of your tongue. It's almost like...a memory!

Holy shit! I'm remembering something.

I close my eyes and strain to pull the image back. I can see the room but everything is a little hazy. It's messy. Clothes on the floor, dust on the shelves. Then I realize it's not a bedroom exactly, it's a studio apartment. I see a bed and a couch behind it facing a TV. And suddenly I feel a strong sense of sadness. I look down and there's a picture. There's only one person in it but I can't quite make it out. I look up and see it's nighttime. There aren't any curtains on the windows. I'm the only one in the room. I reach for a glass and take a drink. Suddenly I can taste whisky. I look back down at the photo but I still can't make it out. It's just a mesh of colors and lines, like there's a layer of water obscuring my view. I get up and walk to an end table. A small lamp illuminates around the table as I reach down and open it's drawer, pulling out a pair of scissors. I see the picture again and now I'm cutting the picture in half, letting the pieces fall to the floor. I look at the scissors and feel my heartbeat start to pick up. I'm thinking something but I can't remember exactly what. I reach up and wipe tears from my eyes. My vision becomes a little clearer but still not fully. I point the sharp end of the scissors at myself and stand there. What am I doing? I'm holding them. Considering? I don't know. I strain a little harder but the more I do, the more the image starts to darken. I'm losing it. I try harder to hold on but it's no use, I can't see it anymore.

I open my eyes and see I'm still sitting on the bed. My whole body is warm and I wipe a layer of sweat from my forehead. I don't know why but I can tell this was a memory from my life before. I remembered something! I couldn't tell anything about myself other than the fact that I was sad about something. Although I already knew this. I already told myself as much in my letter. But who was in the picture? I try to remember the image again but it's gone. All I can see is the white outline of the photograph. But regardless, I remembered something! I wonder when I'll see Richard again so I can ask him about it.

Then I hear a ding from my laptop. When I pull it closer, I see I've already received a reply from one of my applications. It lists details for a time and place to meet the photographer. I have an audition! Although they don't call it an audition in the email. Maybe that isn't what they're called. Who cares! I have a meeting.

I hear a knock at the door and I almost jump out of bed. I was so intensely focussed on the computer that the knocking scared the crap out of me. There's another knock again and now I can tell it's not the hotel staff.

Who else knows I'm here?

Maybe it's Richard? I walk over to the door and look through the peephole.

It's David.

Does that asshole really think I'm going to let him in? I look to my side through the open door of the bathroom and see my reflection in the mirror. I still look like Cameron.

Why not have a little fun?

I strip out of my dress and toss it aside, out of view of the door. Then I unlock the door and swing it open just as David is about to knock again. I stand in front of him as Cameron, fully naked. He looks stunned and unable speak. I give him a sly smile.

"Amy, it's for you," I say over my shoulder.

I close the door and change into Amy. When I open my eyes, I open the door again. This time I stand in front of him as Amy, fully naked. He still can't formulate any words. I smile at him again.

"She's much better than you," I say. And then I close the door.

I jump onto the bed and look up at the ceiling, smiling from ear to ear. It's hard to think right now that I was the same person I just saw in my memory. All I feel is happiness. Maybe all of this was a good thing after all.