Amelia's Story (Box Set the Complete Series Books 1 & 2) (24 page)

My director knew I did the odd bit of modeling here and there, so he decided to approach me first before going to a modeling agency. Of course, I snapped up the job! I was prepped fully as to what would be expected of me. I was to wear a red swimming costume, to shower in, and wash my hair. A few weeks later I turned up for work as usual, with my swimming gear, and waited to be escorted to the mockup trains. It was very daunting – more so than I had anticipate
d‒
as there was a room full of engineers all holding cameras. The shower cubical was all transparent for the purposes of the experiment. It was also open, not enclosed behind walls, I dropped my dressing gown and stepped into the shower as instructed, and then spent the next hour, being asked to stretch my arms up, then down, and then sideways, then I had to wash my hair as I would do normally at home in the shower! Flash lights were going off ten to the dozen, and it was all a bit crazy really! But fun, to say the least.

That day I got paid £150 for one hour’s work. I also received copies of the photographs taken for my portfolio, plus a free spa day at a local health farm. I felt so proud of myself, and I was the talk of the company for a while! I had three requests for dinner that week, all of which I turned down.

A few weeks following the photo shoot, Adrian arrived back in England. He surprised me and met me from work. He had a large bouquet of white and yellow roses which were my favourite and also a black velvet box that on opening revealed a large bottle of Dior perfume and body lotion. He kissed me on the cheek and said, “Please accept this gift, it’s just to say sorry for putting you in an awkward position.” I did accept the gifts, and then he took me for dinner to an Italian restaurant in Birmingham. I told him all about my surprise modeling job for my company and he was so proud of me. I told him I wanted to buy my own house that I was saving hard with the hope that in the next couple of years I could buy my first home. My dream house was a Grade II Listed property, olde and worlde with large rooms, a typical old English country house, or at least as close to one as I could afford! I advised him that I had enquired about doing a sociology course through the Open University too. The course also covered menology and phenomenology … I had always been fascinated with the mind, and thought this would be a great course to take. It would open more doors for me in the future, not to mention increasing my earning potential, which was very important to make my dream of owning my own perfect house a reality. The benefit of this course was that I could do it from home in my spare time, with a two-week summer camp at a university to take my exams the following summer.

He did not seem as excited about my plans as I was. He was quiet, displaying very little reaction.

“That is great, Amelia,” he grumbled.

“You don’t seem very happy for me, Adrian?”

“I am happy for you. It’s just that you are making plans, that don’t seem to include me, Amelia.”

“Look,
Adrian. I have had nothing but dreams all my life. They were just dreams, ones that encouraged me out of bed on days when I felt like there was nothing to live for. How many times have I told you, I want to own my own house, one that will be my home and no one else’s to take away from me when things are not going their way? It will be my home and security for me that I have provided for myself, something for me to be proud of. My plans do not affect our friendship. They never will. But please don’t hold me back. Don’t make me feel bad for wanting to move forward. All I want is to be financially independent, to own my own home, to write that book I’ve always talked about and some day to have a family of my own, one that I belong too; one that is truly mine because I have made it. They are my dreams, Adrian, and one day they will be a reality.”

Adrian
was very quiet. He quickly changed the subject, and talked about his next contract in a few weeks. He would be heading to Norway. I was so pleased for him. He was an amazing diver. The work was flowing in from all directions and he was having to turn some down.

“Look
Adrian, you are living your dream. You had a lot of help along the way, you had great parents, a great education and you have been supported in all that you do. So I’m asking you to be happy for me as your friend. Nothing has changed between us. I will just be studying and saving as hard as possible, not to mention working in the week and doing the odd modeling job that comes my way.

“I am just trying to move one foot in front of the other one step at a time. I am trying to make the right decisions to elevate me forward
Adrian.”

New York

Eventually
, Adrian came around to my way of thinking; I convinced him that our friendship was not going to suffer while I worked towards my future. For a while all seemed well. I was busy working all the time and Adrian had flown out to Norway. My friend Sally approached me at work one day and asked me if I fancied a four-day holiday to New York. She had a friend who worked for a travel agency and could get us a good deal. I jumped at the offer, and before I knew it I was on a plane to The Big Apple. We flew with British Airways; I had bought all new luggage and clothes for the trip and was full of wonder at what lay ahead.

Sally and I had become rather close since working for the Channel Tunnel Project. She was 38
-years-old, had never married and was without children. I was only 26, but it made no difference to our friendship. We had clicked. We were both dealing secretly with our own demons. She had been in a ten-year relationship with a married man, who had been equally in love with her. He had been a doctor in the private sector, and he was married with two children. He had bought Sally a two-bedroom flat in a nice part of town and visited her whenever he could. Then one day she had not heard from him. One day turned into two, then three, and so on, until what she had always feared the most had happened.

Sally was contacted by a solicitor and advised of the death of her lover. She had a complete breakdown; she did not leave her flat for almost 12 months. In his will he had provided for her; of
this she had no knowledge of at all. He had left her financially secure and the flat was paid for. She had been totally loyal to him all those years. He was waiting for his children to finish school and then he was going to divorce his wife. That’s what Sally had believed, anyway.

Sally had all her shopping delivered to the house so she never had to leave. It was not until almost a year later when she decided to pull herself together and start working again. She got herself a PA job working directly for the Director on the Channel Tunnel Project at Met Cam in
Birmingham. That’s how we met and became friends. She was still heartbroken and mourning her loss when she started working for the company. We clicked immediately, and it was over a year before either of us confided in the other about our losses. Then one day we went to a wine bar for lunch, and I told her all about my break down after the end of my relationship with Peter. Then she told me her tragic story. We cried and hugged and then cried some more. We truly bonded that day.

On arrival at
JFK Airport, a dingy scruffy one, I thought, we had to wait forever to get through customs. However, once we did we were soon boarding our Greyhound coach and on our way to the hotel. I will never forget the millions of yellow battered taxis that were bumper to bumper and frantically beeping their horns. It was just like in the movies, I thought: chaotic and mesmerising!

The hotel was a basic one, nothing fancy; it was on
Fifth Avenue, not far from the Empire State Building. Our room was large and pleasantly furnished. There was no bar and no lounge, just rooms and a reception. We did not like the male receptionist at the hotel; he was a bit creepy and eyed us both up and down as if we were his next meal. I thought to myself, “You are not having me.” We dropped off our bags and headed straight back outside, to take in the sights. We walked all the way to the Twin Towers, heading for the World Trade Centre. On the second floor there was a whole designer shopping experience just waiting for us! Gosh we were excited! It took us ages to walk there as we kept stopping off along the way to take in our surroundings. It’s fair to say we were truly fascinated. We stopped off for a coffee along the way at an Irish bar. The coffee was flowing and the clientele friendly. We were having the time of our life in one of the most famous cities in the world.

Before we knew it another hour had passed, and so we made our way out the door to continue towards the
World Trade Centre. I was blown away by the Twin Towers. They were an incredible sight. We made our way up to the second floor and into the vast shopping area. Wow, it truly was amazing! We stayed there until closing time, going through rail after rail of discounted designer clothes, belts, gloves, bags, and jewellery, before we were practically forced to leave the building! I had bought the most amazing black patent leather bag. The leather was so soft, it cost me $150. It was worth it, one of the best bags I have ever purchased. I still have it to this day! I also bought a Versace belt for $5
0‒
another fabulous bargain! We had heard so much about the World Trade Centre before entering the USA, and we were not disappointed. We left armed with bags full of goodies.

That night we decided to go for a meal on
Fifth Avenue to a beautiful new Japanese restaurant. It was a truly delightful place, so clean, and they cooked the food fresh right in front of you. We enjoyed a five-course dinner and left the restaurant fit to burst. As it was near midnight we walked back to the hotel. The following day would be busy. On arrival at the hotel, there was a different male receptionist on the desk, another creepy guy, who gave us both the strangest look as we headed for the lift. Just five minutes after we had entered our bedroom, the phone in our room started ringing. We looked at each other, and then Sally answered it. She slammed down the phone and said, “That was a creepy call Amelia. A man on the phone asked, ‘Is this the room of the two English ladies?’  I said yes, and then he said, ‘We want you. We are coming for you right now,’ and then he put the phone down.” My heart skipped several beats as I tried to digest exactly what had just happened.

Then all of a sudden we heard the lift doors open, we both froze on the spot, we could hear footsteps outside of our room, getting closer and closer. Then all of a sudden there was a bang on the door. We both screamed. Then we just sat there in silence for the longest time. We were too scared to leave the room and go down to reception, so we called reception instead. We told the man what had happened and he laughed, saying that it was just not possible. We were so confused, we demanded to speak with the hotel manager and again the man on reception laughed and said he was not often at the hotel, so we told him to call him or we would call the police. The call was then made to the manager of the hotel who lived in
Brooklyn somewhere, we were advised that there was no need to call the police and that he would personally come and see us the following morning. We were so scared that night; we had pushed the dressing table up against our bedroom door, to ensure no one could get in. We barely slept a wink all night, both of us convinced something awful might happen to us. By the following morning we were both relieved daylight had arrived. Somehow everything felt so much safer in daylight.

True to his word, the hotel manager arrived at the hotel the following morning, full of apologies. Apparently
, this was not the first time that British guests had been spooked by anonymous phone calls in the middle of the night. He assured us he would look into it and that it would not happen again. He spoke to the new Japanese restaurant owner where we had dined the night before and he arranged for the two of us to dine there for free as and when we wanted to for the term of our stay as a way of apology. We agreed not to call the police and went about our day. We visited the Empire State Building, just before dusk to watch all the lights in New York City switch on. It was a truly amazing sight. We then hopped into a yellow cab to Time Square. All the shops were still open. There was hustle and bustle just about everywhere: people selling designer knock-offs on every street corner, people walking on stilts and attempting to juggle at the same time, this I have to say was quite impressive! It could not have been easy. Just about everyone everywhere was trying to sell you something.

We must have stuck out like a sore thumb: two female tourists in
New York. I was surprised we did not get mugged. We were in awe of the place, often standing still to watch someone doing magic tricks, or someone getting arrested! New York was truly just like we had seen it on the movies. That night back at the hotel we had an undisturbed night. Our room phone did not make a sound, but we still slept with our eye on the door. The next day was our last one. We headed off to Macy’s, the world’s most famous department store. We shopped, then lunched, and then jumped into a cab and headed to Bloomingdales. Our final destination was Tiffany’s, the world famous jewellery store! We had no intention of buying anything; we couldn’t afford it for one thing. We just wanted to replicate what Audrey Hepburn had done decades earlier in the famous movie she starred in, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” We even dressed up for the occasion and grabbed a coffee along the way! On arrival at Tiffany’s we took the lids off our coffees and just stood outside Tiffany’s admiring the window before us. The glittering jewels looked amazing; we stood in silence until we finished our coffee and then made our way back to the hotel to prepare for our long flight back to the UK.

Another two ticks of
fmy wish lis
t‒
the list of things to do before I die going to New York, and doing an “Audrey Hepburn” outside Tiffany’s. I was so happy. Apart from the incident on the first night of our stay, the short trip had been a wonderful one. Before we knew what was happening we were boarding our BA flight home, bound for England. This trip just further increased my need to travel; there was so many more places I wanted to visit, so many things I wanted to do.

We arrived back in
England, weary from a long flight. It was very early in the morning, so I had a quick catch up with Blanche and filled her in on my trip and then went to bed as she headed off to work.

The following day I was due into work, and there was some great news waiting for us. As the Channel Tunnel Contract for Met Cam was coming to an end, as a thank you to everyone who had worked on the project we were each given a free trip on the Euro Sta
r train to any one of four destinations: Paris, Holland, Germany or the Netherlands. We did not get to choose, but we would be advised within the month where we were going for the day. We all jumped up and down in disbelief. We would get to journey on the Euro Star to a European destination a month before it opened up to the public. We were to travel first class, and it would include a champagne breakfast as we would be travelling early. News soon filtered down the line that we were going to spend the day in Brussels, specifically the Grand Place. It would be on a work day, and the full cost would be met by the company. I was so excited, especially having just returned from New York and already wondering where to go next.