My name is Lorenzo Basque. I’m a dreamer and a hedonist. Three years ago when I first arrived here in Manhattan, I have less than $100 on my pocket. Most people thought that it was a crazy move but I don’t really care what the world thinks of me, what matters most is what I think of myself. I acted based on my instincts and spur of the moment. I lived and worked on a rat infested hostel on 128th Street and Lenox Avenue because didn’t have any money to pay for rent. I hopped from one low paying job to another. I remember it so vividly, when I took the job at a sandwich shop on Wall Street earning $7.25 an hour and then at a wine cellar in West Village where I made $9.00 an hour. And every time my money would run out, I would go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s and eat their food samples just to get by. I also remember sitting down by the water fountain at Lincoln Center and pondered to myself if my broke ass life would ever change and repeatedly questioned myself if my sufferings would ever go away. But today, these phases of my life is a far memory, gone but not forgotten. I recently got a book deal from Harper Collins Publishing and received an advance of $250,000 plus 50/50 share on sales profits. Until now, I’m still in disbelief that my life has been altered by success and luck(I gotta be honest, I was lucky enough to achieve my dreams of being a professional writer). I also left my job at the advertising agency in Midtown. Most people that I worked with at that place are happy and sad for me at the same time. I am beyond glad that I broke out of the 9 to 5 work pattern. I cannot describe the mix of emotions. I decided to celebrate the fulfillment of my writing ambition by throwing a party at my new one bedroom apartment in East Village. The modest building is located on East 17th Street and Broadway, close to Union Square which is pretty nice. I invited all my friends from the past and the present. Most importantly, I looked forward to see Vikki Neumann. She’s an orphan from Berlin whom I met back at the hostel. If some people are blessed with good looks, she’s definitely one of them. She’s half Persian and half German. Her olive skin, jet black straight hair, towering height, and well-toned slender body enabled her to book a modeling job at one of the modeling agencies here in the city. Our last conversation wasn’t so pleasant. We argued about something that I can’t even remember what it was and haven’t seen each other for almost six months. So when she agreed to come to my party, I was pretty pleased. I also invited Jacob and Marco, and Sonia Groff, my first literary agent. I met Sonia at PJ Clarke’s in Upper West Side while I was finishing my last glass of martini. In this business of publishing where everything is going digital in full swing, it’s highly important to have a good agent. Sonia and I have also discussed about hiring a good lawyer to represent me in the Entertainment Industry, someone who can secure deals with movie studios and television networks. I never thought that learning about the business aspect of writing would be this interesting. It reminds me a lot about Hollywood where I used to work as a media librarian in post production houses and watched the film editors work on raw footages of the films produced at Warner Brothers and Paramount. After all, I’m a film school graduate where I aspired to be a filmmaker and then eventually settled on my writing endeavor. 

Being in a equilibrium of my first big break, feels kind of weird in some way. Friends who used to ignore my text messages became active friends with me again, relatives and family members who  didn’t reply to my emails, all of a sudden, wants to be part of my life again. All the lovers also wanted to return to bed with me as well, success indeed is an aphrodisiac! And I was like, “Are you fucking kidding me?!”. I’ve seen this situation play over and over again in movies and books. And FYI, I’m not that stupid. I just think it’s fucking ridiculous. But I just played along, nothing is more interesting that observing the roller coaster changes of human interaction. 

It was 9 pm and everybody started showing up. One of my close friends, Alejandro, whom I also met from the hostel showed up first with Stacy. He was from Barcelona and Stacy is from Alabama. I introduced them together and little did I know, sparks flew between them and they ended up getting married. I was the bestman at their wedding. It was pretty clear that Alejandro wanted to stay here in New York and wanted a green card. I think I was the one who suggested it to him, because it’s the fastest way to be a legal US resident. They brought a bottle of KETEL ONE vodka, which is pretty fucking sweet. Alejandro immediately asked where’s the kitchen because he wanted to have drink. We went to my kitchen and opened the bottle of vodka. Stacy decided to hang out in the living room. 

“Your apartment is really nice, congratulations!” Alejandro said to me.

“Thanks man, I’m still feeling a little weird about all this” I replied.

“Why is that?”

“Because, three years ago I was working on shit jobs and we ate ramen for months”

“Haha! I also remember that! Those times are now gone, Lorenzo”

“I know. But I also feel very thankful because I was able to create a life of my own. I know a lot of people around the world don’t even have the freedom to pursue their dreams and perhaps can’t even try. So I’m still thankful. How are things between you and Stacy?”

“You don’t want to know”

“Why? What’s going on, three years ago you two are so into each other, I think. Or maybe I was wrong?”

“It was fun for a while, but she’s fucking psycho! I recently discovered that she has an eating disorder, she’s bulimic.”

“Holy shit! Are you serious?”

“I’m very serious, sometimes I kind of regret marrying her”

“Don’t say that, if you didn’t marry her you wouldn’t be able to stay here in New York!”

“This is all your fault!”

I almost choked while drinking my vodka when Alejandro said that to me. 

“How the fuck is it my fault?!” I exploded.

“This marriage was your idea” he replied.

“Fuck you dude! You’re the one who decided to stick your cock in her vagina, not me!”

“I’m sorry I said that, I’m just fucking stressed of being married”

“Don’t mention it, just be thankful you gotta a green card now. A million people from around the world would kill for one. Cheers!”

Alejandro smiled and we cheered. I heard my door bell rang. I opened the door and it was Jacob and Marco. Jacob brought a bottle of German schnapps. 

“Congratulations, Mr. Writer!” Jacob said.

“Danke!” I responded.

“Now that you’re a writer, have you decided to change certain habits?” Marco asked me. 

“No, not really. I mean, I longer live in a shit neighborhood.. I can now afford to rent this modest apartment, so that’s a change.”

“Hey, I brought some coke, make sure you don’t spill it on the couch!” Jacob joked at me.

“Fuck off, haha! Don’t remind me dude!” I replied. 

Someone was at the door again, when I opened it, it was a familiar face. It was Vikki. She smiled at me and gave her a hug. She was accompanied by a decent looking guy. He looks like a model, one of those billboard guys on Times Square. 

“How are you?” Vikki asked me

“I’m doing great!” I replied.

“That’s pretty obvious! By the way, this is my friend Konrad, he’s also from Germany. We met at the modeling agency”.

“Hi, nice to meet you Lorenzo! Vikki told me a lot of things about you” Konrad greeted.

He shook my hands and seems very excited in meeting me. 

“Likewise” I said.

“Vikki also told me that you are writer..”

“Yes, I am. But I’m not broke, which is a good thing”

“A real writer, that’s very nice.”

“Yeah”

“What stories do you write about?” Konrad asked.

“It depends on my mood, it could be drama, romance, or horror” I responded.

“That’s very cool!”

I still did not get why this guy got so excited in asking things about me. I have noticed that he stopped paying attention to my friend Vikki, and literally stopped looking at her. Vikki doesn’t look too happy and felt out of place. I also sense that the elusive sexual tension between me and her boy toy is starting to piss her off. She would give me the look of death and then would look back at Konrad, expecting any sort of attention from either me or Konrad. I thought I could ease the awkward situation by finally becoming an ideal party host. 

“Excuse me for a minute, Let me go to the living room to play some music”

Konrad seems to be disappointed that I was about to abandon him with Vikki.

“Oh, sure. We will talk again later”

“Absolutely!”

I walked away from them and saw all the people who entered my life congregating in my living room. I noticed that they set up all the drinks and drugs on the glass table. I smiled when I saw it. I’m also glad that all my friends both old and new adjusted well to each other. These friends are my family. Not having seen my own mother and father in the same room, because they separated before I was born, I found myself wanting unconditional love and acceptance from every friendship that I made.

“Here’s the fucking man of the hour!” Jacob shouted. 

I could tell that Jacob is already high. His pupils are dilated. and he looked ridiculous in a good way. I looked at all my friends and felt thankful that I met them.

“I’ll try not to say something cheesy, but I want all you fuckers to have a toast with me!” I said. 

They all poured drinks on their glasses and raised it. Alright, maybe it is fucking cheesy.

“To a room full of people that I love, I respect, and most of all, I want to smack the shit out of..”

They all bursted into laughter after my sarcastic remark. 

“But seriously, thanks for being a part of my sweet fucking life! Cheers!” 

We all cheered and I turned up the music on my macbook attached to a BOSE speaker. I started playing a remixed version of “I FOLLOW RIVERS” by LYKKE LI, followed by DAVID GUETTA’S “TITANIUM” and all time favorite of mine “LOVE WILL TEAR US APART” by JOY DIVISION. Everyone was having a good time and I’m glad they do. I saw Vikki scolding Konrad. And Konrad was looking back at me. He walked away from her and came towards me. Vikki looked more upset and left my party.

“What happened to Vikki?” I asked Konrad.

“She was being a bitch, so she left. Now I can have you for myself.” He replied.

I laughed it off and pretended that it’s a joke. 

“Aren’t you guys dating?!”

“Yeah, for over a month now and I can’t stand her being possessive all the time!”

“Sorry, to hear that. I should probably text her to come back here”

“No, Lorenzo don’t do it. She left because she was jealous. Do you mind if i spend the night here?”

“Ah, I’m not sure.. Wir Werden Sehen”

He gave me a broken smile, trying to conceal his frustration to my answer. 

“You speak German?”

“Very little, unfortunately. I believe that I was German from a previous life”

“Really?”

“Yes, definitely. Come on, let’s see what the others are up to”

We went back to my living room area and found everyone having a good time beyond the limits. Marco, Stacy, and Alejandro are smoking and passing around a spliff. And Jacob of course, is snorting cocaine on my glass table. My agent, Sonia Groff, arrived. 

“Lorenzo! Where are you?!” Sonia yelled.

“In here!” I responded. 

“I brought you a present!”

“Oh yeah? What is it?”

“I found us a good lawyer. He represented Dan Brown and Anne Rice in Los Angeles in turning their books into films. And I have a feeling that he’ll bring us the same success. Who is this good looking guy next to you?” 

“Oh, this is Konrad.”

“Hi! I’m Sonia, nice to meet you!” Sonia said and flirting at the same time. 

“Likewise, Lorenzo, can I talk to you in private?”

“Sure, Sonia excuse us” 

“Not a problem” she said.

Konrad grabbed my hand and led me towards the bathroom. When we got into the bathroom, he took out a tiny bottle of cocaine. 

“Dude, if you want some coke, there’s plenty outside”

“That’s not the reason why I took you here”

He placed his hand on my shoulder and I must admit that it didn’t feel comfortable. Nothing against him but it just didn’t feel right.

“I think we should go back outside, I don’t want my friends to think that I abandoned them completely. “

I got out of the bathroom and walked back to the living room area. I looked at my friends from the past, and I remembered that most of them are the ones who helped me when I was broke. Looking back, I felt grateful that I ran into these people. I saw Sonia making out with my friend Jacob while Marco is fucking stoned that he doesn’t care anymore what’s going on. My playlist of techno music continues to play. At around 4:30 AM everyone left, I started cleaning up the table and then I heard someone knocking on my door. I opened it and it was Konrad.

“Konrad, what are you doing here?”

“Can I come in?”

“Dude, I already said no”

“That’s not the reason why I came back, Vikki just broke up with me. I just want to come in and talk, that’s all.”

So I opened the door and let him in. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED….