Aerin

I woke with surprising energy, throwing the pillows off of me as I bounced out of bed, banishing the jetlag in a single bound. I saw that the cell I’d stuck to the room’s alarm system before I fell asleep last night was counting down to when it would gently wake me. “Ha! No need for that!” I exclaimed with a faux-victorious shout while pointing at the system.

Whistling a tune from last night, I tapped on the screen and switched the alarm setting to “off.” Ten minutes to spare, even.

Scrolling through the screen, I found the music app to play the “TBT” mix that Jules had uploaded to my phone before I’d left for my trip to China. I broke into an impromptu shuffle as the driving beat of the mix thumped out of the system. Boom boom boom.

I danced around the room with exuberance.   I hadn’t really listened to the whole two-hour mix during the trip, and had preferred the more contemporary electronic chill music selections I’d collected over the years, but last night’s events inspired me to find this mix.  Especially Harley’s dance.

“Could it be I’m falling in love?” I hummed the chorus to myself as I shuffled into the bathroom, executing a smooth 180-degree turn as I crossed the entryway. “Since I met you… I’ve begun to feel so strange… every time I speak your name …” I sang out after I’d finished with the toilet, wiped, flushed, and then yanked the shower door open. The pin-pricks of water that burst out of the shower head amped things up even further.

After blowing my hair dry, while I brushed my teeth, I stared at the image reflecting in the mirror.

There was an excited gleam in my eyes and keyed up aura all over my face. Who is this jubilant stranger?

I grinned at the image, pointing at her with my toothbrush after I rinsed. “Who do you think you are? And what have you done with Aerin?”

I padded over to the closet where clothes I’d just purchased in Hong Kong and had sent out to be cleaned by this hotel, were hanging. I’d seen that all of my friends in the WeHo area had sent me a text or email about things they’d wanted to do with me today, and there were some ideas being floated about dinner, too, so it looked like I’d have to choose a “day-to-night” look.