A Fairmont Affair

Another excerpt from my book Living and Dying in Los Angeles

Enter Jane, a woman attending the hotel conference, accompanied by her husband, Michael, an oil tycoon who’s seven years her senior. Jane is a fifty-something housewife with a sun-kissed visage reminiscent of Dolly Parton—if Dolly had opted for brunette locks and a little more Botox. Her personality is as dreamlike as her appearance. With a waist that would make Angelina Jolie jealous, she’s an intriguing mix of visible veins and undeniable allure. Her tits, however, a completely artificial affair—oversized and ready for the spotlight. Michael, her husband, speaks to her with the kind of tenderness that makes Edward question his own life choices.

Michael: “All that matters is that you know I love you,”

He declares that statement with such ease and seriousness, he means it and the notion catches Edward's attention as they linger just outside the gift shop. He observes as he holds her close in his arms, swaying gently, his hands resting on her shoulder blades through her white sundress straps. Michael bears a striking resemblance to a more laid-back Mike Pence, sporting pale skin, white hair, and slightly Asian-like eyes. He wears a cowboy hat, and his smile? Let’s just say it’s the kind that makes you want to throw a punch—punchable.

Just then, Jane drifts away from her husband and steps into the gift shop, Edward questions her antics leaving without saying “I love you.” back, a woman in search of overpriced trinkets, a boy toy or…

Jane: “A pack of Marlboro lights, please.”

Edward: “Sure thing.”

Edward gazes at her fake silicon double Ds showing through her sweatshirt. He charges her for the cigarettes. She compliments his dreads and reads his nametag.

Jane: “Thank you, Edward. You seem to be the only show in town!”

He laughs as she exits the gift shop, giving him a smile and a wink. He thinks about her all day, lonely and desperately looking for any kind of attention or excitement in his life. That statement made his day. Sun setting at The Fairmont, Edward decides to close the shop, and to his surprise, he sees Jane in the hallway with her husband again. There is an afterparty occurring in the lobby for the current convention that took place, so he decides to grab a drink at the open bar all by himself. He sits on a stool, observing the room, overhearing the conversations going on around him.

Convention attendee: “Just because we have different opinions on politics doesn’t mean we can’t get along and continue to conduct our business together. Trump … us supporting him and his campaign is the reason why they want to distance themselves from our company. This country was built on people working together no matter what their personal views are toward a political candidacy …”

Convention attendee 2: “He’s young money. These young money types, Gen Z, whatever you call them, you know, our numbers are fine, we don’t need him do we? He needs to learn respect, he needs to learn that politics and business don’t mix well, save it for your private time. This illegal immigrant shit I tell ya, you don’t know it’s not a problem until one of them.. you know whats let’s just enjoy tonight.”

Jane spots Edward sitting alone at the bar looking at his phone and begins to approach him.

Jane: “Hey you, let me ask you a question. I’ve been here a couple days and every time I walk past that gift shop, I see you with your head down. WHY? Why do you look so down? Look at you, where are you right now? You’re a very good-looking young man, mister. You got the rest of your life ahead of you. Smile, come on, hey. Let me see it.

Edward looks down and let’s out a smile in a very shy matter showcasing his buck teeth that he is ashamed of, a smile he can never fix, for he was fixated on always licking off the metal brackets off his teeth as a kid, and his mother couldn’t afford to keep replacing them.

Jane: “There it is … yeah, nice. How you doing?”

Edward: “I’m smiling now. I mean, I didn’t know I was coming off as a downer here, but I guess boredom is what sends me down those ‘please kill me’ thoughts I can’t find myself getting out of sometimes, staring at a floor… what is life you know? Unfortunately I am at work, so I am not on the floor, in a fetal position, doing my performance art showcases. That’s what usually happens, sometimes at random moments, when I’m out in the world or waiting for the bus just outside even, I just lay in a fetal position, screaming at the sky like a angry crow! Hoping people think I am putting on a show that compliments the feeling of being alive in this time of age. There was a woman with her baby yesterday outside near the courtyard, the baby started crying, and I started pleading with it, screaming I know, I know, I understand, welcome to the world kid.”

Jane: “You really are the only show in town huh?”

They share a laugh.

Edward: “Yeah I am fine though. Shouldn’t you be with your husband or something?”

Jane: “Oh, he’s asleep. He can’t handle me. I still have my youth. He lost his in a pile of money somewhere long ago.”

Edward: “Oh, he seems like a good guy.”

Jane: “I think you need another whiskey and coke, bud.”

Jane redirects her attention to the bartender. A transgender male transitioning into a female, resembling a much thinner pale Fabio with “his/her” facial features spectating the crowd like a phantom in blush, long brown hair down to her stomach touching the bottom button of her red vested hotel uniform, with her white collared shirt poking through, as she slowly begins to approach Jane.

Jane: “Another whiskey and coke please! Um listen, Mr. Edward, what are your thoughts on love? Ever been in love?”

Edward: “Love … used to believe in that.”

Jane: “Used to?”

Edward: “What are your, *He stumbles on his words as he begins to sip his drink. Why are you so interested in my thoughts… on love?”

Jane: “You hold the power of youth, young man, ya might not recognize it now, but, it’s a powerful thing.”

Edward: “Well, Yes, I used to believe in love, I used to believe in God and religion, I used to be a good little Christian boy, thinking everything will come to me by way of prayer and waiting—like a kid believing in Santa Claus until I found out that, the jolly old man was just a clever marketing ploy, to keep money in a basket, to provide for the travels and mortgage payments of a priest who reads from a book, so me and my family can go back to suffering and living in poverty. Religion reshaped my worldview, but not in the way you might think. The same way trying to fall in love has, because sometimes love can only benefit one person. What I’m really saying is that I have a strong belief in science.

Jane: “*laughs, oh ok where is this going?”

Edward: “Science complicates everything because it’s real and true—like that friend who always points out the plot holes in your favorite movie. It presents facts that are defined, explained, and understood. Evolution, for instance. It completely challenges the story of Adam and Eve... the foundation of humanity, is more sophisticated than unforsaken love and sex, truth is, we were primitive monkeys biting the apples first while having wild ape orgies.

Jane: “On top of the snakes that told us not too and to cut it out.”

Edward: “Exactly! Stop biting the apples, leave some for us rattle-tales. Anyhow, nowadays, one discovery seems more realistic than the other—like comparing a documentary to a soap opera, and is there much room for love in the realm of science? I mean most of what we want to experience in love feels deeply rooted in fantasy, and I’m not sure if fantasy fits well with a person like myself just trying to make it, just trying to ‘survive’ in the universe.”

Jane: “Mmm.”

Edward: “You like Freud?

Jane: “Fred…Fred Flintstone?”

Edward: “Freudian theory, womanizer Freud.”

Jane: “Yeah sure.”

Edward: “He suggests we need love because, well let’s face it, people don’t thrive well when isolated, but in reality our needs are simpler than those depicted in Hollywood or advertising, which complicates everything, competition and the desire for more define our current state in the world, we are all caught in some sort of rat race, trying to present this picure perfect image of ourselves everywhere we go and when we find love can it even be appreciated, with the desire of something we don’t already have constantly being thrown in our faces? The more I pursue love, the more I question it and all my effort, I mean I give up, and when I say I give up sometimes, I just give up completely—that’s it, I mean I just give up.”

Jane: “Because…”

Edward: “Because some things work beyond our understanding you know, our place in the universe determines if we are worthy of anything good. Love is one of those things. You go for it in hopes of something great, but is it wrong to think you’re robbing yourself of something greater by being in love sometimes?

He looks towards Jane waiting for a reply she is silent, as if she is still thinking about what he is saying tongue-tied.

Edward: “It’s just a cosmic joke, and we’re all the punchline...”

Jane interrupts him.

Jane: “Is it wrong, to think you’re robbing yourself of something greater by being in love?”

Edward: “Yeah.”

Jane: “A true partner will never leave you feeling deprived.”

Edward: “I know, o.k. Is what I am saying just a cop out? Am I the one that will always be the ‘depriver’ just making excuses for myself? Am I just a bad lover Jane? Maybe I am just a bad person, who can’t stop making bad choices.”

Jane: “I mean I question if I am a good lover all the time, but never a bad person, were all trying, but at the same time, you have to take what you can get, your young and love can be a very beautiful thing, but you have to find the right person, and trust me, I’m on my third marriage and I’ve had many lovers. Won’t get into that part, but you know.”

She elbows Edward on his right arm, serving him a wink continuing to speak.

Jane: “Whatever you have been through in your past, there’s something better out there for you, someone who will question the same matters you are questioning to yourself right now in this very moment with you, trying to figure it out with you, together, ‘science’ … ‘love’ … everything connects, everything finds a way to connect, to balance each other out.”

Edward: “BUT SCIENCE! JANE!”

The bartender turns around, alarmed by Edward’s scream, then goes back to pouring drinks for another customer.

Jane: “Look, kid, the sun’s always shining. I don’t know much about science, but I know it’s always shining out here, even at night. It’s reflecting off the moon that sun, sharing its light with another part of the world. Come on, let’s grab a smoke outside. Come on, just me and you.”

They go to the front yard of the hotel and talk while they light their cigarettes. Jane mumbles something about her hometown, Prescott, Arizona, but doesn’t think that it will suit for interesting conversation as she is fatigued by all the ‘science’ talk. So slowly and slowly she brings her head closer to his, fixated on those troublesome brown eyes, she presses her lips on his for three seconds grabbing his cheeks towards her and pulls away.

Jane: “All you have to worry about is holding on to hope, hang on to your love, save it for someone special, because it’s something. Keep it locked tight like you’re gripping a softball close to your heart. Don’t lose control, you are going to go far in this life. You will see, I can see it, you have a bright future.

Edward: “I am?”

Jane: “Goodnight, Mr. Scientist. I got to go, my husband is probably wondering where I am at this point. See you around then, tomorrow perhaps.”

Edward: “Oh but your going...”

Jane walks away and waves goodbye as he leaves disappointed, placing his cigarette in an ashtray leaving the elegant ambiance behind for the sounds of a crying baby he can hear from afar at the bus stop across the street. He stops to turn around and get one last look at Jane. She spins around toward him too, for a last look, making a gripping gesture toward her heart, bumping into a valet worker that she doesn’t notice.

Valet worker: “Oh so sorry you o.k.?”

She nods toward the worker, as if to say why did you bump into me avoiding eye contact, she waves her left hand towards him, walking into the front entrance of the hotel.

Edward gets on the bus, finding a seat, thinking about his day. “All that matters is that you know I love you.” He thinks of Jane’s husband’s words to her, the Mike Pence tycoon-looking fella saying this to her and how sweet that was, how sentimental for a man his age to remind someone that this is all that matters in a hallway filled with people. Now replaying the conversation from the bar with Jane in his head, he begins to think if there was something better he could have said.

We are off into Edward’s fantasy as he visions an affair with Jane, they are pillow talking, in a room filled with black out curtains, while her husband is off on an oil drilling field yelling at his workers in Prescott, Arizona.

Edward: “I used to believe in love.”

Jane: “Used to?”

Jane grabs his penis and slowly begins to push him on top of her while mocking him.

Jane: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Jane and Edward: “SCIENCE!”

Edward is so deep into his fantasy that he misses his bus stop.

And in reality Jane is in bed with her husband with the lights out. She and her husband, just finished having sex. He is snoring away right next to her. She is on her back gazing toward the roof. She had also fantasized about Edward during intercourse with Michael. She touches herself some more, thrusting her middle and index in and out her vagina to finish herself off. In her fantasy, he is thumping her hard on sand, near the beach, while the waves swoosh in and out. She admires his passion and longs to be fucked with the same sentiment.