Gabrielle Queen - Splendid Passion

Gabrielle Queen

Splendid Passion

Fan fiction Marius Manole

Original title: Splendida Pasiune

Translated by: Ciochina Doina

Publisher: Tektime

Twilight was fast approaching. But Selena felt like the day was just starting for her. She still needed to socialize, to know people and to chitchat with friends. That night she did not go out. She stayed home, watching the shadows transformed by the sun light in grotesque darker figures on the wall. That night, Selene felt how life and memories were tickling her fingers.

Years were passing above the city cover with fallen leaves, thousands of rubies part of the city’s hidden richness. Leaves and hearts. In this corner unknown by anyone, all the hearts once loved. In this grey and dusty city, love always bloomed – fragile and shy buds, warmed by a gentle and soft sun which protects them and helps them to bloom to life. Love’s muds bloom even in the hidden and insignificant places on the earth. Someone gently mysterious is taking care of them up there, a dreamer god who keeps the world in a cupping of hands, sometimes blowing over her silvery powder. In some places, dreams spread less, swallowed by people’s wish of increase, money and power. In others, dreams settle as a gentle snow of stars on houses windows, over dusty antennas, getting in the eyes and mouths of rushing and worried people about daily problems. In the city where the story is set, dreams give an eternity, finding, probably, here more hearts full of gentleness and benignity.

I A boring class

II Curtains rise

III A hell class

IV Nocturnal Adventures

V Blue Butterflies

VI Perplexities

VII Weekend at the beach

VIII Fairy

IX New Life

X Retrieval

XI Lorelei’s Mask

XII The Letter

XIII Happiness

THE END

Office life wasn’t as she had always imagined it; always the same things to do, a lot of work and also hard, always the same people to go out with. At some point it becomes monotony. Walks in the park in summer,eating cotton candy and ice cream, going to restaurant and disco; during winter cinema, theater, and concerts. A dull love life too. Selena began to feel as if she had done everything you could do in a lifetime.

Her dream had always been to play in movies, so when she randomly found a course of theater and television on the Internet, she decided immediately to apply, especially as it was not so expensive and it was expected to be held by personalities from show business. At least I’ll meet new people, she said to herself, without having any illusions.

At the office, her co-workers listened to her with scepticism, like all people do when they have a weirdo news:

What are you going to do there exactly?

I have no idea actually… we will film, I will act, I’m going to meet actors, directors… it is going to be nice, probably. I will see how is sitting behind the camera, how actors really are, I’m going to meet a lot of people… It is actually about being brave trying new things, avoiding the routine.

Maybe you are going to fall in love with an actor, one of her co-workers was joking. Like George Clooney or Jhonny Depp.

Oh, I don’t think so; you know I don’t trust them. Today they are dating someone and tomorrow is another one, they are always getting divorce, they get married again and again, I don’t need something like that… I’m going to observe a lot, I will try to have some fun at least… To forget Adreea’s face. They both smiled. Their boss was not the best person for them. She was too cold, too picky and she did not even tolerate the smallest transgression to the hundreds of rules that transform that firm into a firing squad. Who was not careful enough, was penalized or directly fired.

After a few weeks of emotions and impatience, where she dreamed about being a new Audrey Hepburn revolutionizing the cinema world or being a new Natalia Oreiro of telenovelas, the course’s first class arrived. She’s being told that they would have filmed most of the time. She was seeing herself on the stage, filming a hot sex scene with a handsome man, half naked… what if the director would want a compromise? She asked herself if she would accept it. Hmmm…it depends on the director, she giggled, turning on her heels in front of the mirror, admiring her curves that the dress showed up. It would not be wronged; she smiled, putting behind her ear a lock of hair. Who knows what waves could bring her this new occupation ... Anyway, her dream was Hollywood. Looking in the mirror, she felt she slightly resembled to Nicole Kidman…the same expression that makes go crazy all the men. A brunette variant with green eyes and some more kilograms. Despite that – in her opinion – there were enough men that considered her more that attractive…Selena was convinced that personality and charm are the most important things. Meh, she was not a star yet, but she knew she would have been one soon! What do stars have more than her? Less kilograms! And a lot of luck! At 23 years old she could still dream, she could still think that she can do something important in her life. She had not told it to anyone, but she was taking her dream really seriously.

If at 23 years old you are not taking yourself seriously, when will you? At 50 years old? Anyway, her opinion was that you can do whatever you want at any age, you just have to be brave enough…feeling that what are you doing is important and deserves to be done.

The first class was not such a big deal: the group was about twenty girls and JUST three guys; they introduced themselves a little bit, and the guy who was taking care of that class, Emilian – a skinny dude, with weirdo mustaches that seemed to defeat every gravitational law – start to talk about the class, schedules etc. Unfortunately, some schedules were not good for her, because they were during the day and she was a little bit pissed about that. She was already thinking about her boss’ face when she would have said: you know, 3 times per week I have to leave at 2 p.m. when she usually worked until 6 p.m.

What explanation she would have given? The acting class? No way! She asked herself if her boss had another dream in her life that is not being in front of a computer, continuously writing emails, sometimes even forgetting about lunch break. Was this a normal life? Would this kind of life was around the corner even for her, after the thirties? Now, she had the chance to avoid all this.

Unfortunately, the first acting class was not a big deal, not even the second one, and not even the third one. Her enthusiasm was going down: yes they were filmed when they introduced themselves, then they all had to read some news from the journal in front of the camera…but nothing else special. Elimian talked to them a lot about journalism, how news are created for the television. They invited a news presenter to talk about the process of news research and creation, which would have been nice if Selene would have wanted to be a presenter or a journalist…but this was not actually her dream. Probably I did not read well the information about this class, she told herself, but she was sure she heard about meeting directors and actors from telenovelas and even film these kind of scenes…even if she was a wide awake dreamer, she knew that these details in the ad were absolutely real.

She was already thinking to give up or going less often, she did not like anyway the environment or the dark building where the classes were given. She was already thinking: The last hope taken away in this city where nothing happens and boredom is the only thing sure.