MONDAY, DECEMBER 10
4:00AM IN BARCELONA
At 4:00 am we walked the dark, empty streets of Barcelona to the airport bus stop in Catalan Square to catch the 5 am bus. I hadn’t slept much at all’; the partying in the restaurant under my window didn’t stop until 3am. Chloe was nervous but prepared for the day…and so brave. I rode on the bus with her, returned to the city and got in bed.
TO MILAN MODELLING AGENCY
Chloe and I texted through the morning. Flight okay, check. Train from airport to Agency, not okay. Cancelled. She was going to be 30 minutes late to her meeting. She arrived, met with two women, one of whom she really liked and reminded her of her agent in Vancouver. She was asked to put on her bathing suit and had to walk in front of everyone in the office, down glass stairs. Very strange. After a very short visit, she ran to the metro, took the train to the airport and just barely made it to the plane returning to Barcelona.
BACK TO CATALAN SQUARE
When I met her at the bus stop in Catalan Square, she looked older than she had when she left, more self-assured. I handed her the sneakers she’d given me after changing to her high boots in the morning, and we walked back to the apartment. What did they say? What was it like? I was so proud of her.
THE CHARMING CHLOENESS OF IT ALL
In her Chloe way, she just snuck in that they offered her a contract. Not the first thing out of her mouth, not the second, not even the third, told to me as we neared the apartment, about 30 minutes from Catalan Square. No clear description how it was offered or what this means exactly but she thinks, it means she will need to be in Milan as of January 1.
I’d seen a nervous, self-doubting girl leave in the morning, feeling sick and slightly feverish; and a young woman, beaming, exuding a confidence that comes from facing one’s fears, stepping into the world, testing those long legs and finding they hold, come back to Barcelona.
Our lives changed again.
