Dreams Of Fame
1.6 - The Basement
More time passed, time in which Zoe found a local cafe she enjoyed spending time at. So, Zoe had taken to meeting Giovanna there to listen to her stories. She'd also followed through with her plan to get Giovanna a new hair style, and with her new cut, Giovanna looked significantly more mature. She looked so little like the unhinged woman Zoe had first known that it surprised her.
“What story today? Hmmmm... the day my husband and I almost ate food someone poisoned? Or about the boy who tried to hide a pit so my husband and I fell into it?” Giovanna muttered to herself.
Zoe smiled at Giovanna. “Actually, before you start, I was thinking of something a little different today.”
“What’s that?”
“Why don’t you move in with me? We can get so much more done as roommates,” Zoe said casually. She also thought that if the two lived together, it'd be a lot easier to find out if Giovanna had another bag of cash stashed somewhere else. After all, Zoe wasn’t ashamed to admit she’d always wanted to be ridiculously wealthy.
“Would I have a room to stay in?” Giovanna asked.
“Of course!”
“No thanks then. I don’t want to be tied down to one spot.”
"Okay, okay... so, how about we don't give you a room?" Zoe said carefully.
Giovanna perked up almost immediately. “So... I can sleep in your house? Just like me and my husband used to do?”
"You know..." Zoe muttered.
It was immediately clear to her that Giovanna had misunderstood. She clearly took Zoe's offer as an opportunity to spend a single night at her house, then return to her typical nomadic way of life. Giovanna had taken Zoe's offer as a way to relive her glory days with her husband. But that wasn't what Zoe wanted at all. She needed Giovanna staying in her house. Hell, she'd already used the entirety of the money in Giovanna's bag to add a basement to her house for Giovanna to stay in. She'd made a significant investment!
“What?”
“Oh, nothing Giovanna. Never mind.”
Zoe realized that if she was just unclear about what Giovanna had agreed to, Giovanna would still spend the night and hopefully like it enough that she would chose to stay with Zoe for good. It had to work that way, anyway. Zoe wasn't about to accept failure.
Following their brunch at the cafe, Giovanna and Zoe headed for Zoe’s house. Giovanna was incredibly excited about being able to spend the night at Zoe's, and went on and on about all the fun they were going to have.
Once they reached the house, Zoe stopped Giovanna outside her front door.
“Just give me one second,” Zoe smiled, before ducking into the house. She locked the front door behind her and looked to a staircase that led down to the basement she’d had built specifically as a room for Giovanna.
“Freaking Giovanna,” Zoe muttered to herself.
Zoe then leapt into high gear. She ran into her bedroom, and pulled her wardrobe out into the living room to block part of the staircase from view. She also moved her bookcase into the corner. Giovanna had to stay here. Her only coming to spend an occasional night was far from ideal, but it was way better than leaving a message under some rock and hoping Giovanna would find it and meet her. For now, it was a start.
Soon enough, Zoe finished her work. Out of breath, she opened the door again and smiled at Giovanna, ready to welcome her into her home. Except… Giovanna wasn’t there.
Zoe groaned in frustration and stormed out of her house, not even bothering to lock her front door. Knowing Giovanna, she’d probably returned to the park. Giovanna seemed to spend all her time there, as if somehow, her husband would return from the grave and they'd pick up life exactly where they'd left off. So, that was where Zoe headed first.
After wandering around for a good fifteen minutes and asking a series of wedding guests at the park if they'd seen a large woman who didn’t know how to apply eye shadow hanging around to no result, Zoe gave up there and headed for the cafe she and Giovanna had met at that morning.
Giovanna, unsurprisingly, wasn’t there either.
At that point, Zoe was completely out of ideas. She briefly considered returning to the Magnolia Blossom park to leave a note under a rock, but she ultimately decided that she wasn't about to wait up to a week for Giovanna to receive it.
Needing to rant, Zoe returned to her neighborhood, and pounded on Liberty, Summer, and Travis's front door. Even after several repeated knocks, no one answered. Zoe was so pissed off that she could almost scream. Absolutely nothing was going her way that day. So, even though she and Jo didn't talk much, Zoe stormed over to her house.
She pounded angrily on Jo’s front door, until Jo opened it. She seemed surprised to see Zoe standing there.
“Zoe, is something wrong?” Jo asked.
“Yes,” Zoe muttered angrily. “Giovanna was going to move in with me and I was so excited, I'd prepared her a room and everything, but she just straight up disappeared on me and has been missing for hours now.”
"Zoe… I don't know how to tell you this, but-” Jo said quietly.
“Hey, Zoe!” A cheerful voice said from inside.
Zoe stepped through the front door and saw Giovanna sitting at Jo’s dining room table.
“I got hungry, and your front door was locked,” Giovanna said innocently.
Zoe took several deep breaths to calm down. When she spoke again, it was through clenched teach. “Giovanna. Why don’t you come and see your living accommodations?”
Giovanna, nodded, smiled and headed for the door.
“Thanks, Jo,” Zoe said to Jo, giving a forced smile.
“Are you absolutely sure everything's alright?” Jo asked as Zoe hurried Giovanna out the front door.
"Now that Giovanna is back with me, yes, everything's fine, Jo," Zoe said firmly, turning back around to face her.
"I- I'm only asking because you seem really on edge, Zoe."
"Everything is fine, Jo," Zoe said one last time as she turned back around and shut the front door behind her as she headed out.
Zoe marched Giovanna across the street, but as soon as they reached the front door, the door opened, and a man stepped outside.
“I’m very sorry, Ms. Presley, but I felt I needed to do one last safety check on your new staircase… your front door was unlocked, so I just let myself in. I apologize for the intrusion, I thought you were home," the construction worker who had built Zoe’s basement staircase said.
"Well, is it safe?"
"I'd say yes, but... all that stuff piled up around it is definitely a safety hazard. Someone could get trapped down there. I'd recommend moving it elsewhere as soon as possible.”
“Well, thanks for coming out, but don’t worry about it. Like seriously, don’t worry about it. I'll take care of everything.”
“Okay, Ms. Presley,” the man said. He gave her a polite nod, then was on his way.
“What’s this about a basement?” Giovanna asked, wandering into the house.
Zoe shut the door behind them. “I actually built one for you as a room. Spent a significant amount of money on it.”
“I don’t want a place to stay,” Giovanna muttered.
At that point, Zoe was so exasperated with the entire situation that she just rolled her eyes. “Too bad, you’re getting one. Come on down.”
Giovanna hesitantly followed Zoe into the basement, where Zoe gestured dramatically, showing off Giovanna’s living quarters.
"This here would have been your own personal kitchen! I was going to bring you whatever groceries you wanted each and every week!"
"I felt that this bed here matched your style perfectly, so I made sure to spend extra on the bedspread!"
"And of course, I bought you your very own easel! You were going to be able to paint to your heart's content!"
After a while, Giovanna interrupted. “This is too much..."
"Hey, Zoe!" Giovanna went on. "I'm going to sleep in another house tonight! And maybe stop telling you stories! You're scary."
“No!” Zoe snarled, moving to block the stairs. “You know what? Everything’s changed. You can stay down here and paint your stories for me so I can interpret those however I see fit.”
Zoe moved up the top of the stairs and looked at Giovanna. “You know, from this angle, you look like my grandmother. She always let me down. Just like you've done to me now. And you know what? You’re already wearing some of her old clothes. So, in that case, I’ll give you all of her clothes, alright Granny? Enjoy your life painting for me.”
Zoe opened up her wardrobe, which was still located where she'd dragged it to earlier; right next to the stairs. She dug out some clothes, then wadded them up into a ball. She then hurled the ball of clothing down the stairs, where they landed at Giovanna’s feet. Zoe then moved her wardrobe back in front of the staircase, blocking Giovanna’s way out.