“Of all the hardships a person had to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.” ~ Khaled Hosseini

He pulled me close, and I gasped. Beneath his impossibly long lashes, Tristan Grape’s hooded dark searing eyes scanned me. “Before I kiss you with my hot lips, I must ask you, Harper, have you finished your blog entry?”

I dropped my eyes in shame, heat filling my face as I turned 50 shades of red in embarrassment. “I… I did not, Tristan. I was having problems with fitted mesh and my boots needed refitting and I kept losing a hand when I put on my hair and I crashed 20 times.” I shuddered at the memory of adjusting the skybox and testing the windlight with 50 shades of blue density.

He sighed. “You know what this means, Harper?”

I blinked. “I lost my Flickr Pro privileges?”

He shook his head solemnly. “No, it means you must go to the Red Room.” When he said “Red Room,” I heard an echo as if he had turned on his voice morph in SL. My heart fluttered. Now I would know about Tristan’s Red Room, that forbidden skybox of pain and pleasure, that mesh enclosure of virtue and vice, that mysterious cube in the sky made by Niemack Saarinen that took only 32 prims on his spacious Homestead. I was going to enter the forbidden zone!

He rezzed a chaise from Rogan Diesel and after I clicked through several poses, finding a comfortable position, he moved me up into the skybox. Where I waited. And waited. I fluffed my mesh skirt from Ivy Burner and checked the buttons straining on the leather vest, hoping I showed some Rock Attitude. I retied the laces on my boots from Circe Ishtari and admired their shiny materials-ready texture. I readjusted my fishnets from Bax Coen and clicked my nail HUD to try all 12 colors (not 50 shades but come on, it’s only 5L!) from Giela Delpaso’s generous applier for the Runway Perfect Hunt. Twisting my heart-shaped ring from Maxi Gossamer that I just got at FaMESHed, I clicked the light fixtures on and off… on and off… on and off.

Wisps of my straight asymmetrical hair from M4ri1yn Magic floated against my cheek. I checked all 50+ shades of hair M4ri1yn offers on his HUDs while I waited. I admired my spanking new skin from Shyla Diggs (pun intended), enjoying the vibrant makeups and her beautiful features. (I am so glad Shyla is back!) I clicked some more, changing the color of the stones in my heart-shaped pendant from Maxi Gossamer. Click… click… click. I sighed. Click… click… click. As I waited, my heart beat faster and faster in anticipation of what would happen in this red room.

And then I saw something that made my heart stop:

“Tristan Grape is offline.”

Ugh, fifty shades of f’ed up.

“Tators, baby.” ~ Tristan Grape

Hair: ~Tableau Vivant~ Valentin Hair (regular) – FatPack by M4ri1yn Magic for Tableau Vivant, available at FaMESHed *

Skin: -Belleza- Ria SK 9 Dk with -Belleza- Sk cleavage (Tattoo) by Shyla Diggs and Tricky Boucher for -Belleza- *

Eyes: .ID. Delicate Eyes / Brown by Audrey Lamede for Insufferable Dastard

Outfit: ~Sassy!~ Rockitude vest+skirt by Ivy Burner for ~Sassy!~, available at the Rock Attitude Fashion Fair *

Necklace and Ring: MG – Necklace – Kinbaku Heart – Short – SILVER and MG – Rings – Kinbaku Heart – Large – SILVER by Maxi Gossamer for Maxi Gossamer, available at FaMESHed *

Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual Left and Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual Right by Siddean Munro for Slink

Nail appliers: Nailed It – Slink – The Runway Perfect Set HUD by Giela Delpaso for Nailed It, available from the Runway Perfect Hunt *

Stockings: BAX Ornament Leggings Fishnet long low-waist by Bax Coen for Bax Coen *

Boots: Tokyo.Girl . Myr Boots . Orenji by Circe Ishtari for Tokyo Girl *

Skybox: iDoM \\ The Red Room by Niemack Saarinen for iDoM *

Chaise: Diesel Works – Elvira Ottoman (Cerise/Black) by Rogan Diesel for DieselWorks Animations *

Poses by Valencia Southard for Marukin