Shattered [On Hold]

05. Let the Game Begin

- Kady -

'I'll be there in fifteen.'

I read Liv's message again. I texted Liv to pick me up from the cafe after Logan left. I need to tell all that happened today to someone. Someone who would understand me completely and knows everything about my past and that Logan Barnes was my high school best friend. And I knew that someone was only Liv. She is the oldest friend I have. We've been friends since college. She is the only one I trust completely.

I touch the ring on my left hand out of habit. It's just a simple ring, not one of those ridiculously expensive and fancy ones. Its three strands are curved and woven together with a simple blue stone set in between them.

"Relax, I'm not proposing. It's just a promise ring." Alex had said those exact words to me that day, while slipping the ring on my finger. That day. That same day of the accident.

I look around the cafe, trying to distract my mind. It's been two years since Alex died. Yet, it still affects me.

My gaze falls upon three girls sitting two tables away from me. All of them were laughing. They remind me of my college days. I look down at the cup of my coffee. It's already gotten cold. I didn't drink it yet. I just couldn't let myself to.

There were also three of us. We always used to stick together.

The aroma of the coffee wafting up in the air towards me isn't helping. My eyes go to those three girls again. I could feel the memory building up inside me, begging to be let free.

I remember that day perfectly clear. I was sitting across from Lucy at our usual table with a cup of coffee in front of me, thinking that the cafe was way too crowded for ten in the morning. I didn't understand how people could be so chirpy so early in the day.

"How was your weekend? You went to your younger sister's birthday party, right?" I asked Lucy.

"Oh, you won't believe what happened. You know, there's a little girl in our neighborhood who was also invited to the party and she's living with her grandpa, who, by the way, is a total- Holy hotness."

I frowned, "Her grandpa is a...holy hotness?"

"Not her grandpa. Behind you."

I turned around in my seat to look at the 'holy hotness,' and sure enough there he was, Alex Walker in all his glory, dressed in ripped jeans and a leather jacket. With black hair that was perfect in a messy way and a tattoo that started from his neckline on the right side and disappeared somewhere beneath his shirt, he looked like a total badass. Not that I'd ever admitted that out loud.

I turned back to Lucy, "You're drooling."

She closed her mouth and then said: "You can't blame me. He just keeps getting hotter and hotter day by day. Come on, even you have to admit that."

I shook my head. She knew I'd never admit that. No matter how much of a truth that was.

She took one strand of her curly, black hair and started playing with it. "I don't understand why you hate him so much."

"I don't hate him. I just don't drool over him like all the other girls do. Anyways, where is Liv?"

"Oh, she is following hotness to the counter."

"Liv is following hotness?" I asked dumbly and turned to look at the counter and there they were. Liv was following right behind Alex with a dreamy look on her face and he was completely oblivious to her.

"There!" Lucy exclaimed. "You called him hotness! I knew it! There's not a single girl who cannot see how hot he is."

"Shut up, Lucy," I said and got up.