Addicted to You

Chapter 1: An Intense Game of Tonsil Tennis

It wasn't even like I was from small town in the middle of nowhere. I was from the land of the loonie and the home of the "EH!" speakers. Toronto, Canada was my home and though I love it dearly, one can only deny for so long that if you want your dreams to come true, America is the place to be. My dream however, was not to become an actress in Hollywood or to have access to American Netflix. My dream was to become a business woman and what better place to achieve this dream then to go to New York. There is no doubt in my mind that I could become a business woman in Toronto; it is one of the world's best cities for business but, New York is THE best city for business and I will settle at nothing to become the best.

Am I ambitious? Yes. Is my dream unrealistic or too far-fetched? Possibly. But, no matter how rough the road to achieving greatness may be, I would rather try my best and fail, rather than live my life wallowing in regret and what ifs. It isn't like I'm going to Manhattan as a kid straight out of high school with no sense of what the real world is like. Instead I'm a 24 year old graduate from Schulich School of Business with insight on how cruel the business world really is. Plus, I've already set up interviews with several financial companies prior to my arrival in New York.

My hope is to land a job at Ashford Investments Limited. It's been my dream to work their since I was 15. I remember listening to the news with my dad one day and hearing an interview with the CEO, Benjamin Ashford, and hearing him talk about changing the business world with his companies ideas. Hearing the raw passion in his voice made me completely fall in love with business and his company. Before hearing that interview, I was thinking of becoming a family doctor which in retrospect, was a really stupid idea because I can't even stand the sight of blood.

I was laying in my bed when thinking about New York and Ashford Investments Limited. when I was brought out of my thoughts by my roommate/best friend and her boyfriend barging into my room. They had their tongues 10 feet down each others throats before I cleared my throat to notify them of my presence.

"No please, do go on. Don't let the fact that you walked in here let me interrupt your intense game of tonsil tennis. Nerissa it really looked like you were gonna win," I said to the overly loved up couple.

"GO SUCK ON A LEMON YOU NON-BELIEVER IN LOVE," Nerissa yelled back at me.

"LOVE IS FOR LOSERS!"

"WELL BEING SINGLE IS FOR STICKS IN THE MUD!"

"IT TAKES A STICK IN THE MUD TO KNOW A STICK IN THE MUD!"

"THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE GEMMA!"

Thinking of nothing better to say, I playfully stick my tongue out at her and flipped her my middle finger. In response, she just laughed and came to lie on my bed beside me. We stayed like that for a while until I realized that Nerissa's boyfriend was no where to be found. Assuming that he left like he always does when we get into our petty fights, I continued to lay on my bed. Once again my thoughts drifted to Manhattan, but instead of thinking about Ashford Financial Limited., I was more focused on my living arrangements. There was no way I was going to afford an apartment in The Big Apple by myself, so I had found myself a roommate. I sincerely hoped she wasn't a mess like Nerissa was. Every day, I would have to clean up some mess that she made. Whether it be dishes in the sink or her dirty clothes spread throughout our apartment, Nerissa paid no mind to my need for neatness and order.

Despite her being the untidiest person I knew, I couldn't help but love her to pieces from the moment we met. I remember it was our first day of kindergarten and me, being a little social butterfly, caught sight of a little girl with bright blonde hair and blue eyes and decided to ask her it we could become best friends. From that day on, we became inseparable. Her appeal came from the fact that she looked like the polar opposite of me. While she had blonde wavy hair, bright blue eyes, and was slightly taller than most of the other students, I had dark brown frizzy curls, eyes so dark you couldn't see the pupil, and was the shortest kid in the class.

Looking at the two of us in the mirror across from my bed, it's almost as if nothing has changed, except for the fact that we both got taller and our bodies matured. I become a bit emotional at the thought of having to leave my childhood best friend. I would have loved for her to come with me but she was content staying here in Toronto and I had to respect that decision. But respecting that decision didn't mean I couldn't annoy her by being overly affectionate until the moment my plane takes off. Deciding that now was a good time to start loving her up, I climbed on top of her and wrapped my arms around her torso. The position was a bit uncomfortable though because she was trying to ignore me and continue looking at her phone.

Deciding to make my presence on top of her even more known, I leaned over to whisper in her ear. "Hey Near Bear, do you want slice of this delicious Gemma Pie?" I then proceeded in licking her ear and wiggling my eyebrows suggestively at her, but she just gave me a blank look. Like a scorned puppy, I rolled off of her and lay back down in my original spot with a pout on my face. I stayed like that for about 10 seconds until Nerissa burst out laughing. I was going to ask her why she was laughing like a hyena but before I could she started to talk.

Barely able to contain her laughter, she explained to me why she was laughing so hard. "OK, so one time Marcus and I were making out and I was on top of him, kinda like the way you were on top of me, when all of a sudden I hear 'pffffffft.' So then I was like 'What the hell was that Marcus' and he was tomato red and he was like 'I farted.' And then I couldn't stop laughing and he couldn't stop blushing and it was great"

Unable to suppress my own laughter, I laughed for good minute before I was able to spit out the words, "How romantic!"

"The lingering aroma of his fart really set the mood."

"You guys could have made out to the soundtrack of his fart."

"GEMMA STRATTON DO NOT GO THERE! I SWEAR TO GOD I'M LAUGHING SO HARD I JUST PEED MY PANTS A BIT!"

"Well then, there is a bathroom across from my bedroom if you are finding it difficult to keep your pee inside your bladder. Please feel free to use the toilet so that you can relieve yourself."

"I should probably do that before I pee so much that I get my pants wet."

And with that being said, she ran to the bathroom. As she was in the bathroom, I decided to bother her more by yelling, "MAYBE AFTER YOUR DONE IN THERE YOU CAN INVITE MARCUS OVER AGAIN TO PLAY TONSIL TENNIS. BUT MAYBE THIS TIME YOU CAN BE THE ONE TO BLOW SOME GAS."

"Words cannot describe how much I loathe you Gemma."