Always

Chapter 17

I get to my new apartment. It's cute and small. It's just a studio that's all I could afford by myself. I have a few grand saved up that I can live off of until I find a new job here. I have to get a bed, and other things. The only things I did pack up was 3 outfits 2 dresses and 2 pairs of shoes. I should've thought this through more. I'm lugging both of my suitcases up to my new apartment from my car. "Do you need any help with that?" A stranger said. He had a deep voice but it was soothing. It kind of sounded like Jacks which brought tears to my eyes.

"If you don't mind." I say. Normally I wouldn't except any help from a stranger but I'm exhausted. I can barely move my legs. "Where are you coming from?" He asked me as he takes my bag from me. I finally see what he looks like. He has blonde hair and green eyes. He has tattoos up and down his arms. He's got a great build and he's probably around 6'1. "Um Texas" I responded. "Oh cool, what brings you here?" He asks me. He's a pretty nosey neighbor. What's with the 21 questions. "Just wanted to start fresh." I say as he carries my bags inside for me. "Oh I'm Deke, but people just call me D." He holds out his hand to shake. "I'm Isabelle" I say as I take his hand in mine. His hands are soft and he's strong.

He leaves after he says "it's nice to meet you" and I finally get to settle into my apartment. I don't have my bed yet but the people before me left an air mattress so I decide to sleep on that for tonight. Tomorrow I'll go shopping. Soon I'm fast asleep.

I wake up around 5pm since I fell asleep around 10:30am earlier. The stores should still be open so I decide to get my shopping over with now. I have to get something to eat anyway. I grab my keys and make sure to lock my apartment up. I don't know where anything is so I drive until I find something. I see a McDonald's and decide to stop there and order something. "Could I get the number 4. Medium with a water to drink please." I say to the young girl at the register. She puts it in for me, "that'll be $8.49." I hand her a $10 "just keep the change. Do you happen to know if there's a Walmart near by?" I ask the girl. "Yeah about 10 miles that way." She says smacking her lips since she's chewing a piece of bubblegum. I hate when people do that. "Thanks" I say as I walk away.

I get my food and eat it there then head in the direction she tells me too. I had to leave my phone at the apartment because I didn't want Jack to track me down. I also have to get a new one of those. I finally get up to the Walmart after a 20 minutes drive. I pick out a cheap frame and mattress and any other hardware I need. Lastly I get an iPhone 6 because that was the cheapest one they had. I check out and load it all up into my tiny car. It barely fit.

I get back to my apartment and unlock the door so I can start to carry everything in. I grab the bed frame I bought first and it's so heavy. I try dragging it but end up dropping it. Great now there's a scratch on it. "Hey Isabelle, let me help you with that." Deke helps me out. "Are you stalking me? Every time I turn around you're right there." I say with a laugh. It felt good to laugh. He laughed with me. "I'm sure anybody would help you out not just me. We're just like that around here." He says. "Really because everybody else has just been watching me struggle other than you?" I respond with. I probably put a little too much attitude into that. But it's annoying when people just watch you struggle instead of lending a hand. "Okay, well maybe it was only me who was raised right." He says with a smile. He has a beautiful smile. It literally sparkles like in the movies.

An old lady steps out onto that porch. "D you're such a good and strong man." She says flirtatiously. I snicker quietly. "Thank you Mrs. Robinson." He says as he waves a hand up to her to say hi. "Just call me miss Robinson." She says back with a smile. "Looks like somebody has an admirer." I say as we step into my apartment. "Ha yeah I guess so. Do you need help putting all this together?" He asks me. "Uh no I think I got it from here thank you." I offer him a small smile. I'm sure the bags under my eyes from crying says a lot. "Okay well if you change your mind I'm in apartment 4D just around the corner." He says as he walks out.

I carry the rest of my stuff up to the apartment. The other things are nearly as heavy thank god. It's already 9pm and I just want to go back to sleep. I drag myself to start putting everything together. First the bed frame then the mattress laid out onto it. I start to put together my desk but I'm missing parts. Of course I am missing something. I internally roll my eyes. It's 11pm now. Maybe Deke has a screw like this I could get from him. I slip on my eyes shoes and my silk robe and head to his apartment. 4D around the corner. I don't like being out at night by myself so I walk fastly over there. Finally I find it.

Knock knock. No answer. Knock knock. The door swings open. "Oh hey Isabelle what's up?" He says sleepily. I must've woke him up. Now I feel bad. "I'm sorry I woke you. I can just come back tomorrow." I tell him. "No it's fine. I don't work tomorrow anyway. What do you need?" "Um, well. I was putting together my desk but they only gave me two of these screws" I held up the screw when I said that. "Instead of 4 is there any chance you have a couple lying around?" I ask him. I hate asking somebody for something already only being here for not even 24 hours yet. "I don't have any, but there is a hardware store that's open 24 hours it's only a mile down the road. I could go with you to help you." He suggests. "I couldn't ask you to do that." I say to him. I already woke him up and I don't want to take away from his sleep. "It's not a problem let me grab my jacket." He says to me as he turns around. His apartment is set up almost like mine but it's a little bigger. He actually has a bedroom unlike me.

"Okay let's go." He says. I give him a small smile. "Do you want to take my car?" I ask him. "It's only a mile we can just walk." He says. I really don't want to walk but I already suggest the car and woke him up. So I just start walking beside him. It's awkward silence right now. All I can think about is how Jack reacted to me leaving. Did he decide to get help? Is he drinking away is sorrows? Does he even care that I left? Deke pulls me out of my thoughts. "So do you know anybody who lives around here?" He asks me. "Um. No. I just didn't know where else to go. This is one of the cheaper places to live in the US and I also didn't want to drive super far away." I respond to him. It's awkward silence again and we reach the hardware store. "Good afternoon how may I help you today?" The older guy that seems to be the only one here asks. "Um I'm looking for two of these screws?" I say holding up the screw again. "That'll be down aisle 3. You can't miss it." He says with a big smile on his face. Maybe he owns this little hardware store. "Nice to see you again sir, how is your night?" The older guy says to deke. They know each other? I guess it is a small town.

"Just helping out my new neighbor. Everything good here, Bob?" He asks the older man. "Yes everything has been fine." With that we walk to aisle 3 just like he told us too. We find the screws and go to check out. "You know you don't have to pay for this stuff it's your store." The old man says. This is where Deke works. He owns this store? I look up at Deke in shock. "Yeah but that would technically be stealing Mr. bob." He says with a laugh. He pays for the screws for me which was only $5. "See you tomorrow Bob." "See you tomorrow Boss." Bob replies.

"I thought you said you didn't work tomorrow? And you own this store?" I ask so fast. "It was my dad's when he passed he left it to me. I didn't want to make you feel bad since you already felt bad for waking me." He says. Well that was sweet but he didn't have to lie to me. "I'm so sorry for your loss." I say to him. "Thank you. It was years ago. What about you, do you still see your parents?" He asks me. The flashback came back from that night. When they were murdered. Then them beating me up in the parking lot. "They died when I was 17." I respond with trying to pull myself together. I suddenly feel sick and have to throw up. How embarrassing. I bend over a hurl everywhere. He grabs my hair for me and holds it back. "Are you okay?" He asks me. I can hear the concern in his voice. Why does this guy already care for me. "Yeah no I'm fine. I just. I've been like this all week." He doesn't say anything else to me. He helps me help and lets me lean against him on the way home.

We get back to my apartment and he helps me in. "Why don't you take a shower and I can build this for you?" He suggests. "No it's really okay. You have work tomorrow. I can do it." I tell him. "It's okay it shouldn't take me that long anyway." I nod and head to the shower because I really did need one. I wish this sickness would go away. I jump into the shower and suddenly feel light headed. "Jack" I call out and then everything goes black.