𝐒𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐘 𝐊𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒 | drew starkey

prologue

prologue
A FRESH START

NOELLE RIVERS

WHAT would you do if your boyfriend of one year and nine months would cheat on you with your best friend? well, mine did and the first thing i did when i found out, besides crying for three hours, was packing my bag to leave my hometown.

i grew up in a small town in michigan. my life was pretty basic, i would say. my name is noelle rivers and i turned 24 three weeks ago, exactly one week before my ex boyfriend adam cheated on me. adam and i met through my best friend tara, who i have been besties with since middle school. adam was the perfect boyfriend. he cared about me, always gave me compliments and was just so loving. we had the perfect relationship.

and then it happened. two weeks ago, i got a message from a friend of mine that he had just seen adam kissing tara at a parking lot. of course i confronted my boyfriend and he denied nothing. he just said that he felt like i wasn't the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. i was furious. and heartbroken. my boyfriend of nearly two years cheated on me with my best friend of 11 years. and the worst thing was that tara didn't even apologize.

one week ago, i decided to have a fresh start. i couldn't live in the same small town where these two traitors live.

so i called my cousin destiny. destiny and i have always been extremely close. her family lives next to ours growing up and destiny and i spent nearly every day together, until she moved to los angeles three years ago to "experience new things".

i called her to get advice from her on what to do and she told me that she had a spare room left because her roommate moved out last month. destiny asked me if i wanted to move in with her in la and for some reason, i immediately said yes. my heart just told me to do it and that it was the right decision.

so here i am on my 5-hour flight to los angeles. i listened to some music while i looked outside the window. i have never been the spontaneous type, so making a decision like this was uncommon for me. hell, i have never even been to los angeles before. i just packed my things, quit my job at a cafe and left the town i lived in for all my life.

after we landed and i got off the plane and walked out of the tunnel that connected the security- and the welcoming area, i was immediately covered by warm arms. quite shocked, i opened my eyes to see my dear cousin destiny hugging me tightly.

"noelle! it's SO good to see you again. ugh, i missed you so fucking much," she screamed happily as she hugged me.

a big smile appeared on my lips as i hugged her back. "i missed you too, girl!" i say to my cousin and as she let me go, she analyzed my whole body.

"your hair is so much longer and darker! and is that a tattoo?!" destiny gasped and she took my left arm into her hand. i haven't seen her since last christina's, which was almost a year ago, and yes, in that time i gott first tattoo, a small hibiscus flower, because they are my favorites.

"it's really cute, i love it. it genuinely feels so good to see you, noelle. i'm so glad that you decided to move in with me," she says with a huge grin on her glossed lips.

"i'm so happy too. you know, i just needed a change and your proposal was the perfect opportunity. thank you again," i said to her. i was very grateful that she just let me live at her place and i wanted her to know that.

"it's no problem! i've been so lonely these past weeks. but let's get to my car and i'm gonna show you how pretty la and our apartment are," destiny said excitedly and so i followed her outside the airport building to her car.

i gasped when i saw her white, gorgeous range rover. "girl literally how did you afford that?" i asked my cousin. destiny worked as a journalist and was pretty successful, but i didn't know that she had that much money.

"lol, i saved for it. a range rover has always been my dream car," she grinned proudly and opened the car door. we both got into the beautiful car and she started playing some soft r&b music while we talked. i mostly talked about adam, even though it hurt and she told me about her crazy situationships. it felt good to talk to someone who doesn't judge you, like my parents for example did when i told them about the break up.

while we drove, i looked outside the window and admired the beauty of los angeles.

"happy first of december, by the way," destiny randomly said to me. huh, i thought and looked on my phone to see the date. destiny was right, it was the first of december. "what? you didn't know? noelle, out of all people you are the person who loves christmas the most! your name even means it," she gasped and i let out a laugh.

"yes, i know! but i guess the last weeks have been so busy that i completely forgot about it," i replied. adam, my parents and the moving out were all so stressful and time-consuming that i couldn't even focus on anything else, let alone my favorite month of the year.

destiny continued to drive and now when i looked outside, i noticed all the christmas decorations on houses, shops and the streets. and i laughed even more when the radio, that played softly in the background, suddenly played last christmas by wham.

"turn this shit louder!" destiny yelled and as i did, we both started singing the lyrics loud and emotionally. it felt to good to have fun again with a person i loved.

"to the best christmas you and i will ever have!" my cousin said with a big smile on her lips and gave me her hand which i shook.

to the best christmas i will ever have.

NOTE FROM ME:
hey guys,
i am so sorry for not updating this but i have been on a school trip with my schools choir (guess who got a solo😋). and NO i haven't watched the second part of outer banks but i got the biggest spoiler and honestly fuck my life. life will be stressful for the next week since i'm moving, but i hope y'all understand that and i promise that i will update this as soon as i can.

anyways, how do you like the whole idea of this story?

don't forget to vote and maybe comment🤍