Nosebleed

Chapter 1

The self-help section. Where I find my happy place and everyone gives me weird looks. Yes, I am 17 years old and yes, I need to help myself.

Here's the thing. I have no idea who I am. I am constantly changing because I don't know who I want to be. My style changes. My hair color changes. The way I talk changes. And it's stressful really, not knowing who you are. Well, I mean, I kind of know who I am.

My name is Mia. I've got blonde hair, brown eyes, an amazing sense of humor. I'm a big fan of coffee, and of course... self-help books. I've got two friends. That's right folks. Two. Quite frankly I am okay with it though because I've got the two best friends in the whole world. They're both gorgeous and funny. And they know exactly who they are. As the kids say, they've got their "shit" together. I'm very happy for them.

So here I am, spending my time in the self-help section of my local bookstore. It's a cute little place; tiny, but the amount of books they fit in here is impressive. There's even a cat that just hangs out in the front window. According to her collar, her name is Mittens. How creative. And there's a coffee shop just across the street. Needless to say, this is where I spend most of my Saturdays.

After looking around for a while, I decide on a book. It's called "Lost My ID", and from what I collected from the back of the book, it's about a woman who one day wakes up and decides to change everything about herself, even her name. I think it would be quite interesting to see how this woman comes up with her new identity. Maybe I could steal a few tips. So I grab it off of the shelf and turn around a ram right into this guy, my book hitting him square in the nose. Now this wouldn't really be a big deal had my book not been a hardback, and had we not run into each other at a fairly high velocity. The guy grabs his face and lets out an "Ow" that alerts the whole bookstore that I had indeed ran into him. 

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I say, kinda panicking because I'm not quite sure what to do from here. He looks up at me, still holding his nose.

"You know, when I tell people I'm spending my day with my nose stuck in a book, this isn't quite what I meant." he chuckles at his own joke, as do I.

"I... I'm really sorry. Are you okay?" He lets his hand off of his nose, and checks it, inspecting for blood.

"Yeah, I'm totally fine. It... didn't even hurt that bad." he leans onto a bookshelf and puts his hands in the pockets of his skinny jeans.

I laugh. "Are you sure? That was a fairly loud 'ow' you let out a second ago."

"Ah, that was just... instinct." he smirks at me. "What's your name?"

"Mia." I stick my hand out to shake his. "Wait, there wasn't any blood on that hand right?" I smile at him and he smiles back. He has a really pretty smile. Wow.

"Nope. Blood-free. I'm Chase." he shakes my hand, and I notice how pale his hands are. And boney. He's so skinny, but in an attractive way.

"Well it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry I had to almost break your nose to do it, but nonetheless, it was nice."

"The pleasure is all mine." his hand slides back into his pocket. "So, a self-help book, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm... a mess. As if you can't tell." I laugh, a little embarrassed. "What are you reading?" I ask, referring to the book in his hand.

"It's uh... a book on homemade ways to cure the common cold. Sounds dumb, but did you know there's almost 20 different ways to get rid of a cough that doesn't involve drugging your body?"

"Wow. I'm intrigued."

"I'd be happy to tell you all about them. Maybe over coffee?" he looks over at the coffee shop across the street.

I ponder the thought for a minute. I don't even know this guy. As if reading my mind, he replies,

"I promise, I'm not a murderer or anything. Just a guy who doesn't like medicine, but really likes coffee." I laugh.

"Sure. Why not?" So we pay for our books and make our way out into the bitter cold winds of an Omaha winter.