New Beginnings

Chapter 1

(Author's Note: This song perfectly explains what happened between Alana and Marcus.)

Alana
"Lana, it's not your fault at all, I simply fell out of love with you." My now ex-boyfriend Marcus Cunningham tried to explain to me as I moved all of his things out of my apartment.

"Why did you have to lie about cheating on me?" I asked wanting to know the truth.

"Don't do this to yourself."

"Just take your shit and go Marcus."

"Lana, I'm sorry."

"You're right you are sorry, I gave you 4 years of my life and you just throw it away for some ho you met at work. If you were unhappy you should've told me and not gone behind my back and cheated."

"I know I went about it the wrong way and I'm sorry for that but you were being so distant."

"Just leave Marcus."

"I hope we can still be friends?"

"Go!" I slammed the door behind him and leaned on it. Finally letting all the tears I had been holding in fall down my face. 4 years, I was loyal and took care of that man for 4 years and he cheats on me with some chick he met at work. I saw the signs, I knew something was wrong but I ignored it because I loved him and thought we could work it out. He was right about me being distant but after the 6 months I had just went through I was entitled to have some time to myself. What he should've done was talk to me instead looking for refuge in another woman.

But I wasn't going to let my failed relationship bother me, if there is one thing my grandmother taught me is that you can't dwell on the past but focus on the future. And that's what I'm going to do, my job has this big promotion coming up, so I'm going to focus on that. Working at a magazine was fun I got to do the one thing that I loved doing. Taking pictures of beautiful things. And I didn't photograph your typical size 2 model, I took pictures of all sizes and races. Both male and female, I called it seeing the beauty in someone that the normal eye could not see.

I was packing up from my last photoshoot of the day when my phone started to ring.
"Alana Knight speaking."

"Always business with you." My best friend of 12 years, Leana said when I answered.

"Never know when business opportunities arise and you know my work schedule. So what's up?"

"I was calling to see if you and Marcus wanted to hang out with me and the crew tonight?"

"Marcus and I broke up."

"Lana, what happened?"

"What do you think happened, you were right. He was getting close with that new hoe at his office, Selene"

"I'm sorry babe. Tonight we are having a girls night, I'll tell Aiden to hang out with friends and let all the girls come over to your place."

"I don't feel like a girls night, can I just chill by myself?"

"No trust me. You'll thank me tomorrow."

"I guess you're right, I'll see you tonight."

"See you tonight." I hang up with Leana and finished packing up my stuff so that I could head home.

Before I went to my apartment I did a little grocery shopping so that the girls wouldn't be hungry. I got home earlier than I normally would have after a shoot, which is weird considering how bad traffic is in Atlanta. I put the groceries away and decided to change into something a bit more comfortable for tonight. After a shower and two glasses of wine Aliyah showed up with ice cream, chocolate, a box of tissue, and our other friends.