Scarred for Love

Chapter 1

“Can I get that for you?” A voice made her jump. In the process, dropping the overloaded box of things to the ground and bumping her head on the door frame to the back seat of her car. Addison turned around, rubbing the back of her head and found herself staring into a manly silhouette. Damn you sun! She thought.

“I’m good. I’ve got it.” Addison exhaled with a slight hint of annoyance and shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand. “Thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” Is what the stranger came back at her and he walked away. Addison made an attempt to try and pick up the remainder of her stuff that had fallen to the ground. She grew curious as to what this stranger looked like so she looked past her car, in the direction he took off in. She saw him walk towards the house next door, following two other guys. He turned and looked in her direction. She thought she saw a slight hint of a smile on his face. Her heart did a flip-flop. Whoa! He's hot! She told herself internally. She shook the daze from her brain and picked up the box she had just refilled and headed into her new home. She had a bit of work to do to get settled in before the start of classes on Monday. Who knows, if she got things worked out early, she’d be able to experience how Californians lived. Based on her manly neighborhood trio, perhaps Californians don’t have that stereotypical beach bum look and attitude. Then again, with a prestigious college like Stanford, there would have to be some intellectual people around here. She found herself feeling a little guilty for being short with the stranger. Perhaps she’d see him around again at which point she'd have her chance to apologize and introduce herself; that’s even if he remembered her.

Addison managed to unpack and organize her kitchen, bathroom and bedroom on her first day there. She never realized how close to the beach she was. In fact, she was on a cul-de-sac where the beach backed onto her back yard. She stood on the back patio with her glass of wine looking up at the sunset. She closed her eyes and let out a loud sigh of relief.

“Yeah. This is life!” She spoke out softly to herself. She felt at peace for the first time in almost a year since Carter’s attack. She shook the memory out of her head and forced some happy and positive thoughts back into her mind. I wonder what the girls are doing this weekend. Oh how she wished that she were back in Rhode Island and that none of the last eleven months had happened. She didn’t really care where she was, she simply wanted to be surrounded by the people that she loved the most.

He found himself fixated on her face. She looked like a little girl at Christmas but in this case, instead of the first snow, it was the sunset. He wasn’t quite sure if it was the dimming daylight playing tricks on him or if it was her but he seriously couldn’t look away. He had watched her move in her boxes out of her car. She couldn’t be as bitchy as he thought she was when she neglected to let him help her when he had offered earlier.

“Hey Nate!” He heard one of the guys calling. He looked inside the house.

“Yeah?” When he turned around to see about this new neighbor, she had disappeared into her house. “Coming man.” He made a point in trying to get to know her. The girl next door, what a classic Nate. He told himself shaking his head.

The sun was shinning through her drapes, the sound of waves crashing could be heard in the distant breeze coming through her bedroom window and Addison couldn’t help but smile to herself before she even opened her eyes. It was Friday. After a little difficulty falling asleep, to which she only blamed on a strange and new environment, she had the most amazing sleep in as long as she could remember. No nightmare! Finally! She thought.

“Now for the rest of this place.” She spoke aloud in a determined fashion. Addison loved this house and everything about it. Mostly, she loved the security it offered. Seeing as it was fully furnished with mostly new furniture, all she had to do is re-arrange things and decorate to her own liking. She didn't expect to have everything to her liking practically off the get-go. I guess I do get to head out of the house and explore a bit before Monday. She had thought to herself, shortly after her arrival, yesterday. She headed downstairs to the kitchen for a quick breakfast and made a point to call her parents.