Wild

Chapter one

I've never fallen in love. 

I guess I've been too busy, or maybe I've just never found the right girl. I mostly focus on my schoolwork and grades. But now it's my Junior year of college, and I realized that I haven't had any fun these past 3 years. I've wasted so many Saturday and Friday nights studying I've lost track of the weekends.

I first noticed how lonely I was this summer. I called up my small group of friends, and almost all of them couldn't hang out because they were going out with their girlfriends. I looked for a girlfriend for a while but never really connected with any of the girls I met. Hell, I even tried online dating. Which by the way, is a total waste of time.

So eventually I gave up. Deleting my Tinder account was so hard to do. When it asked me, "Are you sure you want to delete your account?" I felt like a total failure. Almost like I was giving up my chances of finding a girlfriend altogether. But I still went through with it out of spite of my failed attempts.

After I gave up I returned to what seemed like an endless cycle of studying for tests and quizzes. I have a 4.3 GPA, and go to UCLA. So I guess you could say I've got it going on when it comes to academics, but I still feel so lonely. Almost like there's some part of my life that I've neglected.

-

My phone rang. 

I jumped out of bed and made my way across my room in one step to my cell phone on my desk. I prayed that it was one of my friends, and that maybe they would want to hang out. It was. The name "DANNY BOI" lit up the screen of my phone. Finally, I'd have something to do besides study on a Friday night. I hit the answer button and put the phone up to my ear.

"Danny!"

"Alex!"

"How are you doing man, I haven't talked to you in like forever," I said, trying to make him feel a little bad about neglecting our friendship.

"Yeah," he said, "I mean Kasey's been taking up a lot of my time, since she's moving next month."

"You guy are still dating?"

"Yeah," he said proudly, "One year strong."

"Nice." 

The jealousy is real.

"Anyways man, there's this whole big thing going down at The Cabana tonight around 11. Everyone's going and I figured you'd want to come check it out."

"Yeah man I'll be there," I said cautiously, "I'll call you when I get there."

"Alright bye."

He hung up pretty quickly so I figured Kasey had come over. My stomach churned like butter. The Cabana was one of the lesser known bars in Los Angeles. It was mostly drunk students, and party people looking for a good time. It was usually pretty busy, but not as bad as some of the bigger clubs or bars in the area. I rarely drink, and don't even like to be around people drinking. But I figured, with an attitude like that in California, I might as well live under a rock.

So I went. I put on a plain black t-shirt and jeans. I aimed to achieve a look I've never seemed to be able to get just right, casual. I always either look too dressed up, or homeless. There is no in between. I figured what I had on was good enough. I called an Uber, and they picked me up outside my apartment complex.

I got into the Sedan and scanned the driver. It was a guy about my age, about 22 years old. He looked pretty friendly and was dressed pretty nice. He greeted me politely and acted friendly, so I figured he wasn't going to murder me. I told him where to go, and he took off.

The driver didn't try to make conversation with me, so I was relieved. As we drove through the city, I looked out the window at what was around us as we went by. We passed bars, hotels, and apartment complexes, all with a million different hidden stories. I tried to imagine friends meeting up at the bars. Small families staying overnight in swanky hotels. People inviting their family over for dinner at their apartment.

Finally we pulled up at my destination. I paid the driver,and stepped out of the car. The Uber drove away quickly, and I wondered if he had someplace to be

I stood outside The Cabana took in what was around me. It smelled like liquor and sweat. There were people standing outside smoking and talking.  A couple people glanced at me, but didn't take any interest in me, thank God.

I looked up at the large, bright, neon sign above the entrance. "The Cabana" was spelled out in purple cursive letters. Several other smaller neon signs such as "Open" or "Fireball" and "Tequila" were scattered on the wall around it. I stood, flushed in the bright purple and pink lights, almost hypnotized. I snapped out of it and checked my phone for the time.

11:23

A text from Danny read "Where are you?"

I put my phone back in my pocket, and started for the entrance.

Authors Note: I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter of this book. I plan to update regularly. Chapter two should be up soon. Stay tuned:)