CHAPTER 1
Tabitha isn't cheating.
Tabitha isn't cheating.
Tabitha isn't cheating.
My thoughts stop as my legs finally give out on me.
Damn.
I look around and realize that I'm a good six miles away from the apartments I live in. I pause the music coming through my headphones that was supposed to keep me distracted from my thoughts. As usual, it is proving to be unsuccessful.
I still can't stop thinking about the fact that last night when I was on the phone with my girlfriend, Tabitha, she was out clubbing in her hometown, five hours away, no doubt around a bunch of guys. I want to trust that she isn't out cheating on me, but after taking her back for doing it twice, I'm not too confident.
My best friend, Liam, tells me that I just need to dump her. He says that way I don't have to worry about her cheating on me, and I can start having some fun of my own, by that he means sleeping around. But he and I both know that hooking up isn't my thing.
So here I am at five o'clock in the morning trying to exhaust myself enough to get her off my mind. However, if anyone asks, I'll tell them I'm just conditioning for soccer, that way I won't look like too much of a loser.
I take a couple of deep breaths, trying to decide the quickest way to get back to the apartments so I can get a couple of hours of sleep before having to be at work. Looking back now, maybe it wasn't such a smart idea to run this early when I knew I had an eight o'clock shift.
I consider calling my twin sister, Eve, but I know that she'll just laugh and hang up. So I end up just taking a shortcut through the neighborhood bordering our apartments. It only takes ten minutes to get back to the apartments and by that time, my mind is back on Tabitha.
Maybe I should just call her.
Yeah, right, Ethan. She's not going to find it weird that you called her before the roosters even started crowing.
I pause the mental argument I'm having with myself when I hear swearing and a banging sound. I wonder if maybe the apartments are falling apart around me. I hope they aren't, because we just paid rent yesterday, and the last thing I want to do is find another place to stay.
I come up short when I find a girl with the mouth of a sailor kicking the shit out of the vending machine. Her back is to me, so I can't see her face, but I can see the disheveled hair that falls just a little below the bottom of her ears. She's got on a baggy sweatshirt, jogging pants, and a pair of combat boots that are holding strong against her abuse of the vending machine. All in all, the girl and her outfit look a hot mess, but I can't keep myself from stopping to watch her.
She's quite entertaining.
Kick.
"Give me my stuff, you piece of shit!"
Kick.
"Dumb ass, Sebastian! This is your fault."
Kick.
I don't know who Sebastian is or what he did to her, but I can't tell if she's more pissed at him or the machine.
"I knew I shouldn't have left my fucking apartment." She sounds more resigned now.
Kick.
Suddenly, the girl stops what she's doing and turns around, her eyes instantly landing on me. I can't tell the color from where I stand, but I can feel the intensity of them and it makes my heart skip a beat as I wait for her to speak. She folds her arms over her chest and starts to tap her foot impatiently.
