His Sweet Escape

Chapter 3: Love's Overated

The plane touched down and Amber felt the familiar pop in her ears from the air pressure. It was early afternoon because they gained time as they flew west. The girls passed through the foreign traveler registration fairly quickly and hailed a cab. As they were dropped of at the building's entrance, the doorman nodded to them politely and helped them with their bags. They took the lift up to the apartment, actually pent-house, and Anna knocked tentatively on the grand door.

"Darlings! You're back... again. It's so good to see you!" the middle-aged woman squeezed their cheeks and gave them kisses. Her dark, wavy hair was put up into a messy bun and she was still a beauty, especially for her age.

"How was the flight? Oh! I have presents. Here, here. Okay, so you know where your rooms are so have fun. Got to meet with my assistant!!" She left as quickly as she came, waggling her fingers in a 'toodles' manner. Amber and Anna looked down at the thin box that was shoved into their hands. Then they looked at each other.

"Oh bloody hell! Let's just open it!" Anna exclaimed and slid off the top of hers. It was a thin silver band with charms that seemed to be made of glitter. A single silver 'A' sat in the middle. It would have been beautiful if all the beastly glitter was gone. A note was attatched to both bracelets. It read the same message, typed most likely by their mother's assistant.

For my darling daughters,

It shines just like you! I'm so proud you take after me. The 'A' on each is for you to remember that I love you. It stands for 'Alli", which is my first name. If I could've named you two after me, I would have! This is for you to always remember me! Love, Mom (signed: Alli Brooke)

Her signature, or autograph in their mother's point of view, was scrawled across the bottom of the parchment, taking up most of the page. This was absolutely ridiculous.

"I'm going to throw this out the window and then pack out my stuff. You coming?" Anna asked Amber as she headed for the stairs that curved elegantly into the large front room. When Amber stepped into her large suite, it was like she never left. As Alli promised for the last three summers, their dormitories were to remain untouched. It was nice that she let them have their own place they could make like home without any maid disturbing it. But that also meant all the belongings they left were still there aka John's old hoodie, their couple photographs, and a few postcards. After clearing them all to one side of the room, Amber managed to unpack her baggage into the enormous walk-in closet and night table.

Amber laid back onto the plush king-size bed and slowly ran her fingers over the soft duvet cover. She moved to toss the garbage away (any object related to John) but she soon fell back onto the blankets. The long flight left her completely zonked and the time-difference didn't help at all. Her phone vibrated from its perch that it was charging from. Texts from John. Amber couldn't bother to read what crap he had to say. She felt herself falling asleep and soon, the exhaustion won over.

"Why'd you leave me?" she asked again and again. John just shook his head, staying silent. The pain had stopped momentarily. All that was left was the confusion and the questions. Mainly one question. Why? Why didn't he tell her? Why did he abandon her? All these were whirling in her mind. John dissappeared into a swallowing darkness and all that was left was a thump. A constant thrum. She was sure it was her heartbeat. She felt a presence behind her. Thinking it was John, she turned. She was met with blue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She awoke early in the dawn, around 6:30. It took her a while to orient herself and fully wake, but she felt as if she slept a good portion of the jet-lag off. There was almost no sound in the pent-house. It was just the light tap of Amber's converse on the marble tile that slightly echoed. It was slightly cold in the large residence and she pulled her cream cardigan closer to her body. The moved out onto the large balcony the overlooked the skyline and part of Central Park. Glancing around for a better place to view the rising sun, she spotted a ladder leading up to what she suspected was the roof of the building. She placed a hand and pulled, testing if it was stable. It never budged, bolted into the concrete wall securely. As she placed hand after hand on the rungs, the slight dew from the morning clinging to her slender fingers.

Once she reached her destination, she plopped herself onto the ledge and took in the tranquil start of the morning. The sun's early rays turned the clouds pastel pink and yellow before they became completely white. Slowly taking out her book that was tucked into her back pocket of her jeans, she opened back to the part where the main girl realizes she fell for the popular boy she can't have. Cliche'. Love was so overated.

"I thought I was the only one who came up here." a voice startled her out of the silence. She jumped by surprise and slipped on the ledge that was damp already from the dew.

"Woah!" she let out as she frantically grabbed at her sides for some grip to stop her from tumbling down into a busy Manhattan street. A pair of gentle, yet strong, hands wound themselves around her waist and pulled her back up over the ledge onto the flat roof. They released her and she ran back to the ledge, trying in vain to spot the fallen novel.

"You nearly sent me falling to my death you bloody bastard!" she whirled around angrily and some unflattering words were ready to jump out of her mouth. They died in her throat when she saw who her almost killer was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oooooh! Cliffy! Alli Brooke aka the mom is to the right. Any comments/suggestions so far? I am trying to find a perfect picture of Colin Ford to showcase his blue eyes but I have to settle with the one that I'm putting in the next chapter. So how many of you fall for those mysterious yet sweet guys out there? Definitely me!!!