On Leave

One

One

Time flies when you're inputting invoices all day and running around waiting busy tables all night just to come home and sit on a laptop for four hours in between shifts. For Raelynn Wilson, the faster that time went meant she could get home, get her schoolwork done and walk her baby boy, Chip, around the nearby park before hitting the hay and starting all over again the next day.

She'd been doing this for almost a year now once she moved from her parents house in Boston, Massachusetts to the hottest and deadliest desert region known to man. Probably the most expensive too since she was in college territory otherwise known as Arizona State University, one of the most expensive and notorious universities in the US. Since Raelynn didn't have a car that meant she had to find a place close to work and the school which placed her smack dab in the expensive neighborhoods and apartments. Unfortunately that meant money and unlike most of the children going to ASU whose parents were paying for nearly everything and then some, her parents couldn't help and she didn't want them to. Aside from her older sister Dana and her they still had 4 children that lived in the house under 16 years old. Neither Dana nor Raelynn were willing to ask for help and since Dana now lived with her boyfriend, she definitely didn't need much help if any anymore.

Raelynn made it work with what she had, working full time as a records keeper and inputting invoices at the city's police department. It was perfect because she also received credits towards her degree since she was majoring in criminal justice. Her end goal was to be a K-9 Unit officer and be a dog handler. Just another year and she can become a full officer since she was only 20 years old and to be an officer you need to be at least 21.

Once finished with that job she'd go home, take Chip, her purebred Shepard out for exercise, feed him, do schoolwork, then head down to the Mom and Pop diner she worked at for a couple extra hours. She was lucky enough to always have her weekends free but throughout the weekdays she worked a minimum of 14 hours a day, slept five, and the rest was spent with Chip or her best friend Ashley.

Raelynn met Ashley in an unusual way while working at the diner one night. Ashley had been working on an assignment that involved math and she had seemed ready to rip her own hair out. Raelynn had always been good at math and her parents thought she should go into that direction, but that wasn't where Raelynn's heart was. Recognizing the problem Raelynn took a quick break from her shift and plopped herself down in front of the naturally blond with messy hair. When the girl lifted her head in surprise Raelynn paused at how genuinely pretty this girl was. Lively short cut blond hair framed her sun kissed; heart shaped face perfectly. Baby blue eues, blood shot from lack of sleep, a petite nose and plump pink lips made her naturally beautiful and the make-up she wore only emphasized that. Raelynn smiled and pointed at her book.

"You skipped a step here. So you just need to put this number here and theeen, bam!" her eyes widened suddenly and she looked at Raelynn, tears in her eyes. Suddenly she jumped halfway over the table pulling Raelynn into her very busty chest.

"Thank you so much! I've been stuck on this for half an hour. I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown." Finally she let Raelynn go and sat back down shooting her hand straight out.

"I'm Ashley Davidson. What's your name?" Raelynn stuck her hand out, shaking Ashley's.

"I'm Raelynn Wilson. Nice to meet you." Ashley just stared. "What?" Raelynn asked thinking there was something on her face.

"East Coast, huh?" she asked and Raelynn nodded.

"Thought so, the accent is thick. New to the West Coast?" Another nod.

"Happy to meet you too! It was so nice of you to help me!" She smiled widely and Raelynn's watch chimed.

"Oh crap, I have to get back to work. Good luck with the rest." Ashley looked immediately panicked.

"Wait, I may need your help again." Raelynn looked at the time.

"Well I'm off at 11:00 and have my own assignments to finish so I can help if you want to come over. You're not allergic to dogs are you?" Ashley shook her head no vigorously.

"Okay." Raelynn wrote down her address. "I'll be there by 12:00 with the bus' schedule s-"

"I can wait and give you a ride!" Ashley cut Raelynn off. She was nearly bouncing off her seat with excitement.

"Are you sure? You'll have to wait two hours though?" Raelynn asked, the excitement bubbling up in her as well as she struggled to keep her composure.

"That gives me time to go home and pack a bag." She said thoughtfully.

"A bag?" Raelynn asked. How much homework did this woman have?

"Sleep over!" she screamed excitedly shooting to her feet which made Raelynn jump in surprise at the sudden movement. That's when Raelynn noticed the clothes this girl wore. Designer everything. Well matched and a designer purse sat next to her on the booth seat. Cute heels that matched her soft blue blouse and jeans poked out of the bag. Looking down Raelyyn smiled at the beat up Uggs on the wealthy girls feet.

"Okay, once I finish up here I'll be waiting outside."

"Okay, I'll be back. This'll be great. I like you Raelynn...Rae...Lynn...RayRay! Yes, RayRay it will be." She said so fast that Raelynn didn't have time to blink twice before she finished her sentence.

"Um...yeah okay." Raelynn felt the need to add "Drive safe." And Ashley nodded quickly taking off like a bullet.

Those next two hours Raelynn worked she felt like she had a new energy. She didn't really have any friends in the state other than Chip and working two jobs usually keeps you from having any form of a social life. Add schoolwork on top of that nearly made her a shut in during the school year. In the summer Raelynn made sure to go for her daily runs with Chip and do stuff like hiking, swimming, or camping. Anything that her Shepard could do with her she did, after all he was her best buddy and always obeyed no matter where they went or what animals were around.

However, though she loved Chip, talking to another human being outside of her clientele from work gave Raelynn the boost she needed to power through the rest of her scheduled time, clocking out perfectly on time.

When Raelynn stepped outside she jumped at the three repetitive honks that made everyone else's head in the plaza turn to stare at her. Face burning from the attention Raelynn scurried over to the nearly brand new white BMW coupe sitting in front of her. The door pushed open before Raelynn could get to it and Ashley sat there already in pajama pants and a tank top. Raelynn couldn't help the smile that crossed her face when she saw the little duckies on her pajama pants. This girl was an interesting character for sure and Raelynn liked her so far, so she hopped in the car and gave the blond the directions to her small one bedroom apartment.

It'd been four months since that night an Raelynn and Ashley had become inseparable, barely spending one day without the other. Either Ashley stayed at Raelynn's or Raelynn and Chip stayed at Ashley's parents' home. Raelynn helped Ashley with her schoolwork and Ashley gave Raelynn all the love that only true friendship could bring and that was all she really wanted. Ashley also gave her almost an entire new wardrobe from clothes that she had long since outgrown. Since Raelynn was only a small 5'1" female and Ashley toward over her at 5'7" Raelynn understood why she didn't' fit the clothes anymore.

They worked well around each other's schedules, always finding time to hang out or bring Chip to the park and talk about they're days and it was the perfect balance. However that fragile balance wasn't going to last with Raelynn's past slowly creeping it's way back to the present again and the unexpected intrusion by a man Raelynn would never thought existed let alone barged into her peaceful life like a knight in shiny annoying armor.

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Okay....what do you guys think? Introduction to romance interest comes in the next chapter! I hope y'all like it...and I do live in AZ, and it is going to be hitting 120 degrees this week alone, so when parts of this story sound overly dramatic due to weather you need to know it's like the devil's ass out here!!! HOT HOT HOT!

Thank y'all

J. Vas