Forbidden Love

Chapter 1

I had tried my best to argue my way out of a girls night with my best friend, Carrol, but there was no sign of success. Once Carrol Olsen had her mind made up about something, there was no changing it.

"Oh come on, Rose," she whined. "Can you even remember the last time you went out?" Ever since we were kids, Carrol had always reminded me of a fairy with her red hair, dark green eyes, pointy little nose, thin lips and pale skin. She truly does look like some kind of mythical creature and I mean that in a complimentary way.

"I need to finish my article, Carrol." I was using my most serious tone of voice and expression which saved me in most arguments, but there was no winning with Carrol.

"You're coming and that's it! Who knows, maybe you'll meet your soul mate tonight." She was raising her eyebrows up and down as if she was sharing some sort of private joke and had the most ridiculous smile plastered across her face. I decided that it was just best to give up, I couldn't see myself winning this argument anyway.

"Fine, I'll go, but only for a couple of hours."

"You are almost twenty-four years old, for crying out loud! Don't you think it's time to let the curfew thing go?" Carrol had both hands on her hips, left leg extended, tapping her foot and looking at me like she's my mother.

"I really need to work on my article, you know first hand how Tim gets when a story is late." Carrol and I are both journalists at the same company. She plans on keeping the journalism career but I plan on being an author, this job is just a good place to start. Carrol and I are practically sisters, we went to all the same schools together, same university and now we're roommates and both working for the same brainless idiot.

"Screw Tim! You're turning into a workaholic. Seriously Rose, you need to live a little." It was official, there was no possible way for me to get out of this one. I really wasn't in the mood to go to some smelly bar, but there was no other way to get Carrol to shut up about it. I decided that I would wait for a gap and make a hasty retreat from the bar, leaving Carrol with the other girl she invited along. I found myself wondering who exactly this other girl was. I had never met her but Carrol spoke fondly of her so she couldn't be that bad.

"Just wear something sexy, you don't want to come off as a nun when you meet your Prince Charming." Carrol had that annoying smile on her face yet again. She was always going on about guys but truth be told, I just wasn't interested. All I wanted to do was focus on my career which was just getting started.

"I will but I highly doubt that we'll find any decent guys in a bar."

"Stop being such a buzzkill!" Carrol turned on her heel and left me in the kitchen without another word on the subject. I will never understand how one person can have that kind of influence on the people around her. Carrol is a master manipulator and there is no one that knows it better than I do. She always finds a way to get whatever she wants and at the same time she has a way of convincing people that what she wants really is the best option for everyone involved. And that explains how I found myself in this situation in the first place.

I made my way down the hall of our modern two bedroom apartment to my room. Whenever I had a stressful day, this would be the place I'd make my escape to. The various shades of blue always has a calming effect on me. Blue has always been my favorite color because it reminds me of the ocean.

I walked over to my closet with no real interest in dressing up. As I started digging through my clothes, I wondered if I even had something sexy in my possession. I eventually settled on my best jeans, red T-shirt and sneakers. Not exactly sexy, I know, but the outfit did hug all my curves in just the right way and I'm sure that counts for something. Time to move on to hair and make-up.