Heartless

Chapter 1

/ˈhärtlis/

Chapter 1

Dragging out the cigarette that was currently held between my lips made my nerves calm down. Smoking wasn’t something that I was proud of but when people like Brooklyn took it upon themselves to go out of their way to piss me off, smoking was the only option that was left other than pulling out their hair extensions.

I let my head rest against the probably unsanitary, old building as busy New Yorkers walked around me, all of them lost in their own minds. The concept of tomorrow was too overpowering to live in now. It seemed like everyone in this busy city planned their lives according to tomorrow, hardly finding happiness in little things, and this is why I had chosen to move here.

Everyone was heartless.

 In the distance, the sun dipped below the horizon, leaving the sky a mix of pale blues, pinks, and purples.

There was nothing more I wanted than to go home and nurse a bottle of wine, or four, but that isn’t going to pay the bills now is it?

The sound of her high heels clicking against the pavement made my bang my head slightly against the wall. I didn’t even need to open my eyes in order to figure out who it was.

“Azalea! Do you mind getting the hell inside and doing your job? Seriously we don’t pay you to come out here and take a ‘smoke break’ every damn hour.”

You don’t pay me nearly enough to put up with you every day

Instead of speaking my thought out loud, I looked up at Brooklyn and forced a bitter smile to stretch across my face, “Sure thing boss.”

A smirk found its way to Brooklyn’s lips, her fingers curling around her small waist. I offered her a small salute as I forced my hung-over body to stand straight.

The world spun for a couple of moments before I grabbed onto the brick wall behind me.

Brooklyn gasped causing me to bite back an annoyed moan, “Are you hung-over?”

I waved away her suspicions with a pat onto her shoulder.

“Brooklyn, Brooklyn, would I look this dashing if I had a hang over?”

She snorted pushing my hand off of, her bright blue eyes rolling, “You look like you’ve been ran over with a train.”

My hand found its way over to my chest as I grasped my heart in mock agony, “Ouch, right in the heart.”

Before she had the chance to reply, the door of the small, rundown coffee shop swung open to reveal pudgy ol’ Mr. Smee.

Of course it wasn’t that wasn’t my boss’ real name but he resembled Mr. Smee from Peter Pan in ways unexplainable.

Mr. Smee muttered something about getting to work which to Brooklyn replied with ‘Coming daddy’.

I had to deal with this every single day of my life, Mr. Smee and his poor excuse of a daughter, Brooklyn.

However, I didn’t have it in me to complain all that much. Since I’ve only been in New York for such a short amount of time, I’m surprised I didn’t have to live on the streets for long.

Captain Hook’s assistant here was sweet enough to offer me a job in his run down small bakery that has been in the business for God knows how long.

I let my head rest against the brick wall for just a few second before I dropped the butt of the cigarette onto the New York sidewalk, stomping on it with the heel of my boot.