Becoming A Witch (Raya Book 1)

Chapter 1

      She stood in front of a floor length mirror, a critical pout pursing her lips and wrinkling her nose. Squinting as she bit the inside of her bottom lip, Raya shifted her breasts inside of the push up bra, then smoothed out the minuscule wrinkles from the slinky navy-blue dress. With one last tug on the hem of her micro dress, she sighed and turned away deciding, this would be as good as it gets.

      Tonight was the first night Raya felt like leaving the safety of her house since the brake up. She was still trying to convince herself that this would be good for her, despite the tug at her heart every time she thought of him. Raya and Jacob had been high school sweethearts, dating through junior and senior years and the five years that followed. She thought that they were well on their way to taking the next step in their relationship when Jacob took her to the same park where he first asked her to go out with him. She was sure he would propose when they walked to the swing sets. He gestured to the middle swing for her to sit just to tell her that he felt like they were, "beyond that dating stage of our lives."   He paused and shifted from one foot to the other. A telltale sign that he was unsure of what words he would use. Raya smiled at him. She always found the suddenly shy quality absolutely adorable. "I just think that if I'm going to find the one, then I'm going to have to end this little game that we're playing. I mean, it isn't like we're actually going to be together forever anyway."

      The way he said it was so matter-of-factly, as if he was speaking to a child that just didn't get why two plus two equaled a million! Even now, she was still trying to calculate the numbers in her head. No matter how she reviewed it in her head, she couldn't figure it out. Everything seemed like it was going so well with them. There weren't any little things that she could pin down. There weren't any hints that some outsider could say, "yep, knew that was coming." She was completely blindsided to the point that she still expected Jacob to text her. Call her. Walk through the front door. Something!

       Every time she thought of that conversation, she could feel her chest tighten. The tears burned behind her blue eyes, threatening to spill over the rims just to ruin her makeup. Her throat constricted, and nausea tightened a knot in her belly.

      "No!" Raya had to put a stop to the thoughts. She knew that she was just not thinking straight. She knew it was unhealthy to hang onto a dissolved relationship. "Not tonight," she reminded herself. "You're going out, and you're going to have a great night!"

      Taking a deep breath, Raya forced the emotions back into that hole that was once a healthy, full heart and headed for the door on her nude spiked stilettos. Jacob never wanted her in heels because it would make her slightly taller than him. Well, tonight was not about Jacob. Tonight was all about Raya. Nothing, no one would dictate another thing in her life.

      With her head raised high, Raya pulled the door shut behind her. Without really knowing where she would go, she settled behind the wheel of her car and reacquainted herself with driving in heels.

...

      The air in the bar was thick with cigarette smoke. The music was so loud Raya was sure her ears would start bleeding any minute now. Making a bee line to the back of the crowded room, she found an empty space at the standing only bar and leaned on the countertop that she claimed for herself.

      All three of the bartenders were bouncing back and forth like balls in a pinball game. Raya thought with a smirk. She just watched as people around her shouted orders above the music. Maybe this won't be so hard after all, she thought as she bobbed her head as she patiently waited her turn.

      "Can I buy you a drink?" His voice was low but deafening next to her ear. His beer-soaked breath blew at the whisps of hair that weren't long enough to be trapped in her sloppy bun behind her opposite ear.