Vaughn

2.

It was going to be impossible to get an Uber this far from my home; my only option was to pray Emma answers my call and comes pick me up. I grabbed my phone and dialed Emma, unfortunately, my battery only made it to the second ring before it died.

Fuck. "Can I borrow your phone to call a friend?" I asked Jack, flashing him a friendly smile.

He hands me his phone before saying, "no one is going to be answering you at four-thirty in the morning,"

I simply rolled my eyes and waited patiently as the phone rang, come on Emma, pick up.

"Vaughn, where the fuck are you? I have been looking all over for you!" Emma yelled angrily on the other side of the phone. A small smile spread on my lips from pure relief.

"I am okay, can you please pick me up"

I heard the chiming of her car door on the phone, "send me the address, I will be there soon,"

"Okay, bye." and I hanged up.

"Ninety Lexington Avenue," Jack spoke up. I gave him a confused glance. "your friend ask to send her the address, we live in Ninety Lexington Avenue," he repeated himself.

"Oh, right. Thanks." I texted the address to Emma and handed the phone back to Jack. "Thanks again," I walked past him determined to make it down to the lobby, however, he grabbed onto my arm stopping me from proceeding towards the elevator.

His eyes burned straight into mine, "you can wait up here until she arrives,"

I pulled my arm away from his grip shaking my head, " I rather wait downstairs. Plus nothing ever good comes when I am around you,"

He scoffed, "you always were good at holding grudges,"

Jack left a crack in my heart—the kind no one would ever be able to cover up. He is the kind of heartbreak that continues to hit you in waves even when you least expect it. I partially blamed him for my bad choice in men—a toxic relationship is what I call normal. Thanks to Jack, I found myself finding guys who use me and have no interest in having me as a girlfriend.

My last relationship the guy was a spitting image of Jack and he nailed every aspect of him to perfection. I had dated a Jack 2.0 and I didn't realize it until things got out of hand.

"You sound offended," I raised a brow, after all our relationship crashed and burn because of him.

"I was an idiot back then..." his voice trailed off.

That was my cue to walk away. One of the many things I have learned in life has been to walk away from negative situations and this whole ordeal has been negative since the moment I woke up in a strangers bed. Life works in mysteries ways — at least that what Emma likes saying all the time. For some reason I was suppose to go home with a stranger and find Jack. Now, I am deciding to get the fuck out of his presence before this cliche romance novel begins. There is no way I am going to bring Satan's spawn into my life again.

"I wasn't done speaking to you," I heard Jack say behind me.

I pressed the down button on the elevator and turned around, "Jack take the hint, bye." I waved to him as the elevators closed.

***

Emma wasn't to happy how the night ended for the both of us, she wanted us to bond over alcohol and cry together at my apartment at the end of the night. After I told her the rebound led me to Jack (the Jack who mentally fucked me in every way possible) the night flipped for her. So, we ended up in IHOP at five in the morning drinking coffee and laughing at my poor decisions.

"Hell no," I frowned at her comment. Emma being the hopeless romantic, thinks Jack randomly stumbling into my life was a sign. Yeah, a sign to grab my shit and move to another city. There are some people you should never go back to and he is one of those people.

"Maybe he is a changed man," she wiggled her eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes, "people like him don't change," I felt my eyes watering as I remembered the last time I had him in front of me.

Prom was suppose to be an unforgettable night, it was memorable, except for all the wrong reason. After spending the entire morning getting my hair done and communicating with him about what time he was picking me up, he never showed up. Six-o-clock came around, then seven, I called him many times yet he never answered. My grandmother dropped me off at the venue, even when I pleaded her I didn't want to go anymore.

My friends did their best to comfort me the whole night, it wasn't until Jack showed up to the prom with a the captain of the cheer squad. He passed right by me, ignoring me. We had dated for nearly a year and everyone was as confused as me—he was cheating on me right in my face.

I remember crying my eyes out the whole ride to my house and I spent the weekend locked up in my room, while my friends enjoyed one of the most memorable times in senior year. Jack never broke up with me, he simply got another girlfriend. I finished my senior year, missed graduation, and a week later I was on the road heading to New York city. I haven't looked back since then.

Emma touched my hand, snapping me out of my thoughts, "New York is a big city, the chances of seeing him again are small. Let's move on from last night," she gave me a reassuring smile.

"Yeah" I smiled back, brushing off the painful memories. "thank you again for picking me up and dropping me home,"

"Anytime. I'll see you on Monday in class,"

"Text me when you get home," I said and got off her car. The night had slipped away and sun was creeping up to a Sunday morning. I was ready for a shower and sleep the day away.

My intentions were to move to New York City to attend Columbia University for their marketing program. If I wanted to make it out in the real world I was going to have to get myself out there. Before Jack cheated on me, I was planning on staying in our crappy hometown and attend community college. All for the sake of staying around for Jack—boy was I an idiot. I call his cheating a blessing in disguise; it was the push I needed to put distance between the past and the future.

In the last four years I have done more for myself than I would have ever done back at home. Each year the marketing department offers a paid internship with Nyguen Enterprises, a highly known marketing agency. It's every students dream to get picked and work under the wing of CEO Shawn Nyguen; luckily for me I got picked my sophomore year. I have to admit it wasn't a competitive entry, although it is a dream to work at Nyguen Enterprises, Shawn has a reputation to make the interns quit before their semester is over. So, only the most ballsy students apply—hint, me. I have been one of the lucky ones to survive the year and get hired as his personal assistant. I have dedicated majority of my time assisting Shawn than my personal life, mostly because my ex-boyfriend made my life living hell. My goal is to graduate next year in the Spring and have Shawn promote me to junior marketing director.

Besides, setting my career path in motion, I have my own place and a car. Which is much more than what I arrived here with. Emma and I were roommates in a studio apartment for almost a year, fortunately, Thomas came into the picture and asked Emma to move in with him. After I started working for Shawn, I managed to save enough money and got a two bedroom condo.

After I took a shower and changed into an oversize shirt, I closed my windows with my blackout curtains, and laid in bed. My life hasn't been easy and working for Shawn doesn't help things at all. A part of me feels as if my relationship grew toxic due to me spending more time filling Shawn's every order, rather than dedicating time to my boyfriend. I sighed. Either way, the past can't be changed.

For now, I think I am okay.

***

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