A Twist of Fate (Complete)

Ch. 1 - New York City Here I Come

Everly wiped the tears from her eyes and blinked several times, taking a deep breath and gripping the steering wheel tight, doing her best to focus on the interstate in front of her and not on the thoughts haunting her mind of her boyfriend having sex with her best friend. The thought of them together made her feel sick and angry and hurt, and she was struggling to concentrate on the road, especially since she had already been driving for twelve hours straight and was physically and emotionally exhausted.

How could they do this to her? The two most important people in her life. She sobbed as fresh tears filled her eyes, looking over at the directions on her cell phone and groaning with disappointment when she saw that there was still over an hour left before she would make it to New York City. It felt like she had been driving forever. She didn't know how much more she could take.

She had been crying on and off for most of the trip, definitely not what she had imagined her drive to NYU being like since she had been dreaming about this day since she was in middle school. She was finally getting out of her small hometown in Illinois and chasing her dreams of living in New York City, but instead of being filled with excitement, all she could do was cry.

That made her even more angry and bitter that he had stolen this moment from her, what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Her phone rang interrupting her thoughts and she wiped her eyes and took a deep breath before she answered it.

"Hey Mom," she said, doing her best to sound normal.

"Hey sweetie. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," she said with an exhale. "Still driving. I've got a little over an hour left."

She lied and said she was fine because she didn't want her Mom to worry. She had a tendency to overreact and if she knew she had been crying for hours straight she would probably make her come back home. The truth was, she wasn't fine at all. She was in shock and felt like her whole world had just fallen apart.

"Honey, I'm worried about you," her Mom said softly. "After everything that just happened with Brad and Amber are you sure you still want to go to NYU? You'll be so far away, all by yourself."

"Yeah I'm sure Mom," she said, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "I won't be all by myself. I'll have my roommate and hopefully I'll make some friends. And even if I did want to come home, which I'm not saying I do, there's no way I could give up a full-ride to NYU. I'm not letting those two take that away from me."

There was a long pause and then she heard her Mom sniffle into the phone before saying, "I still can't believe Brad did that to you with Amber. I never saw that coming in a million years."

Brad was like a second son to her parents so it didn't surprise her that her Mom sounded almost as heartbroken as she was.

"I can't believe it either," Everly said with a sigh.

She heard a ding and looked down to see the orange gas icon lighting up on the dash. "Shoot, I've gotta stop for gas Mom, so I've gotta go. I'll text you when I've made it there.  Love you."

"Love you too honey."

Everly pulled her rental car over at a gas station and filled up for the last time on the ridiculously long trip. The August heat was sticky and unbearable so she pulled her long, brown hair up off of her neck into a ponytail before going inside and buying a large can of red bull to help her stay awake for the last hour she had left.

She had rented a car to make the drive from Illinois to NYU because that only cost thirty bucks plus the gas which was cheaper than the cost of a plane ticket. Her family was strapped for cash so every little bit that could be saved helped. Normally she didn't mind driving, but right now, having to sit in a car for that many hours, unable to escape her thoughts was like a cruel and unusual form of torture.