The Petals Of A Red Rose

Chapter 1.1

Part 1

The winter night breeze slashes harshly upon my face as I pick up my pace. The music blasting from my AirPods blurs out the sounds of the night traffic as I make my way towards my apartment. My heart rate picks up due to the lack of exercise I have had. My pace reduces as I turn a sharp curve that leads to the street of my apartment building. I need water. My body aches as I push forward towards the building.

The Oaks.

The words stand bold on top of the entrance. I was fortunate  enough to be able to afford to live in my own apartment at the age of 19. I can say that I am proud of myself. All the night shifts I took after school hours in high school finally paid off during my first year of college. Not many 19 year olds can say they have a fully paid off apartment and a car that they worked for themselves - and a little bit from saving my allowance instead of using it carelessly - and I am blessed for that.

I smile politely at Tom, the doorman, as he opens the door for me. I walk up the two entrance steps and remove my AirPods. At this point my head is spinning as I make my way to the elevator. Thankfully no one enters to smell my sticky sweat. The elevator doors open at the last floor and I make my way to my apartment. As I open the door, I get slightly pushed against the, now closed door.

"Bailey, baby! Stop, mama needs water and a shower." I say as I push my over enthusiastic Pomeranian Husky off of my legs. A small bark follows me towards the kitchen as I down half a water bottle in one go. My phone rings as I head to my bedroom.

Kade.

The caller ID flashes.

"Hey." I answer. I take out my silk short pajama set and lay it out on my bed.

"Back from your jog yet ?" The slightly busy sounding voice asks. I hear a voice on the other side calling out to him. "I'm on the phone with Emma. I'll come down now." He shouts back before I can answer him. "Sorry about that, mom wants me to help her with setting out the back yard for tomorrow's party." My younger brother states. Tomorrow is my dad's 60th birthday and we are having one of our famous birthday parties. The St Louis family is well known for throwing the best parties in our neighborhood. Whether the party is for a birthday or just a mere festive season party, we are the crowned kings of them.

"Yeah, I just walked in." I answer his question as I turn on the faucet. "What else should I bring other than the items on the list ?" I ask as I take off my sticky workout clothes and put them in the laundry basket.

I hear papers rustling on the other side of the phone. A loud thud followed by a curse falls from my brother's lips. "Shit, my laptop just fell." More rustling is heard before he speaks again. I roll my eyes at his clumsy self. "You can bring more snacks because Zachery and Enrique ate most of the snacks that mom bought." I hear his frustration over the phone. I chuckle as I imagine the two 10 year old twins stealing snacks.

The St Louis family is a pretty large mixed family. We have Marco Roberto St Louis our French-Italian dad. Our mother, Amanda St Louis who is an African goddess, if I might say so myself. Then there is their 6 little rascals, as she likes to address us. Mario is the eldest at age 26, followed by Olivier who just turned 22 a few weeks ago, then me, Emerald Maria, I turned 19 May time, followed by Kade, 16, my clumsy little brother then the twins Zachery and Enrique. Our house was always filled with some sort of noise as the boys dominated with their presence.

"Okay, I will make sure to add more snacks. Anything else you wanted to talk about ?" I put my phone on speaker and lay it on the bathroom counter so that I can tie my dark brown curly hair in a messy bun, a few strands falling on my forehead and neck. I roll my eyes. A sigh rings from the speaker of my phone. "Speak up Kade. What's wrong ?" I squint as I squeeze the white head on my chin.

"There's this girl" He trails. White pus gushes out of the pimple with streaks of red liquid following. I squint my face in disgust. I hum to encourage my brother to carry on. " We take most of our classes together, but she likes the school's apparently, hottest jock." He huffs clearly annoyed. " I get Brandon is my best friend and all but he doesn't even like her, he is just treating her like all the other girls. I like her. A lot. But since I am not as hot as Brandon is, she doesn't even acknowledge me." He softly says the last part. I wipe the content off of my chin with a wipe and discard it as I mull over the advice to give my younger brother.

"Well, you should talk to Brandon. You guys have been friends since you guys were 5 years old. If you explain to him your feelings for the girl, he might back off of her. If that doesn't work, work your charm on her." I encourage in my big sister voice. "And who told you that you not as good looking as Brandon ? With all that 6'1 of yours and your natural golden tan skin, who is anyone to claim you unattractive ?" I scowled. A chuckle resonates from the other side of the phone. "Now, go and charm that girl and I bet you in no second she will be under you screaming your name." I tease knowing very well he is probably blushing.

"Emma !" He shrieks.

I let out a laugh. "What ? I am just saying."

He chuckles. "See you tomorrow , bro." He says when mom calls out for him again.

"See you." I say. Picking up my phone, I connect it to my shower speaker and blast out music. I get into the shower and let the water massage my aching muscles. After 20 minutes of a scolding hot shower, I turn off the faucet and head into my bathroom. I get dressed in my pajamas and head downstairs to my kitchen. Bailey stirs awake from her bed and lazily nudges my legs. I take out my vanilla with almonds and chocolate sauce flavored ice cream, picking Bailey up and head back into my room.

"What to watch Bailey ?" I ask as I scroll through the variety of series through Netflix. Bailey's ears perk up and she lets out a small bark as she nuzzles comfortably besides me on my bed. "I think a rerun of Lucifer for this week will do." I say as I select Season 1 Episode 1 of Lucifer. I hitch the blanket higher on my chest as the cold late October night settles. I open my half filled ice cream tub and begin digging into my ice cream.

And that is how my Friday night is spent with my snoring puppy sleeping besides me.

A short chapter, that basically introduces the main character of my book.
Let me know how you feel about it.
Please also take into consideration that this is my first ever "book" or story. There will be grammar mistakes. I will try to proofread every part before publishing.
Sorry for the ramble, I promise there will be no rambles in other parts.

Thank you for reading.
-The author.

[the events, characters and firms depicted in this novel are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual firms is purely coincidental]
Unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.