Christina Bradbury - All About Progress (Book 1)

The City of Heartbreak.

'Christina, hello' I noticed Kyra's board as the escalators neared the crowd that stood there waiting for their loved ones.

The words were neatly written in black and yellow, it was a 'warm' gesture considering she never knew me before. I felt like an exchange student, dealing with a broken heart, and decided to run to another country because she had killed the boy who broke her heart.

Kyra was beautiful, She had a soft body, dark and smooth skin, her hair was as black as a raven, her nose ring was yellow and she was probably in her mid 20's. Next to her, stood a tall guy, not that good looking his arms were covered in tattoos, I noticed him because he was poking on her face as she stood patiently waiting for me, that must be Scott. How did Alice know these people, I wondered.

Between Alice and I, I made more friends than she ever could. She hated that of me, said it was naive and that I wasn't careful enough, She was always the cautious one. She hated people with tattoos and piercings...

I remember the first year of varsity we had an argument about my roommate who originally had brunette hair and dyed it blue, she then went on to pierce her lips and eyes and got a tattoo in her boyfriends' name. Alice stopped coming to my room till the girl dropped out eventually.

It's like having another version of my mom, but better.

The escalators reached the ground, and I got off carefully lifting my suitcase and rolling it with me as I walked towards the pair.

"Hey... you must be Kyra," I say as I hold out my hand for a handshake.

She bursts out laughing, "Oh no, we don't do that here."She says still trying to catch her breath from the laugh and leaning in to hug me.

I laugh as I return the kind gesture, because of the 'We don't do that here' phrase from The Avengers.

"Ahem..." Scott clears his throat, indicating that he is still right here and I haven't acknowledged him.

"And you must be Scott..." I say standing there awkwardly not sure whether to extend my arm for a handshake or to give him a hug as well, reading my unsureness, Scott pulled me in for a hug and it was warm and didn't give me butterflies as Davids hugs did.

I know what you are thinking...

Scott is not David, and stop comparing him to David.

Wait why am I even comparing them?

After all the formalities, Scott grabs my bags and he starts leading the way towards the exit.

Kyra and I slowly trail behind him, as she hammers me with questions about New York and the men there.

It was a sore topic, considering one of New York's men just left me without a word, But I entertained her questions without hesitation because I didn't want to come off as a broody guest.

The drive to their apartment was a long and quiet one, well I was the quiet one, giving them 'Hms and Ohs' whenever they said anything about an attraction we dove past on the way.

When we got to the apartment, It was right in the city center, On what seemed like a very shady road. It was not beautiful on the outside, It looked like people get kidnapped there on a daily, but I dare not show my discomfort because she was kind enough to offer me a place to stay.

You know the saying, 'Don't Judge a Book by its Cover?'

Well, that's not completely a lie, inside the building, it was beautiful and the floors were shining as if they were designed for a ballerina.

The apartment wasn't too bad itself for the working class, it was actually better than David's apartment in New York.

David...

This was the 10th time I had thought of him today. I wonder if he is okay.

Wait why do I care about him, he's the one who left me.

"Earth to Christy!", Kyra says as she snaps her fingers in front of my eyes. I do in fact snap back to reality and when she realizes this she laughs.

"You and I will share my room, right until Scott sorts out his issues with Anna, and leaves, then you can have that bedroom," Kyra says as she opens the door to a very beautiful and clean room.

She motions for me to enter and after I enter she follows in and shuts the door behind her, I notice the walls are pure white and there is a picture with Kyra and what looks like her mom framed on the wall.

"Alright, The bathroom is in there," she points to the door behind me, "You can use the other bathroom down the hall, but it has no lock on it and Scott can walk in at any time." she continues.

As soon as the apartment induction is complete, I pull my phone out and video call Alice.

"Heeyy!! I was worried sick when your phone wasn't going through, are you finding Seattle okay?." She beams through the speaker, as she still continues tapping away on her keyboard.

"You working from home again?" I ask her, completely ignoring her question.

"Yes and do you not like Kyra? Is that why you're ignoring my question? I have another friend...", I cut her off before she continues.

"I like Kyra, and Seattle is amazing, I will begin my search for a job tomorrow. Let's talk about you, Have you told Sean about the pregnancy yet?" I ask her.

Then finally she turns to look at me, "No, I haven't, we have always been busy lately, I will tell him this Saturday after the dinner with his boss." She says, as her eyes wander back to the laptop screen.

"Oh yes, your mother called, furious." She says, giving me her undivided attention again.

"What did you tell her?" I ask quickly.

"That you are in Seattle, Before you attack me, she was pretty sad after not finding you at the hospital, she cried. I couldn't lie to her."She says.

"But you have lied to her many times!"I exclaim.

"I wasn't pregnant in any of those times..." She says coyly

"Then after I left the hospital, your dad called me and asked me to tell you to check your bank cards, and that your allowance was back in, he asked for your new number as well, I told him I'll speak to you about it and get you to call him back." she continued.

A part of me was happy that I wasn't completely poor in a new city, I had financial stability, but I wanted to work for it.

"I'll talk to you later, Al I love you", I said to her.

" Love you too sweety", she said, as we both hung up.

Right there and then I made a decision, that would either make my life extremely hard or really easy.

Little did I know, that it was also the beginning of a roller coaster.