INIZIO

III | THREE

It all happened way too fast to be real.

Jayden didn't want it to be real. Unfortunatley, the burning in his cheeks made it more real.

But there he was. In front of a ticked off girl with venom in her eyes. He managed to crack a diminutive smile in hopes to kill a bit of the tension that had suddenly replaced the peace that once seemed to reign in this place.

"Woah, what happened?" A tall and muscular young man appeared next to the girl, and his eyes widened at the scene before his eyes. He was quick to bend down and scoop up the soaked book, a few pages had torn off and were now swimming in the remains of the coffee still sprinkled across the floor.

"Are you alright?" He asked her, who gripped the table with pale white knuckles.

"Perfectly," She hissed in reply. She glared at Jayden again which caused him to wince. Well, her glare was hard enough to provoke physical pain. He reached for the paper napkins on the table and handed them to her. They were slightly wrinkled, but they would have to do.

She snatched them from his hand.

"I truly am sorry about the mess that I caused." He mumbled.

She seemed to ignore him as she soaked up the remains of his coffee off of her dampened clothes.

The guy that was with her – Jayden assumed it was her boyfriend – gave him a weak smile. "It's alright mate, the book was old anyway. Besides, it talked about the magnificence of a world that doesn't even exist." He gave him an easy-going smile before getting more napkins to give to the girl.

The girl snorted. "Yeah, all's good mate," she mocked. Then there was incoherent mumbling coming from her.

Whatever it was, Jayden felt she was reciting a curse upon him. His stomach clenched. Oh how he hated this place.

"Is there anything I could do to make it up to you?" he asked her, wavering.

She glared at him. "Nothing at all. Just watch where you're going rather than stare at your transmitter," she looked down at Jayden's broken communicator. Once more, his face began to burn. "Yes, of course," he managed.

A waiter had been kind enough to finish cleaning up the rest of the mess, taking the soaked up book with him. Jayden didn't miss the frustrated look the girl gave him, although he pretended not to see it.

"Jayden!" He turned and saw his awestruck sister scrambling hurriedly toward them, one hand gripping her drink while the other held her purse and wallet. He hurried to help her with her purse. "What happened?"

"I accidently spilled my coffee on," he turned to the girl, expecting to receive a name. He didn't. "This girl," He gestured toward the girl with coffee-stained pants.

"It was just a bit of a spill, nothing to worry about," the tall blond guy replied quickly, shooting Jayden a wink.

This made Jayden feel worse.

"Jayden! I left you for less than five minutes and look at what you've done!" Rachel glanced apologetically at the young woman. "I am so sorry about that; is there a way we can make it up to you?" Rachel's famous charming smile came across her lips, and she clasped her hands together, "I know! We can go shopping together for clothes! You see, my brother and I are both new in town, and well, it'd be nice to get to know this town a little more. What do you say?" Her smile never left her lips.

The girl looked caught off guard. Her boyfriend bent down and whispered something in her ear. A frown crossed her face but it quickly disappeared. Her eyes flickered to the empty table in front of her. With a look of resignation, she turned back to Rachel. "I suppose we could show you guys around town."