로그인EVELYN."This has been my favorite restaurant whenever I visit LA." Josef said, he took his seat next to Kayla who then slipped her hands over his. Unconsciously, I let my gaze fall on their grip on each other before sitting up in my silk black dress. Kayla was in a lavender bedazzled short gown, the color outshining mine just a bit.To me, this was nothing fancy, I’d thought. Just a dinner with Kayla and Josef before they left back for Seattle the next day. So I just slipped on the only thing I had packed with me and put on some light makeup before coming here.Even Alex hadn't bothered to change from our road trip, he only wore his brown jacket over a white T-shirt and a cowboy hat which rested at the corner of the table. I let my gaze linger past it before it met with Kayla’s and she exhaled softly. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" She flashed a smile.It was, it was a sight not too far from the Hollywood sign and the winds that breezed across from here were gentle and warmly scented.
EVELYN."The city's really magical from up here." The moonlight illuminated in my dark brown eyes as I swung my feet just a little above the lopsided grassland. I wedged my body against my arms as I looked over the city at its busiest hour. There was a blanket of stars above us and when Alex moved closer, I smiled.My head naturally leaned to rest upon his shoulders. “It is.” He replied. The wind was merciless tonight and I clutched his jacket around my frame. My hair swayed across my face before falling upon my shoulders. Alex moved a bit closer, to be more comfortable. When I heaved a deep breath from my lips, I realized this was the first time I didn’t have a million things racing in my mind. Although, I had just met my family and still had dinner in a bit with Kayla and Josef, none of it really swayed me. In this exact moment, I was present, right next to Alex, void of the endless anxiety and worries. The past was in the past and the future was still ahead. “But I think that'
HAZEL. I arose from the bed with a forceful jolt, realizing my whole life wasn't just a nightmare like I’d hoped it was. "Shit.” I cussed the moment I took the newspaper in my hands to see the headline that couldn't have been any more invasive and insulting to me. Running my hands through my hair, I exhaled a deep breath. When I finally brought my feet to reach the ground, I contemplated dialing the two men who had been dragged through the mud because of me. My hands quivered but out of fear of the uncertainty—the fear that neither of them would want nothing to do with me anymore. God, did I ruin everything that I touched. And now, I hated everything. I hated that the paparazzi had put me in such a position, stuck between two walls when all I wanted really was a normal life to begin with. Foolish of me to have thought I left all that behind in Seattle. I remembered when it happened with the Giselle incident and how exhausting it was on me then and now, it was as though I was
EVELYN."Where is she?"Pushing a lump down my sore, dry throat, I asked. For some reason, I had escaped eye contact with the woman before her. She had luscious dark red hair just like that photo I’d seen of Hannah and that was not the only feature common to the both of them.It wasn't exactly rocket science that she was her daughter too. "I'm Ally." She introduced herself the moment she pushed open the doors and Alex walked right behind me. I caught the glances he stole from the corner of my eyes and he could see how bereaved I was as I sat into the caramel couch.Ally excused herself and then returned with three cups of coffee. The farmhouse bungalow was eerily silent and occasionally the winds that blew in swayed the cream curtains side by side. I sat on the couch, opposite Ally but Alex insisted he stood behind.His arms were folded, just like mine."Where is she?" Was the question I asked immediately. Ally darted her hazel eyes around the room as she reached for the photo in h
HAZEL. "I enjoyed the start of the dinner," I said as I mounted the top of my front porch. Blake had stopped right behind me, his hands buried deep in his pockets. "Not so much the end." I added. I shook my head and my words were a little slurred from all the cocktails I’d been drinking. Blake inched closer to wedge me from falling and help with the foot but my eyes never left the side of his face. "I'm sorry if I said something that you didn't want to hear—I’m sorry if I’m still hung up on..." "It's open." He interrupted, holding the door for me to enter but I only glanced inside before looking back at him. "You should really go inside and get some rest. We can scrap tonight and see again tomorrow?” He said. His tone was questioning and there was a smirk across his lips. I pushed a hard lump down my throat. There was a tingling sensation in the bottom of my stomach and a countenance quite overtaken by the influence of alcohol. But even that could not explain my next action. B
HAZEL."I can't believe I came here," I sipped the wine in front of me. "And somehow you managed to convince me from coffee to dinner." There was a smirk at the corner of Blake's lips and a glint in his eyes even."It's the Lorenzo charm." He winked. Very few times, he said his last name, and this time brought a chuckle out of me."Don't even." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes to the back. "I think it's because for the first time in a really long time, someone has been able to take my mind off the chaos and the grief happening all around me—that night was really special and that was the best pasta I'd had all my life." I said to him."I just wish you didn't have to see me have a mental breakdown more than once." I scoffed and he downed his wine as well. "Oh please, I like to see humans vulnerable. We tend to have our guard up most of the time we forget there's nothing wrong with being vulnerable." Blake replied."Then you owe me." I struck a finger at him and he chuckled softly.
HAZEL."Giselle loves the new designs!" Evelyn said from across the room with relief in her voice. She'd just gotten off the call with Giselle after resubmitting some of her more authentic designs. She told me how their last meeting went and I watched how hard she worked her ass off these last few
HAZEL."So what made you move to Chicago in the first place?" Josef's voice whisked me out of my thoughts before I went back in. Maybe it was that question that stomped my heart or maybe it was the fact that for the first time in ages, she was on a date. She wasn't used to this, dressing fancy in
HAZEL. Evelyn had downed her hundredth glass of champagne that night. We sat around the table, she was dressed in a strident silver gown accessorized with a lavender scarf. I put on the same colors, the theme for tonight but with a lavender gown instead and silver heels. Playing behind was an orc
HAZEL. The winds rushed through my hair as I made my way down the arrival unit. I stared up at the large sign. Welcome to Seattle. The familiar scent of my hometown hit me in the face and my heart sank to my stomach. Not a lot of things had changed since I was here, six years ago. I clutched the







