Open Your Eyes

Chapter 1

I pulled into the driveway of my new home and turned off the ignition. I looked at the new brick interior and sighed, wondering if this could really be my new home. After the rumors spiraled in my old town, I really just needed to get away and make an attempt to just forget how everybody found out. I hoped that here, nobody would be able to find out who my parents really were, or even who I was. I prayed that I would be able to live a normal life, and not have to worry about other people's opinions because I really didn't want to run away again.

After I finished thinking about all the things that could go wrong, I took my keys out of the ignition and decided that I would go inside and check out my new house. I was super excited, and sort of had the idea that nothing would be able to go wrong in this new house. It was everything that I could ever want, and the pictures online really sold me on it. After grabbing my keys and bag, I started to make my way to the front steps. However, as soon as I walked inside, horror struck my face.

It was a mess. I walked further and saw that there seemed to be some sort of fire that was in the kitchen. The stove was completely ruined, and it really did not look like this in the pictures. I was in shock. I immediately texted the landlord, hoping that there was some kind of mistake and they forgot to finish renovating or something, but he didn't even answer my text. I opened up my camera and took pictures of the damage, hoping that he would answer this text instead. Still, there was no reply.

I was really running out of options, and I still had no clue what to do about the kitchen. I cleaned up the little mess that was outside of the kitchen walls and decided to just unpack what I could before going down to the local hardware store and figuring out what I could do about the mess there.

After about an hour of cleaning and unpacking, I checked the time. It was only twelve in the afternoon, so I decided that it would be better to go ahead and check out the hardware store now while it was still early. I also thought that it would be a good idea to just meet some new people, and hopefully get some light on the situation that I was in. I grabbed my car keys, phone, and wallet before hopping into my car. I put in the directions to the store on my GPS and headed on my way.

I arrived at the hardware store a couple minutes later and walked inside. I looked around for a bit before wandering over to the section that had all of the kitchen appliances. After looking around a bit more, I saw a stove that matched the one that I had before almost perfectly. I looked around, wanting to get a second opinion or something before making the purchase, and then I saw her.

She walked over to me smiling wearing a work uniform that really defined her curves. I was staring at her for a bit before I realized that she was talking to me.

"Hi! Welcome in, I'm Renee, what's your name? Do you need any help?"

I blushed realizing that I had just made the worst impression of myself in front of her. I opened my mouth to speak and tell her my name, but I just could not for the life of me do it. She looked at me patiently and smiled waiting for me to go on. I couldn't help but keep staring at her. She really was beautiful. She had pale skin and really pretty green eyes. Her hair was brown and wavy, and her figure was just perfect. I realized that I was staring and looked into her eyes did my best to answer her question without stuttering.

"Hi, Renee, I'm Zora. It's nice to meet you too!"

The smile that she just gave to me after I responded was worth pure gold. It was so beautiful, and it really hypnotized me. I couldn't get over the way that the room seemed to glow. It was so warm and comforting. I just couldn't get over the fact that I was talking to her.

"Well, I hope you didn't come here to stare at stoves all day. Was there anything that I can help you with?" she said smoothly.

"Yeah, well my kitchen was kind of trashed when I moved in, and I was wondering if you could give me some advice to fix it," I responded trying and failing to be as smooth as her.

She chuckled a bit and asked for some pictures, which I showed her. I showed her, and to my surprise, she started bursting into laughter.

"Holy shit, you were not kidding when you said it was trashed. It looks like someone set off a bomb in there, don't you think?"

I looked at her before laughing a bit too, "Yeah, it came like that. I just moved in today and did not think that things would turn out like this."

She looked at me again and smiled, "Well, I would be glad to help you out with this. Give me your phone so I can give you my number. You seem really cool, and I would love to get to know you more. Plus, I feel like I could help with your problem, I am pretty good with my hands after all."

I stared at her in shock. This absolutely stunning girl just asked for my number and made that joke at the end. I knew she could sense how flustered I was getting because she just stood there smirking while putting her number in my phone. She gave me my phone back, and I still barely recovered from the shock. Just then, somebody else walked over to us.

"Hey, Renee. Your moms said that you were still working."

I looked over to see who was talking, and it was some guy who looked like he just walked out of some sort of romance movie. He was tall and had blonde hair as well as really pretty bright blue eyes. I had no idea who this guy was, but it was clear that he didn't like the sight of me one bit. Renee seemed to notice the tension though and broke it in her own charming way.

"Chad, I told you to stop bothering my moms over these things, but I am glad you are here, I made a new friend! Her name is Zora, and she just moved in. I was just helping her get set and go through with some renovations. We should all hang out some time, it could be fun!"

Chad looked at me and nodded, before turning back to Renee. "I know you told me that, but come on, they love me! I've known them for over two decades, they really don't mind that I keep coming over."

Renee looked him up and down before responding, "It seems like you keep forgetting what boundaries are, Chad. If you want to keep being friends, I feel like that is something that you should work on remembering."

I saw Chad physically recoil when he was called a friend. At that point, I wondered if there was some sort of thing that went on between them before. He claims to have known them for over twenty years, so it seemed very likely. I decided that I would ask Renee about it that afternoon, but right now I just had to get through this little conversation.

After the comment that Renee made, Chad went silent and headed out to the parking lot. It was obvious that he was a little embarrassed about what just happened, and I was sort of living for it. I looked after him for a good second before turning back to Renee.

"So, you and Chad? Did you guys date or something?"

"Ew. I could not ever think of having a relationship with him. I have known him all my life, and he really is like a brother to me. We did everything together, but I just could never see myself in a proper relationship with him."

I could feel myself relax when I heard this, which was a good and bad thing. I am relaxed now, but could it be because I had a crush on Renee?