Another Broken Girl

Chapter 17

I want a good future.

But I guess no one gets everything they want. Especially the one thing they want most.

I put my phone in my pocket and look at the cracked ceiling. This is not how I imagined myself to be once I moved here. I thought that I would be living in a decent apartment living happily away from John. But, no. I can't because I'm me. And I never have a good outcome.

"Ali?" I hear a voice call out to me.

I look up to see the face I least expected.

"Hunter?" I ask squinting my eyes a little to see if I was imagining it.

"What are you doing here?" he asks coming closer to me.

"What are you doing here? I thought you live farther away." I said.

"Everyone tells their lies." he says sitting next to me.

"Why are you living in this crappy place?" I ask.

"Well, this is what my family can afford. What about you?" he asks.

"Same." I shrug my shoulders.

We stay there in silence for a while. We don't even move.

"So, where you heading.” I ask him awkwardly.

"Oh yeah, I got to go to my job."  He says getting up.

Wow. He works too and this is all they can afford?

"Bye, see you later." I say waving at him. He waves back and heads all the way down to the end of the hallway to the elevator. 

I sigh and get up myself. I then go to the elevator and head out of the apartment complex and started walking around to find any place that's hiring. I had to quit that other job at the music store since I couldn't make it there in time from how far away my apartment was from Luke’s. Plus, it would be better if I had a good amount of distance away from him.

I told Leo about how I had to move apartments and that I'm dropping out of school to keep it. He was mad, but he got over it after a couple of weeks. He knew that I was more concerned about having a roof over my head than having an education. He himself didn't finish school either. The only difference is that he has someone to help him. Nikki.

After a couple of hours I found a waitress job at the end of my street. It's a good thing I don't have to walk that far. I'll have to see how this job works out until I get another job.

It was a homey kind of restaurant. The restaurant is in the middle of small and big. I can tell that I was going to like it. The people there is very kind and the uniform wasn't bad. It was just a plain black shirt with jeans. I'm sure I have that in my wardrobe.

I walk around some more to get use to where I am now that I have the time. It wasn't that different from the other apartment's surroundings. Stores cramped against each other on each side of the road, people walking everywhere. I think the difference was that there is a lot more smokers here.

I'm a little scared to go back to my apartment. I don't want to see the mold covering the corners, or the rings covering the tub of the bathroom. 

I take in a deep breath and put my key in the hole.

"Ali!" I hear Hunter's voice call out and I take out my key from the hole and sigh in relief.

"Hey!" I say turning to him. He just got out of the elevator.

"Want to come over for dinner?" he asks me running over to me.

"Is it ok with your parents?" I ask.