Paradise Bound

Chapter 1

It was summertime. Sun shining bright, beating down on the sidewalk. He had just broken up with me. He left me broken. Falling apart in the driver's seat of my car. I never imagined I would feel hurt like this. When he said those words, I felt my heart shatter into a million little pieces.

— — —

Two years have gone by, but there's still a part of that me wants to go back to who I was, but at the same time, I'm ready to explore who I am now. And with that, I suppose I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? I'm Jane Cooper. I'm 24, and I live in in Chicago. This city is all I've ever known. It's the one place I've ever called home. I don't have a big group of friends, and I'm okay with that. I much prefer to be by myself, and having a small friend group makes that easy.

But, today is different. My friend Lexi invited me to go out for dinner at our favourite restaurant. I haven't seen her in a few weeks since she's been on a trip, so it's about time! I looked at the clock on my phone, 6:30PM. Just like clockwork, my phone goes off, as Lexi's photo lights up the screen.

"Hey girl, hey!" Lexi says as I pick up the call.

"Hey!!" I say, "Are you downstairs?"

"Am I ever late?!" Lexi jokes as we both laugh and I head down the stairs to meet her in the parking lot of my building.

Let me tell you a little bit about Lexi. She grew up in Alabama, and moved here fresh out of high school. Every now and again the Southern in her comes out, and I take that moment to poke fun at her.

"There's the Southern accent again!" I say as we both laugh.

"When you grow up in the south, it just comes out sometimes!" Lexi said our waitress walks up to our table. We place our order, and then return to our conversation.

"So, how was Alabama?! I must say, you were away for way too long!"

"Man, it was such a good time! I didn't know I would miss my family as much as I do" Lexi said. "My brother Jay picked me up from the airport, and we had one hell of a conversation on the way back to our childhood home."

Later on that evening we were at my place and Lexi continues to tell me about her trip. I was pulled away from her story as my phone lit up with a message from this boy I've been talking to. Unable to help myself, I opened his message and can't stop myself from smiling.

"Jane? What're you smiling like that for?" Lexi asks with an inquisitive look in her eye.

"Nothing! It's nothing!" I say knowing she was about to clue in. Although I had my eyes on the phone, I could see her face light up.

"Wait... is there a boy?! Omg there totally is! You have to tell me everything!" I laugh at her excitement as I start to tell her about Charlie. Charlie Gomez is an older guy who, like me, was born and raised in Chicago. Charlie is the nerdy type, who is super into anime, superheroes, and gaming. And I for one, am crazy about him. When I finished describing Charlie, I can see Lexi's mind filling with questions. Seemingly without taking a breath, Lexi starts asking me question after question, almost like word vomit. Once I gave her satisfactory answers to all of her questions, we both realized how late it had gotten.

"Oh man, it's midnight, I should probably get going" Lexi says with a yawn.

"I didn't realize how tired I was until you said that."

Lexi threw her shoes and her jacket on and said "You better not hold back any details about your Mr. Perfect!"

"Goodbye, Lexi" We laugh as I shut the door to my apartment.