If Only

Chapter 1

Amelia POV

"Mom, don't cry. Please? You know I have to do this." I said, practically crying myself.

"I know honey" she replied, "I'm just going to miss you so much!"

"So are we!!" cried Megan, Kaycee, and Stephanie. "GROUP HUG!!"

I moved to Texas 11 years ago, and those three are the only people who stood by my side when I was at my lowest. I was going to miss them so much, but there was nothing here for me anymore. After everything, I just needed to get a fresh start.

"Ugh. I'm going to miss you guys too! Mom, I promise to call you every Sunday."

"And you're going to text us every day right?" Steph said while taking my bags out of the car.

"And FaceTime!" added Kaycee.

"And keep your location on at all times!" Megan said while giving me a stern, but joking stare. "If you need anything I'm just a plane ride away!"

"Yes, yes of course! Y'all know I can't go a day without talking to you!" I replied laughing.

Megan has always been the mom of the group, she's always looking out for us. Kaycee is the more aggressive one, but she means well. Steph doesn't like to get into drama, but if someone messes with one of her girls, watch out! While I may be the shy one, we all hold our friendship above everything else. That's what I'm gonna miss the most. It's going to be hard moving to a new state without having my girls with me, but I know this is what's best for me.

* A few hours later *

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" I screamed into the phone. So far my new life hasn't been as glamorous as I had pictured in my head. It started off by my plane on standby for 3 hours. Half-way through the plane ride, the baby next to me threw up all over my shoulder. Then, I find out that my luggage got put on the wrong flight. It's on its way to Vermont, while I'm here in California. Now, the guy at the baggage claim is telling me I won't have any of my clothes for another 5 days.

"I'm sorry ma'am, there's nothing I can do about the luggage, but I can offer yo-"

"Ugh!" I sighed in frustration, cutting him off before I lashed out at him. It wasn't his fault the airline lost my luggage.

I called a cab and gave him the directions to my new apartment. It wasn't the nicest place, but it will have to do with the budget I have, which isn't much.

Once we arrived, I paid the cab driver, grabbed my bags from the trunk and started to walk down the sidewalk. All I saw was a park and a hiking trail. It didn't look like there was a complex nearby, but the cab had already driven off. Since I wasn't familiar with my surroundings yet, I moved off to the side of the sidewalk and pulled up apple maps to see if I was headed in the right direction. As I was looking at my phone a car full of teens drove by and the next thing I knew I was covered in a red slushy.

"Ha Ha you just got slushed!" a boy yelled while driving off.

"GOD! COULD THIS DAY GET ANY WORSE?" I screamed to no one in particular.

Just then I heard footsteps approaching quickly.

"Hey, are you ok?" the voice asked.

I looked up and saw a very attractive man coming from where the hiking trail was. He looked to be in his early twenties. He had ash blonde hair and eyes the color of oceans I've only dreamed of visiting. He seemed sweet, but I was not in a good mood and the last thing I needed was the pity of some stranger.

"I'm fine!" I snapped. "I just need to find my new complex and get away from all these stupid Californians!"

The stranger looked at me with a smug look and let out a little laugh. I glared at him.

"Just what I need. Look, I've had a rough day as you can probably tell. My plane was three hours late, I'm covered in baby puke and what I think is a raspberry slushy and my luggage won't be here for another 5 days so please excuse me if I don't feel like being laughed at by some stranger and that annoying smirk that won't leave his face!"

"No, no it's not that," he said while trying to hold back his laughter, "it's just, aren't you a Californian now?"

Hmm, I guess I am, but I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of being right, so I shot him a glare and turned back to my bags that fell over during the slushy incident.

"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh. Can I help you with your bags or something?"

Since I didn't know him, I declined. Besides, I only had my carry on and my tote bag so it wasn't too much to handle. I guess that's the only good thing that came out of the rest of my luggage being sent to another state. I started to walk away, then realized I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't want to walk half-way across California. I guess my only option was to ask this jerk for help.

"I am kind of lost" I confessed. "Do you think you could tell me where Oceana Estates is located?"

"Oh they did have a location around here, but because so many people were moving in, they relocated to a lot about 20 minutes from here."

"I had to ask if things could get worse" I muttered to myself.

" I can call you a cab if you want, but it'd probably be cheaper if I took you myself."

I looked at the stranger and thought out my options. If he was a serial killer he probably would've finished the job by now, right? Plus, I didn't want to pay for another cab, because that would take away from my money for groceries. And I mean, Megan has my location on so if I went missing they'd be able to track my phone.

As if he were reading my thoughts, the stranger said to me "look, I promise I'm not some weirdo. I'm actually pretty well known around here and it's on the way to my condo so it's no trouble at all."

After pondering the idea I finally agreed.  "Ok fine, but I have pepper spray, and I'm not afraid to use it" I replied while following him to his car.

"That works for me" He chuckled, taking the bags out of my hands. "I feel like after all this we deserve a proper introduction, don't you? I'm Cooper"

"Amelia"

And with that, we headed towards my new apartment.

.

.

.

.

.

.

**AUTHORS NOTE**

I've never really written a book before so I'm kind of nervous to let myself be this vulnerable with my work, and while this is the rough draft, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the first chapter; and if you had any comments or suggestions on how to make the story/my writing style better. I've read a lot on Wattpad so I know which styles I like, just not sure how to execute them if that makes any sense. I'd love to hear your feedback, and thanks for giving this a read.

Let's make the world a better place with kindness

xx LizzieB