Mist Of Hearts

EPISODE 3 (part 1)

On Friday, I'm late to work again. It's not my fault that Blaire pulled me to the library, just to throw slime on Ms.Miller's head (the librarian) because she holds a grudge against Blaire and makes up excuses for not lending books to her and this not-so-smart plan of ours got us locked inside the library for two hours till we figured out that we could escape through the fire exit.

I'm on Paige's bike (being honest, I've been using it more than her) accelerating faster than ever before and rushing to save my job. Carl is a discipline-freak, more like an army sergeant. I've been late only once and obviously won't be fired for it, but prevention is always better than cure. Rounding the corner to the cafe, I accelerate rather recklessly heading straight for the parking lot which I've assumed belongs to me but a sleek black car is parked there and applying the brakes violently, I shut my eyes tightly as the bike screeches and slows down, but then it jerks to a stop and I hit my knee somewhere which feels like metal. Ouch!

I open my eyes to find a wild dent on the car and the front of the bike completely hanging off. I turn my head to find drift marks on the road and turn back to the car, the dent still in its place. My hands shiver involuntarily as I get down with my heart beating out of my chest. I'll apologize a billion times before the owner says anything and I'll pay for the damage before he or she asks. The car is a McLaren and oddly this makes me feel better. I seriously hope this belongs to Gabby's ex. No apologies for that guy. Immediately, the owner gets out of his car, and the first thing I notice are his muscular arms capable enough to slap me down to the floor. He slams the car door shut and storms towards me. His eerily familiar deep blue eyes send chills down my spine while my instincts constantly remind me, ' you've got legs, Aurelia, run!' but I stay planted in my place and my knee throbs with pain.

"Bloody hell!" These are the first words outta the stranger's mouth and I'm already forgetting what to say.

" Have you lost your mind, crackhead?! Jeez.." he slams his fist against the boot of the car before continuing," look what you've done!!" he points at his coat which is currently accompanied by coffee, 'BLACK COFFEE'. Another thing I dislike.

"S..s..sorry," I manage to stutter but this dude's got no calm.

"Took you a whole minute to spill out an apology," he huffs. "Dammit!" and he kicks his car again. He's the one who's done more damage to his car in the past minute. Here a kick, there a punch. Luckily, no one's seeing me get embarrassed.

" Were you drunk while driving?! Which ass on earth drifts near a fuckin' parking lot?" he yells.

"I'm sorry. I'll pay for the damage," Apologizing for the second time, I hope that he lets me go since he sounds crazy mad to me.

"You'll pay? You'll pay for MY CAR? I doubt if you can afford yourself a repair for this cheap bike!" he rolls his eyes and mutters something to himself. This guy's crossing his limits. I get that he's pissed but he can't keep blabbering crap to anyone, at least not me.

" cheap girl!" he bitterly comments. Dear Jesus, here it goes again.

"Don't call me cheap," I meant for it to come out as a warning but it sounds like a request.

" oh fuck off! I don't have enough middle fingers to let you know how I feel."

" I said I'm sorry! I've apologized and I'm ready to pay as well but you are being very disrespectful!"

" do you know whom you are talking to? I can fuckin' kill you right here with no charges against me," he tries to threaten me but I'm not listening anymore.

" No, I don't know who you are or what the hell you can do! And I DON'T CARE! My self-respect is greater than your attitude so it'll be very nice if you just go from here!"

"You are Haywire! Go buy yourself some brains and fuckin'remember, you'll be in trouble very soon!" He throws a bunch of dollar notes in front of me, gets into his car, slams the door again and drives away. My hands are still shivering, my knee still hurts and I'm ten more minutes late looking like a homeless worn-out.

Anyway, I head in for my work shift, clean up a bit before heading to the counter.

"Hey! So what's the reason today?" Pierson asks as if I'm late every other day.

" Blaire and I went to slime someone and later, I got into a fight with a jerk!"

" Jerk..." she says, analyzing the word, "even I met one today. He threw orders at us as if he owns this place and we value nothing."

"Bad day for both of us," I say and she picks up two empty cups from the counter, handing one to me and clinking them as if we're celebrating today. Both of us burst out laughing at this silly moment before Carl walks in and we fall into a dead silence, focusing on our shifts.

Later, I call up Paige to inform her about the bike, anticipating at least an upset 'oh' but instead she cheerfully says that it's absolutely fine and all my friends decide to pick me up as Spencer's about to leave.

Sitting in Zoe's 'dear Dorothy' as she calls her car, we have a long chat about the hot-head I met and Blaire suggests that we should try tracking down his car, pulling out all the wheels and leaving a happy birthday note so that he can boil over it by himself. Paige mimics this and I spit out the water I was drinking and Zoe loses her mind over me making a mess of dear Dorothy.

After Spencer's emotional farewell we decide to get ice cream to lighten up Zoe's mood. In the ice cream parlour, I try goat cheese with pink lemonade ice cream and the funky flavour makes me laugh. As we meander the streets, doubling over random things, Zoe takes a spoonful of my ice cream before making a face that babies make on eating their first lemons.

"This flavour should be a crime!" She giggles and all of us join her. The cool evening wind makes everything even better before someone from behind grabs my hand firmly and twists it behind my back. I look beside me to find everyone's ice cream gone and hands in a surrender motion.

" Don't move, Amora!" 

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