Narrator
Part One - A Meeting
March 28th, 2016
Hero was sitting at the desk writing the last pages of the project that he had to hand in at 8 am. He got up at five in the morning to finish it. On the other hand, his roommate Felix was not too happy about waking up at five in the morning to watch Hero do his homework.
"Are you done? I'm sleepy and hungry." Felix was whining while making paper aeroplanes from the pages of a cooking magazine he found on a desk.
"I've got a little bit left, and I'm done. Go to my backpack. I have a sandwich in it." Hero looks at Felix and then continues writing.
***
"I don't understand why we came here at 7 in the morning. Couldn't you email her the paper like a normal student?" Felix whines behind Hero, and he rolls his eyes at him.
"I've explained that if I don't give my paper, the Accounting teacher will fail me. And I don't want to hear my father start an entire rant about how I cannot finish my degree in business." They walk into the classroom and look around. Hero wonders how the hell it is only 7:30 am, and there are already a few students in the class. I mean, he's here at 7:30 am, too, but he's going to leave before the teacher shows up.
A few rows in the back of the class are two girls. One of them is desperately looking for a folder she can't find. The other girl is preoccupied looking at a fashion magazine.
"Emily, please help me. If I can't find the folder, I feel like I will have a heart attack. You know that the teacher already has a problem with me because I don't always come to class, but somehow I'm up to date with the lessons and pass all the exams." Amelia, the blonde girl, gets on her knees and starts looking under the chairs for the folder. Emily, the redhead, looks at her nails, explaining how it took the manicurist almost four hours to make the model she wanted on her nails. Four white nails and on the ring a drawing of the Eiffel tower.
"Emily, I don't care about your nails! Either you help me, or you leave!" Amelia looked under the chairs and then, shocked at Emily. "It's a used condom in the back row!"
"Do you think that the Accounting teacher is fucking with a student? I mean, she's probably 30. She's fucking with one in the second or third year. Maybe even a senior." Emily dropped to her knees and looked under the chairs. "It's an xl size." She grins.
"Ho– How do you know what size it is?" Amelia stood up and shook her dusty skirt.
"I had my fair share of xl sizes." She grins and looks around. "So your folder isn't here. Are you sure you didn't leave it in the dorm?"
"I had the folder with me. I had it in my arms when I got here. And then Derek came." Amelia rolls her eyes and frowns. "And you know what an idiot Derek is. He took my folder because I told him I wasn't going with him after class, and I don't know where he put it." She looks around and puts her hands on her face. "I'm fucked if I don't have the folder when class starts."
"And do you think the Accounting teacher won't pass you if you don't do the projects she asked you to do?" Felix looks at Hero and plays with the lighter.
"That's the idea. She asked me to make them so I could finish the year successfully." Hero turns his face to Felix and walks backwards until he steps on a folder and slides on his back, grabbing on something and pulling to balance his position but the material rips, and he falls on the steps. Hero looks at the piece of material and notices that it is a piece of a dark green shirt which, after a scream, is heard behind him.
Hero looks up behind him and sees two girls. One redhead is laughing at her friend, and the other - a blonde - screams as if she saw a ghost looking at her torn shirt from behind, and her black lace bra can be seen. Hero widens his eyes and looks at the piece of material in his hand and then at the girls. The red-haired girl chuckles and looks straight into his eyes. And then the blonde turns to face him, looking at him angrily. Hero looked at her and then at her chest, thinking she had big tits. Felix comes and helps him get up. Then he looks at the girls and blushes.
"Are you okay?" Felix looked at Hero, who was dusting off his pants.
"Yes, I slipped on this folder." Hero bends down and takes the folder in his hand.
"That's my folder!" The blonde girl goes to Hero and snatches the folder from his hand. "You owe me a new shirt!"
"Me? I was about to break my neck because of your folder. I think you owe me an apology." Hero leaned against the back of a chair.
"Excuse me? I think you owe me an apology. You're the idiot who doesn't look where he's going and rips off someone's shirt!" Amelia screamed at him and pressed her index finger to his chest to prove her point.
"I haven't had any complaints so far about tearing off shirts. Did you?" He looks at Felix, still red as a lobster, and refrains from laughing. "But if you don't want to apologize. That will remain with me." He takes the folder from her hand and looks at his watch. "The class starts in 5 minutes. I would start apologizing."
"I don't apologize for anything." She takes the sheets of paper from Felix's hand and tears them in two. "Here! That's your apology. Happy?"
Hero gasps and looks at the pieces of paper, then he looks at her angrily and quickly steps to the nearest window.
"No! I beg you!" She runs towards him.
"Too late for that." He opens the folder and throws it out the window; all the sheets of paper are scattered around the courtyard.
"You asshole! That was my final project!" She screams at him and slaps him in the face.
"And those papers were my final project! Who's the asshole now ?!" He screams at her and puts his palm over his cheek.
Around them, the class begins to fill with students, and Hero looks at Felix. "We should leave before the teacher comes." Felix nods and walks down the steps.
Amelia and Emily run behind them, and Amelia grabs Hero by the shirt and pulls him back, pushing him. "Ladies First!" They leave the classroom, and when Felix and Hero are about to go out into the corridor, they are stopped by the teacher.
"Mr McClain, Mr Turner. I'm glad you're finally on time." Felix pales, and Hero grabs his arm and goes out the door.
"We can't stay today! But we'll try next week!" They run down the hall and start laughing.
"Mr McClain! If I don't see the project by tomorrow morning, I'll make sure I'll call your parents and make sure you won't pass this year!"
Apri, 15th, 2016
Hero and Jack, Oliver and Felix's friends, are at a pub near the university when Felix elbows them in the shoulder. Hero looks at Felix and raises a confused eyebrow, and whispers, "What?" and Felix points his head at someone at a nearby table. Hero looks up and notices that it's the girls he saw in class two weeks ago. One of them - the crazy blonde - because of her, he almost didn't pass the course.
"You know he's looking at you now, don't you?" Emily leans over the table, whispers to Amelia, and then looks at the boys' table.
"I don't care. Because of him, my father punished me, and now I have to take a course in the summer to get my grades back." She looks at them and then sighs.
"But you know it's your fault, don't you? I heard from Beatrice, who heard from Eleanor, who knows from Destiny - who's friends with him that he almost didn't pass the course. The sheets you tore were for his final grade or something. "
"Can we stop talking about this? Do you want me to get you something from the bar?" She gets up and takes her wallet.
"Something fruity. If he doesn't have it, then get me a mojito." Emily smiles, and Amelia rolls her eyes and goes to the bar.
"Come on, go." Felix looks at Amelia talking to the bartender and then at Hero. "Now is your chance to apologize."
"And why do I have to apologize?" He raised an eyebrow and got up from his chair.
"Because it's not her fault. You're smart but lazy, who, instead of staying up all night to learn, you stay up to fuck that bitch Nora." Jack looks at him and smokes his cigarette.
"And if you go to the bar, so you don't come empty-handed when she rejects you, get me a beer." Oliver pulls out his wallet and gives him money.
He goes to the bar and looks at her. "Hi."
She looks at him and frowns. "Hi?"
"Guys keep insisting that I should apologize for what happened two weeks ago." He leans against the bar and plays with the zipper on his jacket.
"Ah, I see. Emily–" She points to the table where the red-haired girl is sitting, and he looks in the direction where she means. "–My friend, she says I should apologize. She says you almost didn't pass because of me."
He looks at Emily and then at her. "Are you friends with Eleanor?"
"Nope. Emily said she heard from Beatrice, who heard from Eleanor–" And they say both in unison. "–Which she heard from Destiny."
"Yeah... Destiny has a big mouth." He smiles and looks down. "I don't want to apologize. It hurts my ego." He whispers, looking at the boys, and she chuckles. "But I can buy you the shirt if you want."
"Do we have a budget?" She looks at him, and he takes out his wallet.
"Is £50 enough?
"I think I can handle that. She looks at him, and he laughs. Does it have to be the same colour?"
"You ask me? In my opinion, you can also get sexy lingerie with this money."
"Okay. Then the sexy lingerie is." She smiles and looks at the bartender who brought her the drinks.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. I need a new set anyway." She is smiling.
"Well, tell your boyfriend to thank me when he sees you wearing it."
"I do not have a boyfriend." She looks at him, and then she takes the glasses from the counter, and Emily comes up with quick steps and takes the glass from her hand.
"Thank you. You're staying here, and I'm going there." She points them to a table with several students. "I know you don't like to be crowded, so stay here."
"Well. It's late anyway, so I'd better go." She goes to the table and puts her jacket on.
"Do you want me to take you home? It's late, and I have to stop at an ATM to give you the money." He takes the beer from the bar, gives it to Oliver, and tells the boys that he is leaving. They start to whistle and clap their hands at him.
***
Five minutes had passed since they left the pub, and none said a word. Hero tried to think of a way to talk to her without sounding too interested. He tried a few times to say something, but it sounded more like "Um, Erm, Eh ..." which doesn't help him much in this situation.
"What is your name?" They both say in unison that they start laughing.
"Amelia." "Hero." They said again in unison.
"No, no. You first." He tells her and continues to walk and play with the zipper on his jacket.
"Hero, huh? Interesting name. What's the story behind it?" She looks at him and puts a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Ah, you think it's weird.." He smiles at her.
"No, not at all." She smiles at him.
"Well, my mother liked the name. So she decided to name me that." He explains and lights a cigarette.
"It's cute. I like it. Do you want to know why my name is Amelia?" She looks at him, and he shakes his head. "From Amelia Earhart. You know, the pilot who disappeared in 1937." She smiles and laughs. "My mother said she saw a documentary about it and was deciding what name to give me at the time, and she liked Amelia."
He looks at her with a smile, and she stops in front of a townhouse and looks up at the window with the light on upstairs. "Well, that's me. Thank you for taking me home."
He looks down then at her. "Yeah ... We still have to solve the money problem to buy ... um ..."
"Sexy lingerie?" She looked at him, refraining from laughing.
"Sexy lingerie ... Yes." He looks at her and bursts out laughing.
"Well." She approaches him, takes the phone from his pocket, and waves it in front of him to unlock it, and he obeys. "You can always call me."
"I'll try. Let's hope we don't meet again in the same class." He puts his phone in his pocket, and she stands on tiptoe and kisses him on the cheek.
"Good night, Hero." She smiles and walks inside.
"Good night."
Part Two - A Relationship
August 8th, 2016
Hero walks through the park with his dog and looks around at children running through the garden trying to pick up a kite or parents trying to teach their toddlers to ride a bike.
"Listen carefully, Diesel. I want you to be exemplary, do you understand? I don't want you to start running after a squirrel and dragging me all over the park in front of Mia. Do you understand?" The dog looks at him and sounds as if he were scoffing at him. Hero stops and sits on a bench and looks around. Then two hands cover his eyes, and a voice whispers.
"Guess who?"
"Sandra Brown." He takes off her hands, and Amelia starts laughing and sits on his lap.
"Do you even read Sandra Brown's books?" She looks at Diesel and scratches his ears.
"No. I think I saw a book written by her at my grandmother's." He gets up from the bench, takes Diesel by the leash, and looks at her puppy. "And who is this?"
"That's Daisy." She smiles, grabs his arm, and walks down the alley around the park. "I missed you. I haven't seen you all week."
"Having a job and courses is not easy, you know. My parents don't pay my rent or tuition." He looks ahead and clenches his jaw.
"You still don't get along with them?" She looks at him and sighs.
"I have nothing to talk to them about." He bends down, lets go of Diesel's leash and starts running around them.
"They're your parents, Hero. You should talk to them, not ignore them. It's been three months since you talked to them. Even Titan said your mother tried to contact you, but you still refused to answer the phone."
"I don't want to talk about this, Amelia." He looks at her and sighs. "We should focus on this day. Who knows when I have another day off."
"You're right. So, I know we just started seeing each other, but one of my girlfriends has an aunt, you know. She lives in France. Marseille to be exact, and she said she was going to visit some family friends in Italy and her house, which is close to the beach, remains unattended and she invited my friend to stay there for a week, and all we have to pay is gas and what we spend if we go out. And I thought of you because you have a car. "
"Because I have a car, huh?" He looks at her and raises an eyebrow, and grins.
"That and the fact that you know French." She laughs and puts her arms around his neck. "Please, go with me? It's just the two of us."
"What happened to your friend? She's not going?" He looks at her, and she rolls her eyes.
"It's my aunt. Are you going with me or not? But don't tell my father." She looks up and kisses his jaw, and he starts laughing.
"I'll have to think about it." She sighs, and the dogs start barking with Diesel running after two other dogs, and Daisy tries to run after them, too, wrapping Hero and Amelia around the leash and knocking them to the ground.
She starts laughing, and he starts moaning in pain and swearing. "Come on, don't complain. It's funny." She puts her head on his chest and listens to his heartbeat.
"That's because you didn't fall with your back to the rocks." He sighs, and she laughs even louder.
March 13th, 2017
Hero was making an omelette with cheese in the kitchen when Amelia came out of the bedroom screaming on the phone.
She hangs up the phone, throws it on the couch, comes to the kitchen, and sits down, looking at him.
"What happened?" He flips the omelette on the plate and places it in front of her.
"Emily. I had this project to do, and she didn't do anything, and I stayed awake all night, you know very well, because you helped me." He nodded at her. "And she handed over the project this morning and said she did it herself. And the teacher gave her the grade, and I didn't. She said I had to present my project."
"Why don't you tell the teacher to test you two with the information from the project? If she did, she should answer the questions correctly and easily, right?" He looks at her and winks. "And because you didn't do anything, you should fail."
She looks at him and widens her eyes, grabbing him by the face and kissing him. "You are a genius! I love you!" Then she gets up from the table and runs to get dressed.
"What about the omelette?" He looks at the food and then at her.
"You finish it! I'm going to talk to the teacher!" She puts her bag on her shoulder and leaves the apartment in a hurry.
He leans against the counter and laughs.
September 23rd, 2017
"Can you please stop complaining?" She looks at him, and he rolls his eyes.
"I can't stand this suit. Do I have to go too?" He looks at her, and she takes the tie, puts it around his neck, and pulls him close to her, kissing him.
"Yes. I'm the bridesmaid. You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" She ties his tie and looks at him.
"No, but I don't know anyone there. You know I don't like being around people much. I still have to wear this damn suit." He looks at her and sighs, fixing his shirt.
"One. You know Sabrina. Two. You wear a suit almost every day to work, so don't complain." She walks down the hall in front of the mirror and puts on make-up.
"Just because I know her doesn't mean I know 50 more people. It will be the most boring wedding I've ever been to." He walks behind her, puts his arms around her waist, and rests his chin on her shoulder.
"If you're bored, we'll leave early." She turns to face him, starts kissing him on the jaw, and then goes down with the kiss on the neck.
"Mia, if we continue like this, we won't get to any weddings." He warns her and kisses her. She stands on tiptoe and whispers something in his ear. He looks at her and smiles.
"If you want, I can fuck you at the reception. And no one will see us sneaking out when they have their first dance." He takes his car keys, and she laughs.
"I'm glad you found something interesting to do." She takes his hand, and they both leave her apartment.
June 25th, 2018
"I can't believe I'm paying Netflix £10 to see this shit. What the fuck is the kissing booth?" He sits on the couch and scrolls through the movie section. "Can't we watch National Geographic?" "Amelia?" he looks around the apartment and raises an eyebrow.
She comes slowly from the bathroom and looks at him, showing him a pregnancy test, and he pales. She sits on the couch next to him, puts her head on his shoulder, and wipes her nose with the sweatshirt sleeve.
"Don't worry. It was negative." She stretches out, puts the test on the coffee table, and looks at it. "But I was terrified. I think those were the longest three minutes of my life."
"And that's a good thing, isn't it? That it's negative?" He looks at her, and she sighs.
"Yes. But as I said, for the longest three minutes. And for some stupid reason, I started making scenarios in my head. If she was a girl, I could imagine her running around the house after you and probably trying to dress her in identical outfits. Or if he was a boy ... how you and the boys teach him to play football. It's stupid, I know ... "She puts her hands on her face, sighing, and he kisses her on the forehead.
"Love, we are barely 21. We have all the time in the world for children." She nods and sighs. "But that doesn't mean we can't practice." He lifts her bridal style and carries her to the bedroom, and she screams and laughs there.
Part Three - A Betrayal
October 24th, 2018
Hero sits at the table when he notices that his friends are looking at him strangely. As if they felt sorry for him.
"What the fuck is wrong with your faces? What happened?" Hero looks at Felix, who takes a deep breath and sighs.
"Look, bro, we didn't want you to find out like this. But we've wanted to tell you for a while..."
"Tell me what?" He looked around at them and repeated. "Tell me what, Felix?"
"It's about Mia and Kyle... they've been seeing each other for a while," Jack said quietly and looked down.
"For how long?" Hero calmly asked. Too calm for Felix's taste.
"For about two months, something like that," Oliver said and put the cigarette in the ashtray.
"I'm going to kill her." Hero gets up from the chair and leaves the pub.
"Hero, hold on!" Felix quickly runs out after him and the boys behind him. "What the hell are you going to do?"
"Don't act as if you care now! Two months. Two fucking months, she fucked a guy for two months, and you guys now decided to tell me?! You weren't even going to tell me if I didn't ask why you acted so weird" He takes his keys out of his pocket and opens the car door.
"It doesn't even matter what she did. She's just a whore fucking around. I can find another one like her next week. But you, I expected more from you." He looked down and then at Felix. "I considered you more like my brother than my brother. And this is how you repay me? You should have told me the second you found out."
"I tried, bro, belie–"
"How exactly did you find out?"
"We were at a party one night, and Kyle started bragging about this girl that he was fucking, and we realized it was Mia..."
"I see." He gets in the car, slams the door, and drives off.
***
"Have you talked to Hero lately? I haven't heard you talk about him in a while." Ann sat down on the bed and watched Amelia braiding her hair.
"No... Ever since he found this new job, he doesn't have time for me." She sighs and turns to face Ann. "I think it's time to break up." She looks down and plays with her nails.
"I'm sorry it came to this." Ann sighed and looked over at her.
"Yes, two years and a half is something."
"I wonder how you lasted so long. Usually, if you were with someone for a year, it was perfect." Ann got up from the bed, went to her side, and started to finish her braid.
"I think that was the problem. I was with a guy for a year, but we were constantly together. That's how I was with Hero; something changed after a year. We didn't go out that often, not even texts..." She sighs and suddenly hears punches on the door.
"Amelia!" Someone shouted at the door, and Amelia got up and sighed.
"It's Hero..." She looked at Ann and put on her robe. "Stay here." She leaves the bedroom and goes downstairs, opening the front door.
"Who are you at home with?" He goes around her and enters the apartment.
"With Ann. Why?" She watched as he swayed on his feet while looking behind a curtain. "You're drunk."
He turns around and looks at her. "Isn't that motherfucker here?"
"What are you talking about?" She steps back and feels the room has run out of air.
"Let's save time. I found out. From who? Felix. Now answer me. Why? What did that motherfucker have and I didn't?" He leaned against the kitchen island and looked at her.
"Time. That's what he had, and you didn't." She laughs bitterly and looks at him. "Even now, you're telling me you want to save time and get to the point!"
"It's not my fault I have a job, and he has time to waste to fuck you!"
"Hero, spare me. We could see each other on the weekends, but you don't even send me a text. You have completely detached yourself from me."
He remains silent and looks down.
"I thought you were cheating on me, so why should I waste my time waiting for you when I can be happy with someone else who wants me." She looks down and tries not to cry.
"He cares so much about you that he brags to Felix and Oliver about how he fucks you." "I will not even ask you if you fucked with him when I fucked you." He shook his head and lit up a cigarette.
She gasped in shock and looked at him. "I–"
"I don't even want to know." He sighs and closes his eyes.
She walks slowly towards him, puts her arms around his body, and cries. "I'm sorry. I loved you so much, but you didn't care anymore. Tell me, are you seeing someone else?"
"No, I didn't cheat on you."
"You're lying to me..."
"No, Amelia."
"Yes... otherwise, you wouldn't have had any reason to distance yourself from me."
"I didn't cheat on you."
"Then? What's the reason? Why don't you love me anymore?"
"I don't know..."
"Have you ever loved me?" She looked at him.
"Define the word 'loved'"
"I... I don't know, you never lov–"
"See. I don't know. That's it. I loved you as a girlfriend, I guess. But I was never in love with you, Amelia."
"Then why did you come all the way here? Why did you almost break down my door? Why did you call me a whore?! If you don't care and love me?" She yells at him and hits him in the chest.
"Why? Because you went and fucked that motherfucker behind my back, and everyone now thinks I'm an idiot."
"There will come a day when you'll want to be with someone you 'fall in love with" She makes quotation marks in the air with her fingers. "And she won't want you because she'll see how cold-hearted you are." She walks towards him and grabs his chin. "And I will be there, and I will watch everything. I'm going to watch her play with your heart. Yes, I cheated on you, but we were already as if we were broken up, Hero. But unlike you, at least I loved you."
"Maybe she already does." He looks at her and grins.
End Of Chapter Four.
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AN: This chapter took a while to be written... I hope you enjoy it. There'll be one more flashback chapter coming then we'll return where we left off. 💕
I should also post below the songs that inspired this chapter. Enjoy.
↳ today's chapter playlist;
My Heart Goes (La Di Da) - Becky Hill
Let's fall in love for the night - FINNEAS
Robbers - The 1975
2002 - Anne–Marie
One Right Now - Post Malone, The Weeknd
Summertime Sadness - Lana Del Rey
I hate u; I love u - Olivia O'Brien
Rampampam - Minelli
You broke me first - Tate McRae
Cut you off - Little Mix
Too Good At Goodbyes - Sam Smith