Something shook my shoulder for the tenth time. Grumbling angrily and moving away, I continued sleeping. The airplane seat was too comfortable; in my opinion, anyway. For some reason sleeping on planes has always been easy for me.
"You have to get up, it's time to get off the plane," a voice said to me. The speaker was talking slow, as if talking to a baby. It must be that Debby...Debra...Deena...Denise! It must be that Denise lady, I thought to myself. Forcing my eyes open I managed to focus them on Denise.
"Where are we?" I asked, blinking away the last of my sleepiness.
"Santa Monica, silly," Denise answered in a loud voice. Her eyes were so wide I thought they were about to fall out of her head.
"Al-" A yawn escaped my mouth. "Already?"
She nodded at me, grabbing my arm and dragging me from my seat. It was hard to focus on anything, so I was stumbling blindly after Denise.
Within twenty minutes I had gathered up my entire luggage, and navigated my way out of the airport. Within ten minutes I had gotten into a taxi and brought through the whole city.
Santa Monica is quite amazing. Even though I only took a crappy taxi through the city, there's obviously so much to experience. There were people playing music on the streets, people ready for the beach, tall buildings, and the best thing of all; lots of sunshine.
The surroundings captivated me so much; when the taxi finally stopped I slammed into the seat in front of me. "Ow," I muttered to myself while rubbing my head. You better pay attention more, I thought. The taxi driver gave me my fee, which I quickly paid.
Climbing out of the taxi, the sight in front of me looked...Atrocious, gross, ugly. The apartment I am supposed to live in is scary. There's no way it is safe for people to live in. Its siding was rotting off, the roof was chipping away, some of the windows were smashed, the front door was wide open, and worst of all; the garden looked like a jungle! Plants were all over the front yard, tall and wild.
It looked like it could be a haunted house. Maybe it was used as one during Halloween...I thought.
"What is this?" The question came out before I could stop myself. Being completely honest, I was disgusted and confused. This was not the beautiful apartment those fair people promised me. Pulling out the papers and checking the address again, it really hit me. People expected me to live here!
"Who are you?" A gruff voice asked, startling me. A man stepped from behind a tall plant. He was dressed in a ripped up white t-shirt and dirty jeans. His face had many scars on his face. They looked as though they came from some sort of animal attack. His beard was white due to old age.
"I'm supposed to live here," I said angrily, stomping my foot on the ground. "Well, I was told I would be staying here."
The man laughed, shaking his head at me. "Stupid girl, no one will be living here except me."
I narrowed my eyes. What did he mean by that? "Excuse me, but-"
"Why don't you excuse yourself?" He half yelled, waving his hand at me. "Good day!" He said, turning and going into the apartment. He slammed the door shut while I gaped at the door.
Finally picking up the last pieces of my dignity, I left. Without an idea as to where I was heading, my feet just moved me down the street. My feet must have hated that apartment, considering how far they were bringing me away. Once my feet reached their destination, my body flopped down onto a bench. I sat with my head in my hands...Thinking. Not crying or screaming or cursing at the world; just thinking.
I remained in that thinking spot until I heard the bench creak. Someone- or something - had sat down next to me on the bench. Moving my thumb just a little to the left, I managed to peek at the person from the corner of my eye. It was a boy- no, a man; a rather young man, who could only be a year or two older than me.
His hair was short, straight, and appeared to be dark brown, or maybe it was black? I don't know. What I knew for sure was the fact that his eyes were blue. They were a very attractive, gorgeous, charming, amazing blue. I lifted my head up from my hands so I could stare at him. He just stared back at me with a stupid, little smirk on his face.
"Can I help you?" I finally asked, keeping my annoyance out of my voice. I smiled sweetly at him, even though I wanted to smack the smirk off his handsome face. Handsome? I thought, groaning inwardly. He looks like a jerk! You can't already be attracted to him, an angry voice muttered in the back of my head.
"No," he answered, his voice low and alluring. "You look like you could use some help though."
"I don't need help," my voice came out a lot more confident than I thought it would. If only I could pull off such good acting all the time. "I know exactly where I'm going."
"Sure you do, tourist," he grinned at me, as if the word 'tourist' was some sort of joke. "That's exactly what you are, isn't it?"
"I'm not a tourist!" I lied. Denial was probably written all over my face. "So...so there!" I exclaimed, sticking my tongue out at him.
"Where are you staying?" He asked, leaning back against the bench. I shifted away from him, feeling uncomfortable. "With family?" His eyes flicked down to my suitcase.
"Well, uh, actually, um-" I stopped, taking a deep breath. Lies never came out of my mouth smoothly. If I ever committed a crime I wouldn't be lying my way out of getting in trouble. "I'm a tourist," I muttered in defeat.
"I thought so," he muttered. "Tourists aren't bad. They are just..." he trailed off, searching for the right word.
"Annoying?" I suggested. That's how some tourists at home were; just plain, outright annoying.
He just laughed. "Close," he answered. "I'm thinking of stupid, though," a grin appeared on his face. His grin was mischievous, like he was hiding something or his words had a hidden meaning. A moment later I finally understood what his secret meaning was.
"I'm not stupid!" I exclaimed. Leaning closer to him, I smacked the side of his head. Instead of looking hurt, he looked amused. "You're stupid!"
"Right," he said, looking like he was trying to hide laughter. "Where are you staying, though?" He asked, leaning closer to me. Once again, it struck me how hot this guy was; how mesmerizing his eyes were. He reminded me of a prince from a fairytale.
"I was supposed to stay there, than some guy said I couldn't..." I blurted out.
"So you're staying nowhere..." he mused, leaning away.
"I guess..." My eyes widened in shock. "I'm not," I whispered, my eyes continuing to widen. How did I missed the obvious? I have nowhere to go! I'm not supposed to return home for another three weeks! The only feeling that filled me was panic. I could feel it fill me so overwhelmingly fast I felt like I would be sick.
"How am I supposed to live here for three weeks without a house? Do I live in a box or something? Is that even safe?" I didn't even realize I was beginning to cry until I wailed the questions out.
The guy awkwardly moved closer to me, patting my back lightly. He obviously never had to deal with a crying girl before. I quickly covered my eyes, sniffling. I tried moving away from him, but there was no more room. If I pushed over I would fall on the ground. I didn't want this stranger to deal with me crying.
"I could...I could help you find somewhere to stay," the guy next to me suggested. "It won't be cheap, but it will be worth every penny."
I moved my hands down to my lap, nodded slightly. "You could?"
"Yeah," He answered, with a smile on his face. It was a small smile; but it was there, and it was pretty cute.
"Why do you want to help me?" I asked. If he wants to help me, maybe he isn't such a jerk...I just couldn't help hoping this was the case; that this guy isn't a jerk. He just looks like one.
"You seem different," he shrugged, providing no explanation as to what he meant by 'different'. I nodded slowly, silently wondering if he meant 'good different' or 'bad different'. That wasn't the only worry on my mind.
There was a part of me that didn't completely trust this guy, but another part of me knew he was my only hope.
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Sorry for being late with the update! I won't put a list of excuses ;P I have nothing to talk about, haha. COMMENT, Please...comments make me so happy ;D OH, and vote if you liked it!!^^ Votes motivate me to upload...haha. Thanks for reading!:)