True (2 page)

Chapter Two

Past- 10 years ago.

"Yes, Mrs. King. I have you scheduled for 10am on Thursday.
Nico will be your stylist..." As soon as I finished confirming the appointment, I immediately replaced the receiver and turned back to my best friend, DeeDee. "Ok, finish the story. Joey locked you out…" I anxiously waved my hand at to her to pick up where she left off.

"So after I find out that he has chain locked the front door,"
DeeDee continued. "I decide to go around back and climb the fire escape to get to the back door. But that's locked too. I am so pissed by this point that I slam my fist against the window, and the fucking thing actually shatters!"

"Shut up,
DeeDee. You did not punch your fist through the window!" I gasped unable to hide my shock.

"I know!" She squeaked. "It surprised the shit out of me too. Since I'd already punched a hole in the window, I reached my hand inside to unlock the door. As I'm fumbling for the deadbolt, I look down and notice for the first time that the rug on the floor isn't familiar. That's when I realize that this is not my apartment. This is the second floor, and we live on the third floor.

"Oh my god!" I cried out loud enough to draw the attention of everyone in the salon. Embarrassed, I put my hand to my mouth and fall into hysterical laughter.

"Court, I could have died of mortification right there on the spot." She slapped my arm. "Stop laughing, bitch. It was a nightmare!"

"I'm sorry, Dee." I quickly calmed my belly laughing to sporadic giggles. Customers around the salon were starting to throw curious glances our way. Nico especially, the look on his face said he was dying to come over here, but he was in the middle of what looked like a complicated haircut.

"It's just so out of character for you. I'm in shock."
DeeDee is a petite girl, standing no more than 5 feet tall with small hands so that means she has tiny fists. Nowhere near large enough to break through glass. "I can't believe you punched the window!" I stared at her in disbelief.

"So what'd you do after that?" I asked. She looked up from the hair dye concoction she'd been pouring and mixing the whole time.

"What do you think? I hurried my ass back down the stairs and ran to my car. Behind me, I hear Joey calling out, "Dee, what did you do?" but I kept running. Then he yelled from the fire escape, "You better not have done anything to the windows on my car. I will call the cops! You hear me!" I couldn't say anything back because I was so embarrassed, and the last thing I wanted him to know is that I punched out our neighbor's kitchen window."

"What a dick! I can't believe him." I say, still trying to picture the whole scene in my head.

DeeDee and Joey have been together since high school. He is your typical star quarterback turned drunken, frat boy-whore. Dee recently found out he'd been cheating on her for a while with different girls all over campus. It had become so obvious in the last few months that it was almost as if he wanted to get caught.

"What about the neighbor and the window?"

"Well, this morning, I knocked on his door and explained to him what happened. He was very cool with everything and told me don't worry about the damage but I put a check in his mailbox anyway.

"What about Joey?"

"I'm so done with him and I told him I'd be there to get my stuff this evening after work." She leaned forward with a pout and puppy dog eyes. "Will you come with me? Please?" She knew how much I detested Joey. I have always avoided being in the same room with him as much as I could help it, but she was my best friend so of course I eventually caved.

"Fine, but promise me no drama. Keep your mouth shut and just get your stuff. Deal?"

“Deal.”

We were shaking hands as the front doorbell chimed, and we watched as our walking dream, Alex, enter with his weekly delivery of water bottles.

"Hi, Alex." DeeDee and I called out in unison like a bunch of lovesick fan-girls. We only knew his name because that's what the tag on his shirt said, not because he'd ever spent any time talking to us.

"Hi." He grinned sheepishly back at us, while effortlessly flashing a kissable dimple. We watched as he rolled his cart to the water cooler and replaced all the empty bottles with new ones. We drooled as his biceps flexed and released every time he lifted one of the heavy five-gallon containers. When he was done, he pulled a pencil from behind his ear, scribbled something on the invoice and handed the paper to me.

"Sign this for me, please?" He asked politely with another dead sexy smile. I couldn't stop admiring the way his thick dark lashes fanned over his gorgeous golden brown eyes. At that moment, I would do anything he asked.

"Sure." I answered breathlessly and shot a quick glance to
DeeDee, who was absently twirling her long blond ponytail with a finger, the bowl of hair dye forgotten. I scratched out my name, and he handed me a copy of the receipt.

"Thanks. Take it easy." He said with a head nod. The bells chimed once again as he rolled his cart out of the door. When he was out of sight,
DeeDee and I both collapsed against the pastel pink reception desk, feeling boneless.

"Yoo-Hoo,
DeeDee? Are you ready for me yet?" A voice behind us called from the lounge area.

"Yes,
Mrs Wheeler. I've got the color all mixed up for you. Follow me." DeeDee reminded me of my promise to help her get her stuff tonight then led Mrs. Wheeler away.

*****

"Get out of my way, Joey! This is my coffee pot! I bought this with my money."
DeeDee shouted and held tight to the glass coffee pot.

"No, my mom bought that coffee maker for me when I moved in here. Give it back!" Joey shouted, blocking
DeeDee from leaving through the front door. From outside the apartment, I rolled my eyes to the sky. We'd almost made it out, with no drama. Joey had stayed out of our way for the most part until DeeDee grabbed that damn thing.

"Right,"
DeeDee continued. "But you cracked the first glass pot, so I went and bought this one. See!" She shoved it in his face before quickly pulling it back under her protective hold. "Mine."

"What the hell are you going to do with a coffee pot and no coffee
maker!" Joey yelled loud enough for the whole complex to hear.

"Doesn't matter.
It’s mine so don't worry about --”

"Oh. My. God! Are you kidding me?" I screeched from outside the doorway. "Both of y'all are being ridiculous! If that coffee pot doesn't leave or stay in the next two seconds, I swear to you both that I'm going to grab it and throw it over this railing!" I pointed down the three stories that lead to the concrete sidewalk below. "Grow the fuck up!" I threw up my hands incredulously. Finally, Joey stepped back into the apartment and quickly returned with the rest of the coffeemaker, shoving it at
DeeDee.

"Fine, take that too. Satisfied? Now can you please get the fuck out of my apartment?"

"With pleasure, asshole." DeeDee replied, barely managing to clear the entryway before Joey slammed the door, hard. DeeDee hopped forward with a squeak as the door tapped her behind before it banged shut. We heard Joey clicking the locks closed like a douche as we walked away.

I glanced over at my friend for any indication of her reaction to what just happened. I knew that underneath all the bravado
DeeDee loved Joey, and was probably taking this much harder than she was letting on.

As we settled into her car, I turned to her as she started the ignition.

"You okay, Dee? I know that was tough, but you did the right thing. You deserve better than Joey. Someone who only wants you. Your guy does exist." I squeezed her hand to emphasize my belief in what I'd just said. DeeDee's eyes turned misty, and I could tell she was about to break.

"Thanks. Love you, girl." She croaked before she pulled me into a hug and balled her eyes out for several minutes. Between sobs, she talked about how much she hated Joey and how stupid she'd been for wasting five years of her life with him. Next, she was saying that she loved him and couldn't believe it was over. When the sobbing and hiccups slowed, I handed
DeeDee one of her t-shirts from her bag of clothes in the back seat to wipe her face.

After she'd calmed down, and the tears subsided, she blew her nose on the shirt and tossed it on the floor in the back seat.

"Ew. That is really gross, Dee."

She shrugged at me and giggled as she touched up her make up in the mirror.

"So guess what?" She asked and from her tone I can tell the answer was something devious.

"What?" I gave the standard reply while eying her suspiciously. She was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and I knew whatever she said next was going to be good.

"You know how we wanted to go to Dreamfest tonight but the tickets were sold out?"

"Yeah." I answered cautiously.
Dreamfest was an all night concert featuring some of the hottest Indie music in a variety of genres from all over the world. It was the first time the concert had come to our area and we were bummed to discover that the tickets had sold out in four hours.

"Well, somehow Joey was able to score two tickets. Probably from one of the stupid bitches he's fucking." She reached into the front of her bra and pulled out two concert tickets. "Guess where we're going tonight?" She squealed while waving them at me.

"You stole his tickets? Just now? That's so cold, even for you, Dee."

"Oh, well. Fuck him." She shrugged dismissively. "
Wanna go or not?" I only considered her question for about a half-second before I nodded excitedly.

"Hell yeah. Let's go!"

DeeDee peeled out of the apartment parking lot, and we drove forty minutes to the concert. It was being held outside the city on farmland that had been converted into a place for events like this. We found a place to park, and made our way through the crowds to find out which stages our favorite bands were playing. It was late May, and the weather was hot even at night. Body heat from the crowd made the night seem even warmer.

After bopping up and down and singing at the top of our lungs for a while.
DeeDee and I made another stop at the beer stand. We were faintly aware of a couple arguing behind us.

"Screw you! What do you care anyway?"

"Erica!" I heard someone call behind me. "I'm serious. If you take off, I'm not coming after you."

Just as I was turning around with a plastic cup full of light beer, my arm was bumped by a girl rushing off with a huff. Before I could steady myself, a strong hand reached around my waist while another hand clasped my wrist to hold the drink steady.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I said instantly and found myself looking into a familiar pair of golden brown eyes.
Alex.

He looked good.

I mean really good.

He was wearing a pair of dark jeans that hung perfectly on his hips, and his black concert t-shirt was from one of my favorite bands playing tonight, Star 33.

"Hey! Courtney!" He said with surprise.

Holy crap! He knows my name! Be cool, Court.

"Uh. Hi, Alex." I replied cheerfully. A little too cheerfully, in my opinion, since to my ears it sounded more like a fake chipper cheerleader voice.
God
. I forced myself not to cringe in embarrassment. That was when I realized that his hand was still around my waist, and I was only inches from touching his chest with mine.

"Alex?"
DeeDee purred from behind me. "I thought that was you. Wow, you look good in regular clothes. Well, you look good in your work clothes, too, but I really like how…" I stepped on her foot to stop her drunken rambling.

"So, you like Star 33?" I pointed to the familiar band logo stretched across his wide chest.

"Yeah." He glanced down at his shirt and then back at me. "I love their sound. They used to play at a place near school. My buddies and I never missed a concert."

"
Nice! They're one of my favorite bands. Some of their songs remind me of The Cure."

"Plus, the lead singer, David, is hot!"
DeeDee chimed in.

We talked for a few minutes while he got back in line for beer. Soon Dee and I were tagging along with Alex and his friends. By the time Star 33 came on stage, we were having so much fun dancing and joking that I tried not to notice Alex's tiny excuses to touch me. The way his hand landed on the small of my back to guide me through the crowd or when his beer was empty, and he reached for my hand still holding my cup and lifted it to his mouth to drink. How he threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him as we looked at each other and sang song lyrics in unison. I felt so relaxed with him, like I'd known him for years. Nothing felt awkward between us.
Sometime later I looked around me to see that DeeDee was in a heavy lip lock with Alex's friend, Cole. We nudged each other and pointed to our friends before snickering together. I smiled and shrugged because I knew she could use some fun. She wasted no time in her forget-all-about-Joey plan.

When the concert was over, we all walked together to the parking lot. Alex was holding my hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world.