Chapter 1: Every End Has A Beginning

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Harper took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror. Her black dress cut just above her knees and her black heels helped her look taller than the 5’4” she actually was. Her black hair and curled to perfection and her fringe was swept to the side, falling just above her thickly-coated mascara lashes.

She approved of how her tattoos showed and completed her outfit. Harper was very happy with the twelve tattoos that she had.

The first tattoo she ever got, she got when she was fifteen. For about five years she always dreamt of getting a tattoo, and pictured what her first one would look like. Her best friend, Nicole, had a brother that did tattoos. For a small price, she finally got her first one. It was a quote that read “Stay strong, beautiful.” She got that quote because she had been depressed for as long as she could remember and every time she looked at that tattoo, she thought about how strong she had the capability of being.

Her second tattoo was a cartoon cat face on her shoulder. Cats were her favourite animal, and when she went into the tattoo parlour at sixteen years of age, that was the first thing that caught her eye.

Her third tattoo was a quote on her ribcage that said “broken houses will tie us together.” Her parents were divorced and her mother always moved from husband to husband. During Harper’s life, she found out that everyone has some sort of baggage, and somehow people can work together to fix it.

Those were her top three favourites. Her other tattoos were cool designs here and there that she got just for the look of things, but those three were special to her and she didn’t care if no one could ever seen the value of them.

At the funeral home, she was immediately greeted by her best friend, Nicole. She had known Nicole since they were in the sixth grade together and she asked Harper if her skull earrings were refundable because they were hideous. They kind of clicked at that moment.

“Harper, I don’t understand how you have the capability of looking so gorgeous,” Nicole complained, putting a hand on her hip. She was sporting a skin tight black dress that fell about mid-thigh, and her favourite hot pink heels. She looked like she was heading to the strip club, which was how she dressed pretty much every day.

“I don’t understand how you even try to pick up boys when you’re at a fucking funeral,” Harper murmured quietly as her grandma passed her. Today was Harper’s father’s funeral. She never had a strong relationship with him because he walked out on her and her mom and got out of paying child support. She was here just because he was her father.

“You never know when a hot boy is going to walk around the corner. Oh, that reminds me! You see, there’s this guy that was a friend of your dad’s son or something. His name is Alan and I know him from work, of all places!” If you didn’t already guess, Nicole worked at a strip club.

“I’m not sure if I want to meet a boy you met at a strip club,” Harper replied.

“All boys go to strip clubs, Harper!” Nicole countered.

“Well, my dad’s son does drugs, so I suppose all boys do drugs too?” Ian was his name. Harper was only into pot, while Ian was into hardcore drugs like cocaine and meth and all of that shit. Her dad was fairly rich and gave Ian an allowance even though he’s twenty and lives in her dad’s basement.

“He told me he’s only into weed. And, he’s in a band! He played me a song and it’s just like those screamo bands you like with the hot lead singers. Except that really hairy one from the one band.” Nicole was back to ranting, like she always does. She had a few habits, and ranting was one of them.

“You’re not talking about Jason Butler, are you?” Harper asked. Somehow she always knew what Nicole was trying to say. That’s all part of being best friends for ten years.

“Yeah, the hairy one!”

Harper groaned and made her way into the room where the ceremony was going to take place.

“This way!” Nicole said, grabbing Harper’s arm and dragging her to the back of the room where Ian and a familiar-looking boy were sitting.

Then it hit her. Harper stopped Nicole. “You didn’t tell me it was Alan Ashby,” she whispered, looking at the boy. That was definitely Alan Ashby, the guitarist of Harper’s favourite band, Of Mice & Men.

“Alan who? Oh! The hot ginger? Wait, who’s Alan Ashby?” Nicole asked, a completely confused look on her face. The only music Nicole listened to was party music and dubstep.

“He’s in a band. I can’t go over there, Nicole.”

“I told you he was in a band! Hey Alan, this is my friend I was talking about,” Nicole suddenly shouted, dragging Harper over to him.

Alan stood up with a satisfying smile on his face. “Hi, I’m Alan,” he said to Harper, offering his hand for her the shake. He was wearing ripped, black skinny jeans and a Pink Floyd tank top. Funeral attire.

“I know,” Harper sputtered, shaking his hand. “I know because um... your band. I know your band. I um – I’m going to shut up now,” she stammered, feeling herself blush.

Alan laughed a bit. “You gonna let go of my hand so we can sit down?” He asked, looking at their entwined hands.

“Oh fuck, sorry,” Harper quickly apologized and let go of his hand, taking a seat beside him.

“Hi to you too, Harper,” Ian said, emotionlessly.

“Hi Ian, I’m deeply sorry for your loss,” Harper muttered, keeping her eyes on the front of the room.

“Glad to see the family is bonding,” Nicole said sarcastically, taking a seat next to Ian.

“Glad to see the stripper showed up in some form of clothing,”  Ian teased in a completely dry tone.

Alan cleared his throat, awkwardly. “So, I’m sorry about your dad,” he said to Harper.

“I’m not. He was a smoker so he had it coming,” she replied, twiddling her thumbs in her lap.

Alan made an interesting choking/laughing sound. “So, does that mean I’m probably getting lung cancer?” He asked in a teasing tone.

“Probably. More likely to get moshed to death or something,” she teased back.

“That would be a pretty sick way to die.”

“Yeah... it would show that you’re a complete pussy that can’t even make their way out of a fucking mosh pit.” Harper felt herself being more confident when she kept her eyes off of Alan. She was afraid that if she looked at him she would turn into a pile of mush in the I’m melting! Wizard of Oz kind of way.

“What do you say we go for a drink after this?” Alan suddenly asked.

“Why don’t we go right now?”

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How'd you like the first chapter? Ya think there might be some smut coming along early in the story? *wink wink*

jk there's no smut you sick minded fucks

or maybe there is

you must tune in to find out >:)

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