CLOSER TO ME

Prologue

You suddenly felt very stressed out. Not that it didn't happen to you once in a while but this particular day was different. It was as if the conversation with your mother had taken you back to the awkward childhood and teen years you've tried so hard to escape.

"Come on Y/N. Let's forget about it for now." You advised yourself about your mom's criticism of your personal life.

Despite it being a Friday night, you were scheduled to work so you didn't have time to mope around. After a quick shower, you hastily dressed and put on your make-up. Since you didn't have enough time to do any type of hairstyle, you opted for a sleek ponytail. After putting on your earrings, you grabbed your purse before you realized you had misplaced your car keys. For what seemed like forever, you tore up the apartment before you finally found them under the couch.

"How the hell did they wind up down there?"

By now, your make-up had begun to smudge a bit due to your increased activity. The light layer of sweat was not only on your face but on your body as well.

Grateful to have located the keys to your 1998 Honda Civic, you dashed to your balcony and opened the sliding glass door. Relaxing yourself, you allowed the cool night air to wash over you. You crisp white blouse and black pencil skirt finally stopped sticking to you as the moisture on your body dried away.

"Ugh! Why can't we ever just have a normal conversation? Just once!!" You pondered with exasperation looking off into the distance.

In silent contemplation, you stared into the beautiful night sky a few minutes before returning indoors to head for work. You had barely finished sliding on your black work pumps when you knocked over the forgotten cup of cold coffee onto the beige carpet.

"For the love of God! Can anything go right today?" You screamed in frustration. Your voice almost echoed in the one bedroom apartment you had resided in for only 4 months.

It was a new place as well as a new city. Just what you needed to get away from your overbearing family and nosey friends. And despite what they all thought, you didn't go running back home in defeat. Truthfully, you had surprised everyone. No one actually thought you could live so far away from home, but so far, so good.

You glanced at you cell phone for the time as you stepped out of your apartment door.

"Crap! 7:45 pm!" You observed with a roll of your eyes.

Your shift was supposed to start at eight but thanks to your mom, you had really lost track of time. Luckily, you lived pretty close to the freeway. Despite running late, with some luck you could probably get there at a decent time. You quickly made your way down the steps of the second floor all the way to the gated parking garage.

"Hey Y/N! How have you been?"

The sweet voice belonged to your neighbor and acquaintance Marianna. She was seated her red BMW waiting for the gate to open wide enough for her to leave. Looking at her immaculate makeup and her professionally styled hair, you immediately felt frumpy.

"I'm doing pretty good. Just running late." You replied with wave.

"Oh? So, what's his name?" Marianna gave you a devious grin.

"Nothing like that. I'm just going to work." You said in a soft tone as you unlocked your car door.

Marianna shook her head with feigned disappointment and pulled her lips into a toddler-like pout. It actually got a genuine giggle out of you. She was quite a raven haired beauty with a very outgoing personality. You could definitely see that she had what most people would refer to as an A-type personality. The funny thing was that despite you being quite the introvert, you admired her jovial, outgoing nature.