❝You know I love you, right?❞
21-year-old Kendall Morgan moves to Los Angeles where she plans to live out her dream. But there is only one problem: She doesn't even know where to start.
One fateful day, while working in a coffee shop, she meets Holl...
KENDALL ROLLED out of herbedand sauntered to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She stared at her refection in the mirror, observing her tired eyes. It was an important day, yet she didn't look or feel any different. "Happy birthday, Kendall," she said to the mirror, her mouth forming a small, almost unnoticeable smile.
She walked to the kitchen with mellow music playing softly from a speaker. She made toast, cooked eggs, sliced avocados, and combined the ingredients to make avocado toast. The faint scent of coffee floated around the house as she ate, thinking about the events of the day before.
"How are you?"the therapist questioned.
"Good, I guess. Things have been going well with my record deal. Last month the CEO of the record label I'm signed to said that my song moved him to tears. But now that I'm signed, I should feel on top of the world, but I feel kind of . . . empty."
The therapist nodded. "And how is your relationship?"
"Lately I feel like I'm walking on eggshells with Ryan. Like, I have to be mindful of what I say and do so I don't upset him. It's like he's a bomb and I'm trying not to set him off. And I would be telling my friend all this, but she's extremely biased against him. She wouldn't speak to me for a week after I told her I was giving him another chance. Anyways, things just don't feel the same with Ryan anymore, and I don't think I can get us back to the way we were."
"And does that upset you?"
Hearing a sharp knock, Kendall shook away her thoughts and walked to the door. She opened it to reveal Phoenix and Maria with wide smiles and balloons. "Happy birthday, bitch!" Phoenix screamed, shoving gift bags into Kendall's hands. "I don't know about you . . ." She gestured for Kendall to finish the lyric.
Kendall grinned and shook her head. "But I'm feeling twenty-two."
Maria laughed. "Happy birthday."
"Thank you," Kendall said, her smile never faltering.
Phoenix grinned. "Do you feel any different now that you're twenty-two?"
"Not necessarily."
Another knock sounded throughout the apartment, and Kendall answered it. Standing in front of her was Ryan, with gifts in either hand and a large bouquet of pink chrysanthemums, Kendall's favorite flower. "Happy birthday," he said, a boyish grin forming on his face, but his smile quickly faltered when he entered and noticed Phoenix. Tension quickly filled the room and Phoenix rolled her eyes.
"I'm just gonna wait in the car," Maria said before slipping out of the room.
"What is your problem with me?" Ryan asked as he placed the bags down and handed the flowers to Kendall.
"My problem is that you're brainwashing Kendall into believing that you're a good person."
Kendall shook her head. "He's not—"
"Yes, he is, Kendall! You're just too oblivious to see it," Phoenix almost shouted. "This is what psychopaths like him do: they lie and manipulate to get what they want."
"Phoenix—"
"What did he tell you? That he loves you? Well, wake the fuck up because he doesn't. It's all a game to him, Kendall."
Phoenix's words hit Kendall hard. She almost couldn't believe what Phoenix had said. Kendall was in denial. Ryan had convinced Kendall that he needed her. She thought that if she left Ryan, he would hurt himself, and his blood on her hands was the last thing Kendall wanted.
Ryan had trapped her in a cage, and she didn't know it.
Ryan laughed dryly. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh my God, give it up! You're a terrible actor, Ryan. You may be fooling Kendall, but you're sure as hell not fooling me."
"Phoenix, you should leave," Kendall said quickly.
Phoenix raised her brows. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She narrowed her eyes at Kendall before storming out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.
Kendall sighed, sat on her couch, and ran a hand through her hair. She didn't understand why Ryan and Phoenix couldn't get along. They were both incredibly important to her, and she wanted them to act civilized around each other.
"What was that?"
"I barely said anything to her." Ryan crossed his arms. "And I'm not going to argue with you on your birthday." He picked up a small Cartier bag along with a rectangular box wrapped with white wrapping paper, adorned with a blue silk ribbon.
Ryan handed her the Cartier bag and Kendall pulled out a small red box. Inside was a rose gold Cartier Love Bracelet, which was embellished with numerous small diamonds. Kendall almost choked at the sight of it. "Isn't this bracelet, like, twenty-five thousand dollars?"
Ryan waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, but you can yell at me later," he said, handing her the second present. Kendall opened it to find first edition books—all by Charles Dickens, Kendall's favorite author. The books had been dressed with new, red leather covers and bedecked with gold patterns on the spines. Kendall pulled out one of the books and ran her fingers along its aged pages.
Kendall smiled. "I love them. Thank you." She stood to hug Ryan. "But you're returning the bracelet."
"I can't."
"Why?" Kendall asked, pulling away from Ryan to look at him
"I had words engraved into it."
Kendall picked up the bracelet and noticed the words I love you engraved on the jewelry's interior. She smiled, but Phoenix's words rang in her head. "It's all a game to him."
Ryan tucked Kendall's hair behind her ear. "I'm in love with you, Kendall."
Pushing her best friend's voice away, Kendall told Ryan that she loves him, because she really did. She hadn't realized it, but she had just thrown away the only spare key to her metaphorical cage.
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This chapter sucks, and I'm sorry. And I swear I didn't mean for Kendall to turn 22 on chapter 22.
Also, I've noticed that I change tenses in my writing, but I just decided to ignore it and continue writing the same way. But now that this story is getting closer to the end, I'm going to go back and edit the entire novella so that it's all in past tense.
