Touch of Hellfire

☕️54☕️

I went into my apartment and I shut the door, neglecting to unload the car. I lay down and I started crying into my pillow.

I heard my bedroom door open and my bed sinking and Andrea gathered me into her arms. "He was there..right?"

I nodded. "He..." I stuttered. "Hey, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Andrea soothed me. "But I can tell that you still have feelings for him and he still has them for you, I don't know what you can do, except to move on."

"I don't know how I'm supposed to feel," I sniffled. "I love him but I can't be with him."

"I'm sorry," Andrea sighed.

***

The party was a blast, although it involved me and Cole hauling a drunk Sophia back to her apartment.

The apartment phone started ringing. "Hello, yeah hang on."

Andrea looked at me. "It's your mom."

I pulled up a chair and I held the phone to my ear. "Hey Mom, what's up?"

"We are officially in business," she announced. "Really?" I asked her excitedly. "We have your horses, me and you have to go horseback riding one day, I want to avoid the 'Rory and the pony' incident," Mom said. "Are you alright sweetie? Because some people saw you and Jess together on Saturday night."

"Like I said before one step forward, five thousand steps back," I murmured. "I'll cheer up, Duff-man is letting us insult movies today."

"Ooh, I know you'll enjoy that," Mom laughed. "So how was Sophia's party?"

"It was really good, there was good food, some dancing, some drinking, I was designated driver but I got Sophia back to her apartment before she turned the place into a strip club," I explained.

"So she's going to be hungover to the max?"

"Definitely, I'll keep her awake and have aspirin on hand," I told her. "You're a good friend, how's the script coming along?"

"Bad, I can't think of anything," I sighed with exasperation. "How am I supposed to be a Hollywood writer if my brain is empty?"

"Something will always come to you, trust me," Mom said. "Okay, thanks Mom, talk to you later?"

"Bye sweetie."

***

Times Square was packed. And I mean PACKED with people. "Excuse me," I muttered, pushing past the big cluster of people.

Someone shoved past me, sending me down and stuff from my bag spilling everywhere. "Oh come on!" I sighed.

I gathered everything back into it but one key thing was missing.

My cell phone.

People were pushing everywhere while my beloved phone was lying there, crying for help, worrying that it was gonna die. "Hey has anyone seen a phone?!" I yelled.

"Crap!" I sighed, running a hand through my hair and my priority was to make it to work in one piece.

I actually fell through the door and Amilia gasped. "Jesus Christ! What happened to you?"

"What the bloody hell is going on out there?" I asked incredulously. "Three tour buses broke down," Amilia told me, helping me up. "My phone got lost out there somewhere," I panted. "I was just walking through that unforeseen pit of people, someone shoves me over and I manage to find everything, except my phone."

"My goodness Heather! What happened to you?" Risa, my boss, asked me.

"My phone got lost out there," I sighed.

"Come on sweetheart, let's go," Risa led me outside and down the street to a tech store. "What's going on?" I wondered.

"You are one of my best employees, the only one who shows up on time and doesn't take any fake sick days, I was actually planning to do this at a different time, wait here alright?"

I waited by the door as Risa handed in something and got a box. She came over to me and gave me the box. "No girl in Manhattan should be without a phone."

"Thank you...I have to pay you back," I murmured. "Heather look at me," Risa looked me dead in the eye. "I'm going to give you the next two weeks off, okay? You look like you've been through hell and back, you need time to relax okay?"

I started getting teary eyed. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I mean, I handed my first script into my professor that got a C minus and I literally have no inspiration on what I'm going to do or what to write about, I'm a failure!"

"Sweetie, you are not a failure, the first year is always hard, I've met dozens of students who are on the same boat you are on, you need to take it easy on yourself, you're not doing yourself any favours," Risa told me. "Now take it, you deserve it."

***

I sat in class, waiting for my paper to get handed back to me. I took Risa's advice and I took some time alone and I relaxed.

Stressing myself out did no one any favours. Duff-man handed back the papers and I looked at mine to see a big A on the front.

I smiled to myself and Sophia gave me a little smile to congratulate me.

Duff-man gave us our next assignments and we all walked out. I stopped at the vending machine to get my Oreos. I set up my new phone the second I got back to my apartment and I put in the numbers I could remember.

But Jess' number..I couldn't remember for the life of me.