Too Addictive To Not Love

>Chapter 1<

“She’s a weird little thing.”

“I’ll never understand why she was accepted here.”

“She just left her little brother, What a selfish twink.”

Foolish little people. Whispers upon whispers, little lies flying in the air like they have nothing else to do with their lives. They act as if she couldn’t their rumors they practically begged to be true. And it hurt. To them she was just a selfish little thing, too selfish to care for her brother, too selfish to help her mother care for him. Her explanations meant nothing to them, and they took everything she said as an excuse. An excuse to be a letdown, a disappointment.

She grabbed the golden titled books and placed each one on their designated shelves with care, head sunk low in shame when the gossiping once again picked up behind her. They were bold, not acknowledging the fact that she was right in front of them, only seeing her turned back that held all her regrets, all her grief. She was a mere target for their insecurities.

“Ms. Anabelle? Where are the books about unicorns and dragons?” She inhaled in deep and spun around, mustering up the kindest smile she could. A little girl not possibly older than five stood by her feet, hands tugging at Julienne’s cuffed sleeve.

“You see that yellow sign at the front of the library?” She crouched down to her level and pointed at the circular sign above one of the aisles. “It says fantasy. You’ll find all those magical books under there, alright?” The little girl nodded her head and muttered a quick thanks before walking away, eyes glued to her designation. How she wishes she could be as free and open as her, running around the world with no goal in life but to grow older.

It was a dream she yearned to have, to be able to grasp into her little palms, but reality hit her like a cliffhanger at the end of your favorite book, and she found herself shaking the thought off before checking out early, grabbing all her belongings and jogging out. One day you’ll be happy.

After jogging a few miles a certain aroma filled the air, the scent of pastries and bread invaded her senses like a drug, a high, head clouded with one word in mind, food. Almost as if on cue her stomach growled disgustingly under her beige coat, face scrunching up with her thoughts already set up as she made her way across the street, nodding her head at passing cars and waving at citizens on bikes.

The windchimes rang above her head as she pushed the glass door open. It was beautiful, breads and treats placed beautifully on shelves, like freshly-earned medals that deserved to be shown to the world, mouth watering with a gleeful smile on her face. She didn’t realize how long she’d been staring until someone was tapping at her shoulder. She swung herself around and looked at the stranger, completely taken aback with what she saw.

The girl standing infront of her screamed confidence and rebellion, black, wavy hair falling past her shoulders, blue, ripped jeans showing what seemed like bruises on her knees, and a graphic oversized tee-shirt hung on her body. Oh my stars, how can anyone look like this and not be ashamed? Her eyes were dark and captivating, like the orbs of a black bear in the rain hunting for food, it’s fur so black almost navy blue.

A flush crawled up the back of her neck and she cleared throat, averting her gaze from the girl’s face to the ground underneath them.

“Get in line, girl. The lady at the counter has been calling you for hours now.” She pointed behind her to the lady with an almost worried expression on her face.

“Oh. Thank you…” Julienne reached her hand out and waited, staring into the girl’s eyes waitingly.

“Hernández. Anastasia Hernández.” Anastasia took Julienne’s hand into her own and shook them together, a proud almost cocky glint present in her glare as she slowly pulled back, touch lingering while she walked away. It took a moment for Julienne to register what just happened, eyes locked on a stain sitting in the corner of the room. What a cocky bastard.

With a shake of her head and a beating heartbeat, she twirled on her heels, finally meeting the lady behind the counter’s gazing and placing an order,

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She walked out the store with a beignet shoved into her mouth, powdered sugar falling from her lips like snow in winter, throat slightly dry from the small lack of moisture. Her phone sat in her hand as her friend blew it up, worried texts being sent in such a rushed manner Julienne was getting nervous herself. It wasn’t unlike her friend, Cleo, to not be wary of every little thing Julie was doing, but sometimes she got too anxious and would fall into old habits, causing anxiety in everyone around her.

Finally reaching her house, she shoved the door open and dropped her belongings at her feet, feet moving faster than she could think, desperately looking for where Cleo could be.

“Cleo!” She called out, laundry room empty, kitchen and living room empty, both their beds empty. Scrambling through her pockets, she unlocked her phone and hurriedly scrolled through the paragraphs of texts she was sent, trying to find where Cleo could have gone in such a short amount of time, especially without the keys to the house. I’ll be wzaing in the pstk.

In the what? Letters were missing and the word made no sense, none of her other texts having clues of what she actually meant. If her texts were this messy there could only be one explanation that Julienne could think of, she had made it to the cabinets of alcohol before she left. She broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of Cleo alone, drunk, somewhere where anyone could get to her.

Cleo couldn’t get too far if she was intoxicated, but there was no way she wouldn’t try her hardest to hide from Julienne.

Oh god- the park!

She rushed back to her dropped luggage, phone shoved into her pocket and arms sweeping up her bad, running out the door. Please be okay. Please be okay. The park was swarmed with people, many with dogs, many with different animals, most with children. Cleo could be anywhere, dead or alive, in this area and no one would see her, no one would notice. Julienne took a second to scan the place with her eyes, no obvious sign of Cleo anywhere. She just loves to make my life hard, huh?

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It’s been thirty minutes, the sun is halfway set and most of the park has cleared up minus a few parents with little kids who begged to stay. As she looked around once again something caught her eye, a bush, cut and ridged, but more specifically the brown boot that peeked out from aside it.

Could it be… Cleo!