Scarlett always hated the limelight that her celebrity parents thrive under. At twenty-three, she’s doing her best to live a “normal” life. All of that changes when Xavier, a family friend, returns from college. Xavier is also famous, but he’s not what he seems. Can Scarlett avoid fame and guard her heart, or will she take a chance on a love that might just rock her world?
Age Rating: 18+
Note: This story is the author’s original version and does not have sound.
Going Nowhere by R S Burton is now available to read on the Galatea app! Read the first two chapters below, or download Galatea for the full experience.
Subgenres:
Contemporary, Later in Life, New Adult, Rock Stars
Similar to:
A Star Is Born, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Read the full uncensored books on the Galatea iOS app!
Chapter 1
Scarlett always hated the limelight that her celebrity parents thrive under. At twenty-three, she’s doing her best to live a “normal” life. All of that changes when Xavier, a family friend, returns from college. Xavier is also famous, but he’s not what he seems. Can Scarlett avoid fame and guard her heart, or will she take a chance on a love that might just rock her world?
Age Rating: 18+
Original Author: R S Burton
Note: This story is the author's original version and does not have sound.
From the moment I was born I was thrust into the limelight. My mother was a rock star in her prime, and my father was, and still is the CEO of the most prestigious talent agency.
I would be lying if I said it had been easy. High school had been horrible for a multitude of reasons, but my inherited notoriety was what really did it for me.
I couldn’t walk down the street without being harassed by strangers with cameras, but not only that, people I had trusted used me, abused me, and then spat me out like I was nothing.
From a young age I had known I had to escape from the limelight if I wanted to feel at peace. High school cemented that notion.
I lied about my passions and suppressed them so deep until even I believed it. I studied early childhood education, and found a job as a preschool teacher.
Moved to the suburbs and pretended I wasn’t a Jackson. After a while, life seemed normal.
But still my past haunted me. Xavier was a ‘family friend’ we were same age, born only hours apart. Ever since we were 13, he had tormented me for no other reason, but his enjoyment.
I had hated it, but yet he wasn’t worst thing about those torturous four years.
The Use/Abuse/Spit team had done something so despicable, so morally corrupt, that it alone had forced me into a hermit like life, after graduation not only had I yearned to be normal, I had yearned to be invisible.
Yet still, I had thought about it every day for the last 5 years.
Xavier’s return only magnified the feelings and memories of high school, even though his torment had been different, bearable even.
I despised him, and what he represented, but I had never been able to bring myself to hate him.
This was supposed to be a celebratory dinner for him. A ‘Patchwork’ family member, returning from Business College to plunder my father’s life work into the ground.
There was a knock at the door, and the guest of honor was supposed to have arrived, but someone unexpected walked in. .
One look at our visitor and I wasn’t transported back to my high school years; rather to my college years, and it was like a real life poster stood in front of me. It wasn’t Xavier .
He was tall, taller than I had expected.
His arms were adorned with the beautiful art I’d spent hours admiring while watching music videos, he wore the same staple black jeans and t-shirt he always wore, and his long dark hair was down, half covering his face like it always did.
I wasn’t about to argue, Vax was a considerable step up from Xavier, but it begged the question; why the hell was Vax from my favorite band ‘Going Nowhere’ in my parents kitchen with my family?
“Surprise.” He said with a shrug, pulling his hair back off his face. He looked directly at me and a smirk washed across his lips. His hazel eyes glinted with something I couldn’t decipher.
I could feel my heart beginning to speed up, and my temperature felt like it was rising.
“Xavier,” Janie exclaimed her tone incredulous. She stepped forward and touched his cheek. “I don’t understand.”
Whoa, Xavier? I reeled back in shock. Why was I looking at Vax when Janie was calling the exact same person Xavier? The Xavier who had tormented me. I knew Xavier, and Xavier didn’t look like this.
Yes he was moody, yes he only wore black… but…
The more I took him in, the more I realized he did look like this. It was Xavier. I wasn’t sure how had I missed the similarities in his almond shaped hazel eyes?
Sure he was older now, his skin was decorated with ink and his face was covered with a light smattering of stubble, but it didn’t seem a reasonable enough excuse.
It had been enough to trick me, and now as I looked at him I couldn’t help but feel foolish.
“I wanted to tell you Mom, but… well.” He looked at Marc and his eyes steeled. He was angry and I was mortified to find it sexy.
I shook my head, still struggling to work out what the hell was going on. Xavier had made my life hell in high school.
He’d called me fake and had tagged my locker, he’d played a video of me dancing badly at a Christmas party on the school website. He had been a jerk.
He wasn’t Vax. This was just a prank.
“Xavier… What’s going on?” Marc boomed, clearly not caring about audience he had. The room was filled with other patchwork family members, each and every one of them as shocked as the other.
“You wanted me to get educated, you wanted me to run your business! I didn’t want to.
“I wanted to play music!” Xavier pulled a rolling stones magazine from his back pocket and slammed it down on the bench. “You told me I was dreaming.
“A man in charge of finding new talent told me I was better off getting a 9 to 5 job. You were wrong! And this proves it.”
Marc didn’t say anything else. Janie hugged Xavier, he seemed surprised by the gesture, but returned the hug none the less.
After that everyone except Marc and I seemed to accept this new development, like their worlds hadn’t crumbled beneath them like chalk. How could I not have recognized him? I couldn’t accept this.
I wouldn’t.
Isla, her sister Grace and their parents Amelia and Josh arrived shortly after the awkward encounter. Isla and I grew close when I started college.
She was studying photography and saw me under a tree alone. We’d hung out before because our families were close, but she went to a different high school, so we didn’t really talk much.
College was different however, and with her I felt free to be whoever I was.
I told her about high school, she knew most of it anyway because her parents had filled her in and she quickly became my best friend. One I knew I could trust.
But she knew about Xavier too, the only person I’d ever told.
So while her parents Amelia and Josh spent the next five minutes gushing over Xavier and how surprised and impressed they were, Isla walked over to me and slung her arm over my shoulder.
“This is actually happening isn’t it?” Isla gasped, her tone was amused, she knew about my gigantic crush on Vax, and my gigantic dislike of Xavier.
“Kill me. Please.” I groaned, wishing I’d said no to this stupid dinner after all. It was hopeless though, I was stuck here.
“Maybe he’s changed.” Isla suggested shrugging her shoulders. “He sure looks different.”
He did look different, but now I couldn’t understand how I hadn’t seen that Vax was Xavier before. When his hair was off his face all I could see was Xavier.
Even I couldn’t deny that Xavier had always been good looking, but he’d spent so much of his youth scowling that I’d barely even noticed it.
He wasn’t scowling now, he was smiling as he spoke to my Dad about his last tour of the country. My stomach flipped as I watched him speak, and butterflies began flitting through me.
I shook my head, realizing what was happening and just how absurd it was. It was how I’d felt when I’d looked at posters of Vax or music videos, how I’d felt when I’d fantasized about him.
My face blushed. I could feel the heat radiating from my face. I couldn’t feel this way about him now that it was clear Vax was Xavier. I had to kill it.
I cleared my throat and shrugged Isla’s arm from my shoulder. “I uh… I need a moment.” I said excusing myself.
I ran up the wooden staircase like I had many times before, usually because of Xavier, but never because he made me flustered.
I walked into the pristine white bathroom, the minimalist décor combined with the brightness of white on white forced me to wake up ever so slightly.
I closed the door behind me and leaned up against the white and light grey streaked marble vanity.
I looked at myself in the mirror, my blue eyes glistened with want, my lips sat slightly opened, because under the current pressure just breathing through my nose wasn’t enough.
The blush of my realization was still very evident on my face. I was a hot mess, turned inside out by a boy who I didn’t like, and a rock star who I did.
“Get a hold of yourself Jackson.” I groaned as I turned on the cold tap. I splashed the water on my face and felt the inappropriate thoughts drain away.
My attempts at cooling myself down were short lived. When I turned around to leave, the door opened and Vax… Xavier walked in. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it.
“Could you knock next time?” I scathed, annoyed.
“Enjoying the view, Scarab.” He teased me and ignored my question, but at least he wasn’t scowling, in fact his lips looked entirely kissable. What was I thinking! I frowned, he’d called me Scarab.
My Dad’s nickname for me.
It was a step up from Dung Beetle., the name he’d given me when we were growing up, so I chose to let it go. I stepped toward the door hoping Xavier would move, but he didn’t.
“Come on Xavier. Let me out.” I pleaded, the temperature was beginning to rise again, and I had to escape before I did something stupid. Something I’d regret.
Xavier shook his head, he took advantage of our closeness and grabbed me by the hips.
My breathing hitched in my throat and I wondered how on earth I was going to get out of here without looking like a complete idiot.
“Your Mom said you used to blast ‘Going Nowhere’.” He murmured, his voice was low and seductive. I couldn’t compute what was happening. Why was he touching me and why wasn’t I stopping him.
I nodded, I still blasted the band’s music, although maybe this new development would change that. All the lyrics had suddenly lost meaning to me. At least that was what I was telling myself.
“I bet you liked me.” He crooned, trailing a hand up my stomach, then over the curve of my breast. I shook my head, afraid to speak in case the lie revealed itself.
“I bet you thought about me when you made love to your bookish boyfriends.”
I shook my head again, but I was being honest now. I hadn’t. Mainly because I hadn’t had a boyfriend since Ryan, and I hadn’t made love. Ever.
I had thought of him… of Vax, as I taken myself to the brink and back, but he didn’t need to know that. Hell… I didn’t even want to know that anymore.
His eyes narrowed and he let out a small chuckle then put both hands back on my hips, and before I could react he spun me around until I was the one against the door.
“I see that look in your eye.” He whispered, as he moved closer to me. “I know you want me.”
God, I hated that he was right. I did want him, or maybe I just wanted Vax. But I hated how sure of himself he was. He pressed his lips to my neck, and I bit back a moan.
I forced myself to see clarity through the insanity, to watch what was happening from a bird’s eye view. Xavier was treating me like a groupie.
He had me in a bathroom, melting beneath his hands, and if I’d given him half a chance he would have taken me on the vanity.
I wasn’t anyone’s groupie, and I certainly wasn’t about to give it up to Xavier Smith in a bathroom. I wanted my first time to be special, and preferably with someone I actually liked. .
Not with Xavier .
I pushed him away, then slapped him hard in the face.
“Stay away from me.” I warned. “I’m not fooled by this.” I said pointing to his get up.
“This?” He laughed. “You mean me.”
I nodded and opened the door. “I haven’t forgotten how you treated me Xavier, and I won’t. Touch me again and I’ll have you castrated.”
I walked out of the bathroom and back downstairs. I stayed quiet through dinner, and I kept eye contact with anyone to a bare minimum, even Isla.
I could feel him watching me though, and it was unnerving. Every time I did stop to speak to someone I could see him out the corner of my eyes. Just a fleeting glance had me melting in my seat.
“You okay?” Isla whispered finally.
I nodded and took a sip of my wine, while I wished it was whiskey or bourbon or vodka or some other kind of hard liquor.
“You sure. You’ve been weird since I got here, or maybe I should say since Vax got here…”
“It’s Xavier.” I replied. Vax wasn’t real. “And I’m not being weird.”
“He keeps looking at you, you know; like he wants to devour you.” She leaned in and whispered. “What the heck is that about?”
I just shrugged, and pretended I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Dad! Look, I am sorry. I am sorry I was such a fucking disappointment to you.” Xavier exclaimed somewhat suddenly.
My head shot up in Xavier’s direction, as did everyone else’s in the large dining room. Xavier stood up and pulled a small piece of paper from his jeans pocket. He threw it down in front of Marc.
“I never wanted to go in to business. I told you that. You didn’t want to listen. But because the bottom line is so important to you, here is the tuition money.”
Marc took the check and ripped it up. He looked around the table at all the eyes on him, then up at Xavier, then finally he dipped his head.
“No, I’m sorry.” He said. “I should have listened.”
Xavier looked taken aback. His face softened, which surprised me. Softness wasn’t something I’d expected from either Xavier or Vax.
Even when I thought they were two different people, I’d considered them both to be rough around the edges.
“Really?” He mumbled.
Marc nodded and stood up. He held his arms open and Xavier, who was still standing up walked into the hug. An unexpected ball of emotion caught in my throat. I felt warm and fuzzy.
Why did I care, what hold did Xavier have on me. I took a deep breath and told myself that I really only cared about Marc and Janie. They’d been like my own Aunt and Uncle after all.
Xavier and Marc pulled back from their father son embrace, then they both sat back down.
I didn’t realize I was still watching Xavier until our eyes met across the table. His soft kissable lips curved into a slight smirk, I wanted to feel them, taste them, and have them taste me.
I closed my eyes for a second, imagined what might have happened had I not left that bathroom.
“Scarlett.” Isla whispered, interrupting me from my thoughts. “You’re making girly sighing sounds… are you okay?”
My eyes shot opened. Xavier was still watching me, but his smirk was gone. His eyes were hungry though, and I knew he wanted me. I just didn’t know why.
I was nerdy, and shy and he’d hated me in high school.
I tore my eyes from his and straightened my shirt. I looked sideways at Isla and shrugged.
“I’m not feeling well. I might go home.” I replied, coughing to help my case become even a little believable.
Mom, who was sitting to my right placed her hand to my forehead and clicked her tongue
“You’re feeling hot. Maybe you should stay here tonight.” She suggested.
I shook my head, not wanting to tell her that the only reason I felt hot was the sex on legs boy staring at me from the other end of the table.
“I’m okay. It’s just a cold. I’ll uh, slip out quietly.” I murmured.
I stood up and walked out the back door without another word.
I hoped no one else had realized, I hoped he hadn’t realized.
I needed to get home, have a long cold shower, curl up with my four cats and some trashy reality TV and forget that tonight had ever happened.
Read the full uncensored books on the Galatea iOS app!
Chapter 2
Relaxing was easier said than done because when I got home I could only think of Vax.
I neglected the shower I’d promised myself and walked down the hallway to my room. I opened the closet and pulled down an old shoe box with stuff I’d kept from college.
I tipped the contents on to my bed and rifled through it all. Movie stubs, Polaroid’s, little memento’s I’d thought were precious and priceless.
Then I saw it. The thing I was looking for.
A folded up poster. It had been on my wall for my last two years of college, just when the band’s fame was really just taking off. I carefully unfolded it and lay it on my bed.
Vax held his guitar, his hair was covering most of his face. But I could see one of his hypnotizing hazel eyes, and that same smirk he’d given me at dinner.
But, it wasn’t Vax, I couldn’t see Vax anymore, I could only see Xavier. Irresistible hot Xavier….
Maybe my virginity was causing me to act like a thirsty person in a desert. I was seeing shit that just wasn’t real.
I looked down at the ground, away from the poster. My cat Asteroid circled my feet, weaving in and out. Begging for food. I bent down and picked him up.
“At least I can trust my feelings for you Aster” I whispered nuzzling him.
He purred in response and pushed his head against my cheek.
I placed Asteroid back down then walked down the hallway in to the kitchen and set out dinner for the cats.
I stood there watching as they ate, both amused and distressed at my burgeoning cat lady status.
I walked back through to the lounge and flicked on the music channel. Like fate a ‘Going Nowhere’ song was playing. It was one of my favorites too.
I lay back on the couch and tried to forget for a moment who was singing it, because the words had always connected with me. I’d always felt like it was my song.
She’s afraid of her own skin
Sweet lips, but won’t try to use them
So beautiful it’s almost a sin
She looks at me, with her crystal blue gems.
And she says,
Tell me, I’m worth it
Tell me, I’m not alone
Cos I’ve been holding on, for too long
My mind is aching, my heart it breaking
And I, don’t know if I can go on.
I opened my eyes and stopped singing. How could Xavier of all people, have written something so poetic.
I knew Vax was the sole writer I’d seen the writing credits, and if Vax was Xavier, then he’d written it.
Mr. ‘I’m so moody and I don’t have romantic feelings’ had written the one song that touched me so deep on a personal level.
Angrily I snatched the remote up from beside me and changed the channel. Screw music. Screw it all, it was full of drama anyway. I didn’t need it.
Then, like the true spinster I was, I fell asleep, watching crap on television.
I woke up the next morning, still fully dressed, with all four cats resting their heads on me in one way or another.
Watch it, you’re living a wild life Scarlett Jackson.
I stood up, flicked the TV off and walked from the living room.
Thank god for work. When I was there I could forget everything, the kids became my focus. Being there reminded me of a simpler time in my life. A time when I didn’t really know what fame was.
I was just a kid and it was just my life. Until high school happened and everything changed.
It had started with Ryan, we had been dating for 6 months. I was 17 and had begun to consider losing my virginity to him, He was kind enough, considerate and had good grades.
Dad didn’t like him much, but I thought that it was normal for a dad to dislike his daughter’s potential suitors. In hindsight, I think he could probably see something I couldn’t.
On the night that I’d chosen to tell Ryan I was ready, that I ‘wanted’ to have sex with him. I went to the party of year, it was an annual event run by my best friends .
We had arranged to meet out the front at 9pm. He had work, and couldn’t get there before then. When I arrived, one of my other friends told me he was inside waiting for me in a bedroom.
My heart was pounding, and I remember feeling nervous and excited. Finally excited I would drop the stupid V card my friends had been teasing me about.
I pushed open that bedroom door, and well… Let’s just say, what I saw was straight out of a dirty movie. Until that point of my life I’d never seen anything sexual.
A grope during a make-out session was as hot as it got for me. But Ryan had one of my so called best friends, spread eagle, legs in the air on the bed.
They didn’t even stop once they realized I was there. Ryan, who was drunk even asked me to join them.
Faced with the risqué scene I was surprised to find I wasn’t brokenhearted. Ryan had never lit that spark in me.
He’d never made me feel like I was the only one for him, and I guess I was the same toward him.
I was hurt though, my friends had used me, and laughed at me, and had done things far crueler than even Xavier had ever done. I withdrew myself from their group, and from life in general.
A few months later a video surfaced. A sex tape. The one make out session Ryan and I had started it. Unbeknownst to me, he’d filmed it.
The rest of the tape was my friend, but the video didn’t show her face. The media decided it was me. I was the girl in the video.
My father was angry at first, with me for being so dumb. For giving myself to someone I clearly didn’t love.
I explained the truth, and for the first time in my life I realized just how much a person can fuck you over when they think they can make something from you.
After Ryan and the whole best friend, spread eagle, legs in the air visual extravaganza in high school and the resulting “daughter of rock star caught up in high school sex tape.” stories, I’d learned not to be so trusting of peoples motives.
I’d learned to hide in the shadows.
I’d learned to lie to my parents and deny I liked music, or that I was even any good at it. Because I was scared of getting hurt.
I shook the memory from my mind and headed to the bathroom. I had a shower and changed into a pair of blue jeans and a faded blue t-shirt.
It had a picture of something on it, but it was so old that I couldn’t make out what it had originally been.
I’d learned fairly early that working with young children meant mess, stains, and even the occasional bodily excrement would find its way on to my clothes.
Once I was dressed I left the bedroom and walked back down the hall to the kitchen.
Asteroid and Vax circled my legs. Fuck it. My poor cat. I’d named him after Vax, the musician. Now my poor beautiful black Persian cat’s name was tainted, now he was named after Xavier.
Vax just meowed in my direction and sauntered away from me.
“I guess your attitude kind of matches Xavier’s you moody thing.” I mused as I walked to the fridge.
I topped up the cat food bowls and then left the house, time was slipping away on me, and if I didn’t leave now I was going to be late.
The kids distracted me as I’d known they would and for the first three hours of my 6 hour shift I forgot everything that had happened in the past 24 hours.
Then half way through my shift I heard the front door open, and that’s when my day took a serious dive.
“Oh my god.” I heard Karen, one of the other teachers, gasp from beside me. I looked up and tilted my head at her.
Her eyes were wide and fixed on the door. She put down the orange crayon she was holding and began to fan her face with a piece of ridged cardboard from the craft table.
“You’ll never guess who just walk in the door.”
My stomach dropped, I’d probably have thrown up then and there if I’d eaten at all, Thankfully I hadn’t yet. Because I knew exactly who stood there. I just didn’t know why.
“I’m not here.” I groaned. “This isn’t happening.”
Karen grabbed my elbow and pulled me in closer. The kids around us shook their heads like we were crazy. I didn’t blame them.
“He’s walking toward you.” She mumbled.
I rolled my eyes and placed my own crayon down. “You guys keep up the good work. I’m just going to chat with a….. Friend.” I smiled at the children, and stood up.
The word ‘friend’ stung my tongue like a poison. We’d never been friends, so why was he here, how had he even known where I worked in the first place.
“Go for your lunch break, you skipped your morning break.” Karen suggested raising her eyebrows.
I shook my head, I didn’t need a lunch break, and I didn’t need to speak to Xavier more than to tell him to leave.
I spun around on my feet, and almost double backed into the table. Xavier stood there, inches away from me, I could feel the warmth of his body radiating toward me.
The proximity was more than inappropriate for this setting, but I could hardly slap him in front of all the children, so instead I walked around him.
He followed behind me, out the side door and along the playground. We walked up a small bank away from the building and sat on the grass. Neither one of us spoke for some time.
I still wasn’t even sure why he was here, or why I wasn’t telling him to leave.
I’d let him say what he came to say, but I wouldn’t look at him, not after how my body had rebelled against me the night before.
“I’m sorry.” He said finally, His words were loaded, but I still couldn’t tell what he was apologizing for. He wasn’t going to get away with it that easy. I needed clarification.
“What for? Last night, or high school.” I said, trying to keep my voice steady, calm, collected, but I wasn’t sure I was succeeding. Something about this man had me confounded.
Xavier took a long slow breath and ran his hand over his tied back locks before he finally said “Both, I guess.”
“Why were you such a jerk?” I mumbled, my voice was less steady now, and I knew that if we continued to talk about high school I’d crack.
High school was more than a painful topic for me, especially when a large part of it was to do with him.
“Last night? Or in High school?” He questioned, mirroring my earlier question.
I laughed, but it was uneasy. He had me unarmed, I had nothing when faced with him, and my usual sass was depleted. “Both.” I said, our eyes locked for a moment before I looked down at the grass.
“I was an idiot in high school.
“I thought I knew everything and I thought knowing everything gave me the right to pull people up when I thought they were wrong.” Xavier spoke clearly, and it surprised me, but he sounded genuine, like he’d actually thought about it.
“You hung around with fake idiots who used you. I hated it.”
I guess I had been a little naive, too naive to see that I was so different to them. I was just happy to be fitting in, even if I was a star shaped block trying to fit in to a square shaped hole.
“So you humiliated me, why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Like I said, I was an idiot.” he groaned. “I am sorry about that. I did come here today to apologize about last night though. I crossed the line. I guess I’m used to being able to get what I want.”
Want? Who the hell was talking about want? Did he want me? Is that why he’d….
“I’m confused.” I replied, I turned to look at him, allowing myself another glance, but a glance was all I needed to whisk me back to that moment in the bathroom.
My breathing hitched in my throat and I had to look away. Goddammit. Even knowing that Xavier and Vax were one in the same person hadn’t done anything to dampen my irrational feelings.
“I wasn’t thinking with my head Scarlett.” He murmured, his voice was low, seductive.
I was suddenly very glad that the cool air had the kids inside, because this was not a conversation for a preschool. Xavier was teetering on the edge of acceptable behavior.
An edge I figured he’d balanced on for years.
“I’m hardly your type.” I said with a shrug. I’d seen his pictures in magazines with girls hanging off him, and I’d heard the stories. Girls who’d run to the media and sold their.
“My one crazy night with a rock star.” stories. He was a serial one-night-stand only kind of a guy. I’d always fantasized that I’d meet Vax and cure him of his wicked ways, but that wasn’t possible.
We were, now more than ever complete opposites.
“I have a type?” He laughed.
“No you’re right, I have a pulse that seems to be your only prerequisite.” I shot back at him, my voice was callous.
I smiled, proud I had grown a backbone in the 11th hour, proud I had said something.
Xavier sucked in a short breath and stood up, he brushed his black jeans off and took a step away from me. “Well guess I’ve overstayed my welcome.” his voice was ice cold.
“You weren’t welcome to begin with.” I retorted as I stood up.
Xavier began to walk down the bank, then he stopped and turned back toward me. His face was inches from mine, I could feel his hot heavy breath against my face.
He looked angry, but it did nothing to kill how much I wanted to grab him by the back of the head and kiss him.
“You of all people should realize the media doesn’t get the whole story. But whatever, believe what you like.” He stalked off, leaving me standing alone cold and suddenly sad.
A minute ago I’d felt alive with want, but now I felt empty and guilty.
Once I was sure he was gone I went back inside. But it was impossible to forget his visit and for the rest of my shift all the teachers were talking about was Vax.
My sanctuary had been invaded by him, and now it was forever changed.
Thank god for the weekend, When my shift ended I couldn’t get away from the place fast enough. I was already dialing Isla’s number before I got to my car.
“Hey doll, you feeling better today?” Isla’s voice sang down the phone line. She sounded happy, like she always did. She was the light to my bitter darkness.
“I was…. until he showed up at work.” I complained, I was aware I sounded like a brat, but after the last 24 hours, I was beyond caring.
He’d invaded my space and was confusing me with each minute I had to be in his presence.
“Wait, What?” She replied.
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s go out.” I said, I tried to sound excited, even though it was the last thing I really wanted to do.
“Wait, What?” She repeated, except this time she sounded even more shocked.
“Out, drinking, dancing… out.” My worst nightmare.
“I thought that was what you meant, you don’t do night clubs.”
I smiled, she knew well. Alcohol, dance music and crowds of people just weren’t my thing. Staying in, eating Cheetos and listening to Going Nowhere was.
I frowned, annoyed my favorite band was tainted by Xavier Smith. Being completely unlike myself for once sounded like the just the thing I needed.
“Trust me, I need to tonight.” I pleaded. “Please.”
“Hey I’m in, I could use a break too. Meet me at mine and we’ll catch a cab to that new club?”
Though I didn’t know what she meant by ‘new’, because they were all new to me, I wasn’t about to question her. Tonight I would let loose, new club, old club or no club.
“Sure.” I replied. I felt like I was a high school kid about to sneak out of the house. It was like I was breaking a rule, and sooner or later I’d be caught and grounded.
It was stupid considering I was 23, but my age didn’t make the feeling go away.
I drove home in silence. Afraid that if I turned the radio on, it would be just my luck that a ‘Going Nowhere’ song would play, it had been that kind of day.
Read the full uncensored books on the Galatea iOS app!
