Hello everybody! I hope you enjoy, because I worked hard and had a blast writing this.

The night had come like a totally unexpected, but obviously expected, rainfall. Velvet looked out of the front windows of her St. Louis high-rise apartment. Dressed in her black evening gown and her high heels laid in front of the sofa, she took a couple of moments to just admire the view of the city beneath her. Lights of seemingly every color—white, BRIGHT white, greenish, yellow, neon blue and red—all sorts.

She started to think to herself, "Should I keep doing this? Should I put myself through what, so MANY times, had only led to disappointment?" The fact of the matter was that she and Randy had been dating for 5 months now, and it's come to that point where she's getting a very uneasy feeling about the whole thing. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more her stomach churned.

Time and again, she knew—every time she started feeling close to a man, he'd take what HE wanted and then leave. The result would be her sobbing into her pillows and being consoled by a combination of her best friend Layla, a bucket of Haagen Dasz, and a Long Island Iced Tea, or two.

Oh this feeling—this feeling of self-doubt, worry, and ultimately anxiety swept through the shores of her being like a tsunami. She knew that, because of being let down so many times, she'd developed a bit of a complex about getting too close too soon. One would venture to guess if she felt she was getting too close too soon with Randy? As she thought about that, she took a sip of her martini. And, as she gently sipped her drink, the phone suddenly rang.

She jumped a little as the noise of the phone snapped her out of her little worry-world. She walked over to the glass sofa table and picked up the receiver…

She cleared her throat and said, "Um, hello?"

"Heya girrrrrl!"

She smiled and answered, "Hey! What's up, Layla?"

"Ah, nothin' much with me. I'm just getting home from the gym. What're you doing?"

Velvet sighed and said, "Well, I'm waiting on Randy to come pick me up. We have reservations at 7."

"Oh, cool! Where are your reservations at?"

She smiled a bit and replied, "Well, he said that he wanted to try this one restaurant out—he said it's called 'Niche', I think."

"'Niche?'—where's that at?"

"I think he said it's on Sidney Street. It's supposed to be a…sort-of…high-class place, or something, I dunno."

"Ooooh, I wish MY man would take ME to places like that."

Velvet smiled and said, "Layla, you CHOSE that joker—I mean, like, Cody's a nice guy and he IS cute, but relationships are NOT his strong point, hahaha."

"Girl, TELL me about it—we'd get done making love and, next thing I know, on goes the Playstation."

She laughed as she said, "Hon, as bad as it seems, just remember—we know women who have it worse."

"Yeah, I know, but STILL—you know?"

"Layla, I definitely feel you, girl. Remember my last boyfriend?"

"UGH—Daniel Bryan...yeah, how can I forget? Hey, do you still see him around at all? Is he still into his video games and that weird-assed Warcraft obsession?"

Velvet rolled her eyes and said, "Hell no I don't see him—and I'm glad about that, too! I had to tell him to kick rocks—NO videogame or club, or whatever is gonna' take precedence over ME! As soon as I started to get close to that fool, he started spending all his money on video games. Hell, HIS idea of a 'romantic dinner' was McDonald's by candlelight!"

Layla replied, "Hahahaaaa…yeah, I remember THAT! Well, I'm just so happy for you and Randy—you seem to be getting along SO WELL!"

Once again, those feelings of doubt began to slowly creep into her as she replied in a notably more somber tone, "Well, that's what worries me, Layla."

"Hm. What do you mean?"

"Okay, yeah…me and Randy are doing well—TOO well, I think. I'm getting this…feeling that he'll dump me as soon as I give him my heart. In fact I'm starting to think that I should end this now because, Layla, I can't emotionally DEAL with another break in my heart!"

Layla breathes and says, "Well, hon that decision is yours. If you think he's going to hurt you then, by all means, dump his ass. If you think he's going to be a keeper, then maybe you shouldn't be afraid to take your relationship to the next level."

Velvet shook her head a little and said, "I don't KNOW, Layla! I can't decide—UGH!"

Layla hesitated and replied, "However, if you KNOW that this guy is the real deal and you KNOW that he'll likely give you everything you could ask for—I think that THAT'S really what you're scared of."

As she was hanging on Layla's words, she was instantly transported back that little world she was in before Layla called. She took in that possibility—could she REALLY just be scared of the first REAL and good relationship she's ever had? Yes, it was true that she was scared of being burned again, but for some reason, this one gave her some hope. She wanted to cry, she wanted to laugh, she wanted to frown, she wanted to—

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, took a sip of her martini, and picked the phone back up. Layla was saying, "Um…hello…HELOOOOO, you still there?"

Velvet quietly said, "Um…yeah, I'm still here. I was just thinking about what you said—"

Just then, the doorbell sounded.

"Hey Layla, hold on a sec, I think Randy's here."

She put down the receiver and walked over to the intercom and pressed the button to talk. "Yes, who is it?"

"Hey baby, it's me!"

She picked up the receiver and says, "Hey Layla, It's Randy."

Layla replied, "Oooh…and he's 10 minutes early, too! Don't you forget, girl—details, details, details!"

"Hahaha…ok, as soon as I get back! Bye, hon."

"Bye!" –click—

Velvet pressed the intercom button again and said, "Ok, I'll be down in a minute!"

She put on her heels, a couple spritzes of perfume, takes one last sip of her drink and left it to sit on her windowsill. She grabbed her purse, took a deep, measured breath, opened the door to leave and thought to herself, "I should just end this…I don't know…maybe?

She sighed to herself as she gently closed her apartment door. The gentle click of the lock could be heard in the otherwise quiet hallway as if it was confirming her decision to do this. And, when she heard the click, she paused momentarily before continuing down the hall toward the elevators.

...

To be continued…

So, what do you think? Please tell me how I'm doing, how I can improve, or whatever! See ya!