CHAPTER ONE

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine

I keep my eyes wide open all the time

You hummed along to Johnny Cash as he played discreetly in the background. The plates in your hands were filled with fries and burgers as you navigated through the tables of the small diner you were working at. Friday nights were always pretty packed as it was the evening with that ridiculous amount of discount on the whole menu and also many couples made it their date night. You didn't really mind though because it meant no sitting around, waiting for the diner to fill and also – more tips. Something no student would ever say no to! With a smile, you put the plates down onto the table in front of an elderly couple who came in regularly. The sight of them always warmed your heart because the both of them dressed up and just looked still so much in love with each other. "Thank you, darling" She said and patted your arm lightly. "It's no problem. Enjoy your evening." The smile on your face was absolutely genuine as you walked back to the bar. The woman reminded you a lot of your own grandma who used to love the jazz and swing music playing at the diner just as much as you.

A small tear formed in the corner of your eye. Her funeral had only been half a year ago but you still missed her like hell. Gran had raised you mostly while your parents worked all over the globe, protecting as many people as possible from danger as she would always tell you. Her and granpa both had shaped you in a lot of ways – one being that you were very independent and could absolutely stand up for yourself and others. That was something both of them encouraged as well as you being able to defend yourself, both mentally and physically. Grandpa used to tell you stories about how his wife used to fight off the bad guys in a cute petticoat and heels, all the while her lipstick absolutely staying in place. It had obviously enamoured him and you adored the both of them together. His death a few years ago had taken a toll on both you and your grandma. She started to slightly get worse and worse mentally and it even got to the point where she didn't really get the difference between her memories and the reality anymore.

"Are you trying to drown it in milk?" The deep voice made you jump slightly but you recognized it almost immediately. Chuckling, you put the box of milk down and turned to the left where a brown-haired guy sat in his usual spot. "James, you can't always creep up on me like this." You really tried to sound accusing, but your voice gave it away, the sight of the man just making your evening a bit better. Returning the chuckle, he raised his hands in defeat and shook his head slightly. "I just wanted to save that poor milkshake from being absolutely watered down – or should I say milked down." His cheeky comment made you grunt in response while you took a glass out of the shelf behind you and poured some coke into it. "Your humour really doesn't get any better, does it? I take it's gonna be the usual – big burger, not so many fries and absolutely no pickles or tomatoes." James simply grinned in response and took the glass out of your hands.

Much like the elderly couple, James was a regular at the diner. He would come in every Friday like clockwork and sometimes also under the week. As you worked nearly every day at the diner, you got to know him a bit during those few hours every week. Sometimes, he would even help you with your work for college. It had surprised you, to be completely honest, that he actually spoke fluent Russian and German – there weren't too many Americans who could do that. And as you were studying languages in combination with business studies, it could only help you to have someone actually understand those articles you had to read. On a few occasions, he had even taken some of your essays with him and brought them back corrected. But you didn't just take from him or used him for his language skills, he also got a nice amount of discount on all meals and drinks out of it.

"What can I say? It gets better with age." He finally responded to your comment on his humour, but you only shook your head. For such a good-looking man, he could really behave like a child sometimes. But you didn't really mind that because from what you had learned over the months, he did not have the best life. He wouldn't talk about it, always brushing it off just like the question why he always showed up here alone. It couldn't really get into your head how such an attractive man managed to not have any dates. Like, ever. When you asked him about the last date he had, he simply said that if felt like nearly a century ago. He never really asked too much about you as well. On one of the quieter nights, it had been just you, James, and another co-worker at the diner. As there was nothing else to do with the kitchen all cleaned up and all the office work done, your co-worker went home early. When you said that that was absolutely fine, James wondered if you didn't have any boyfriend to go home to. You had simply snorted in response and shook your head bitterly.

The concept of relationships had never really worked for you. Or rather, it was the boys you had dated that didn't work for you. Most of them thought that you were a girl easily controlled and willing to do anything they wanted but you quickly showed them the opposite. There had also been just complete douchebags as usual on college campus, but the last relationship had been the worst one yet. Not during it, but afterwards. You had dated that guy for nearly two years, even moved in with him at some point and everything seemed absolutely fine. But then you went abroad for one semester, wanting to actually put your language skills to test and living in Germany for six months. The first few weeks had been alright, you talked on the phone a lot and tried to see each other via Skype at least once a week. But then college got intense for you, you started to have to work really hard to actually understand everything while simultaneously trying to experience as much of Europe as possible. And he started to call less, your texting got less frequent, the Skype calls getting postponed every time. You felt him slipping away and that was when you made your decision to break up. This clearly didn't work over distance and as you talked on the phone about it, he seemed to understand. He even said that that was probably for the best and they could still try to remain friends when you came back.

Not even one week later you found yourself crying in your bedroom. He had called you a slut, a whore and even worse things in front of your friends back in America and even put up a poster with your face on it on campus with those words on it. He called you drunk once and accused you of cheating multiple times, he even told you that he did it. More than once. You didn't tell James all of that in complete detail, but it was enough to ensure him that dating was not on your priority list at the moment. You had been working on your German essay that evening and could feel him looking at you. When you glanced up, his eyes held an emotion you couldn't really place. "You'll find someone, Y/N. I'm sure there's someone out there to sweep you off your feet."