Hey buds! So…I decided to write a story. I don't really know how this idea came to be. I've written a story for this fandom before but I only wrote a chapter and I never wrote again. Mostly because it sucked and was super cliché. But I like this idea a lot more and I don't think it sucks as much. So read, comment, and let me know if I should continue.

You know humans are really idiotic. It's pretty sad watching them not knowing how to fully process the scenarios that unravel in front of them. I mean they know what's going on in most cases. They can laugh if they experience joy or they can empathize if they're confronted with sadness. But they don't know how to take what's given to them and use it in a way that could potentially help them. Human brains only access the surface.

Take a tragic scene for instance. A teenager makes some careless mistakes, goes to a party, gets drunk, decides to drive home…you know where this is going. He or she gets in a car accident and unfortunately doesn't make it. We hear the story on the news and automatically think "Aw, how unfortunate…but that'll never happen to me."

Oh, humanity. How you never fail to amuse me. The truth is, the people who experienced that trauma never thought it would happen to them either. So this train of thought often leads to recklessness and sweeping paranoia under the rug. It's human nature. However, just because I'm criticizing you about this does not mean I'm not guilty of the exact same thing.

Every single breathing soul on planet earth is currently experiencing life. Whether they're jubilant or suffering, old or young, rich or poor, hungry or satisfied, in love or detached they're all going through the same damn thing. Life.

I once thought life was beautiful and serene and full of love. Of course I wasn't one of those naïve girls frolicking in a prairie on a Sunday afternoon pondering over the joys of life. But I did think that life would grant you with happiness if you deserved it and worked for it.

I was wrong.

As cliché and overrated as it sounds, you don't understand the true meaning of life until yours completely changes, for the better or for the worse. Take my life for example. My story is certainly not one you would hear every day. It starts off like any other generic story. It ends that way too. But the journey was definitely not what you would consider the norm.

My name is Ally Dawson. See? Even my name is generic. I come from a decently sized suburb in Maryland. I've lived a pretty privileged life with happily married parents, a roof over my head, food on my table, a good amount of friends…you get the gist. Even being an only child never bothered me. My cousin, Beth, lived a couple blocks down from me as we were growing up and was practically my twin sister, looks and all. My parents expected quite a bit for me considering I was the only child they could force their hopes and dreams on to. It never bothered me. I was an extremely hard worker and earned a spot as co-valedictorian with Beth. I told you we were practically the same person.

Here's where most people go wrong. It's a major belief that high school is one of the worst experiences of your life but after that things usually smooth over a bit. Nope. Not for everybody at least. I had a fantastic life throughout my childhood, high school…even puberty wasn't that awful.

My life completely flipped the moment I stepped out of college. I went to Yale for grad school, got a degree in law, and started dating an amazing guy, life was good to me. At first. I had just started to get settled into a permanent position. I had just gotten accepted as a lawyer at the Avery & Dale law firm. I had moved into an apartment a few hours away from my parent's house and lived close to my boyfriend. I felt great and free and successful and accomplished.

But life doesn't seem to like it when things are going too well.

So naturally one thing went wrong first. Unfortunately for me it was a very major change in my life, thus affecting everything else.

I can try to justify myself. I can tell you I don't know how it happened. But I won't waste your time nor will I waste my breath. I know exactly what happened. I know how it happened. I know when it happened. I know everything about how it happened. If something significant like that just throws itself at you, you'll remember every detail.

I think you'll need a bit of a backstory for this though. Excuse my intensive rambling and psychology lecture. It's a habit. Let's go in to a bit more detail shall we?

After graduating high school I got accepted into Duke with Beth. We spent an amazing four years there. I stepped out of my comfort zone a lot more than I usually did, broke out of my shell, learned about life outside of academics, but still got great grades. I soon decided that I wanted to pursue a career in law but decided to take a little break after I graduated from Duke and take a year off to apply to law schools and have some fun. After gaining so much freedom at college I took the next step and toured Europe all summer. Of course Beth came with me. But my magical summer soon ended.

Since Beth and I wanted different things we didn't see much of each other that entire year. She went off to California to start off a career as a journalist. I, however, stayed put in Maryland. Although we did talk every day and were still as close as ever, things were definitely not going to be the same. I applied to several law schools and fortunately Yale accepted me.

For the first time in my entire life Beth wasn't there for one of my biggest milestones. Well, she was kind of there. We were Face Timing when I stepped into my dorm for the first time. But still, it isn't the same.

"Ally, come on."

"Don't rush me! This is hard!" I whined.

"Since when is opening a door hard?" Came the sarcastic yet slightly garbled voice of my smirking cousin.

"You're here to encourage me, not be snarky," I huffed. Beth and I were currently Face Timing. I was about two inches away from opening the door to my dorm room and to say I was nervous was an extreme understatement. Sure, I was living my dream. It doesn't mean I can't be nervous. This was Yale Law School. It definitely wasn't going to be an easy four years.

"Alls, just breathe," my cousins voice dragging me out of my paranoia. "I'm going to give you some real simple advice. PUT YOUR HAND ON THE DAMN DOOR AND TWIST!"

"Shhhh! There are other people in this building!" I yelled at my phone screen in annoyance. Suddenly my dorm room flew open and revealed a short Latina. She certainly did not look happy.

Oops.

"Hey, what's with all the commotion?! Can I not nap in-" she cut herself short. "Wait, are you Ally?"

I looked at her in surprise for a moment. "Uhh yeah, I am. S-Sorry for all the noise. I didn't mean to w-wake you," I stuttered, embarrassed. "Are you Trish? My roommate?"

Her demeanor instantly shifted. "Yes! I'm Trish de la Rosa. Come in." I gave her a thankful smile and walked in. I took a quick glance at the room and my anxiety vanished. The walls were a slight tan shade with two wooden beds pushed against the far end of the room. Half of the room was covered in posters and pictures which I assumed belonged to Trish.

"I hope you don't mind…I checked in earlier this morning and decided to unpack," came Trish's voice.

I smiled reassuringly. "Not at all. It looks great." Trish smiled back and opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a voice that I had forgotten, albeit only for a few seconds.

"Let me see Ally! Show me the dorm." I looked down at my phone, laughed at my cousin and showed her the span of the room. "Whoa, this place is awesome. So much nicer than what I would've expected.

"Um, Ally?" I glanced over at Trish's puzzled look. "Mind telling me why you're talking to a phone?"

"Oh, sorry. This is my cousin Beth." I showed her my screen.

"Hi Trish! It's nice to meet you!"

Trish laughed and waved at her. "It's nice to meet you too. If you don't mind me asking…why exactly are the two of you Face Timing now?"

"Ally here decided to panic right before she had to open the door and she needed 'moral support," Beth snickered causing Trish to chuckle as well.

I rolled my eyes. "I did not panic. I was just a teeny bit nervous. This is a big deal you know."

My cousin laughed at me lightheartedly. "I miss you Alls." I gave her a sad smile. "But I do have to go. Good luck and text me tonight!"

I tucked my phone away into my pocket and looked over at Trish. "Sorry about that. She's a bit crazy."

"Nah, she seems awesome," dismissingly waving her hand. She sat down on her bad as I began to dig through my suitcase. "So where are you from?"

"I'm from Clarksburg, Maryland. How about you?"

"Miami, Florida. Land of the palm trees."

I made a face. "I never liked the beach."

Trish gawked at me. "Who doesn't like the beach?!"

"Don't get me wrong. It's beautiful and all and I know Miami is a great city. I was just never fond of going to the beach."

"Oh Ally. You've missed out on one of the greatest joys of life."

I snorted. "Sand flying everywhere, sunburns, salty water shooting up your nose. No thanks."

"That's it. This spring break I'm taking you to the beach and you will love it."

I laughed. "Good luck with that." As Trish and I talked more I got to learn more about her. She lived in Miami her entire life and planned to go back after graduation. She was majoring in Criminal Studies to start a career as a private investigator. One of the main reasons she chose Yale was because her two best friends also got accepted. Apparently the three were joined at the hip ever since they were little…pretty much like me and Beth.

That's how I met Trish. We soon became great friends and while I did miss Beth, my fear of being lonely at school never came true. Of course there are two other really important people I have to tell you about.

I stepped into the dining hall at 6:30, grabbed some food, and began to look for Trish. "Ally! Over here!" I looked behind me and saw my loud roommate waving me over. I sighed, relieved, I wouldn't have to sit alone and walked towards her. As I approached the table I realized that she wasn't sitting alone. A redhead was sitting next to her babbling away to a blonde across from them. "Ally, this is my friend Dez," she pointed to the redhead "and this is Austin," she pointed to the blonde.

The two smiled at me as Austin pulled out the chair next to him gesturing for me to sit down. "It's nice to meet you," I said shyly.

Now, I could ramble on and on about how dinner went, what we talked about, how I hit it off with the three of them. But I'm not. This is basically how it went down. The four of us chatted. I learned that Dez was majoring in Psychology and Austin in Business and Economics. Dez was probably one of the craziest people I had ever met but also one of the sweetest. He was a bit scatter brain but in the end, he was a genius and was extremely passionate about his dream of helping people by becoming a psychologist. Austin on the other hand was a bit more laid back. Surprisingly his biggest drive in life was music. But he didn't just want to play and get famous…he wanted to help other people realize their dream of music. So his plans after college included opening up a long chain of music stores and his own Performing Arts school.

Yes, Austin was the guy I dated in college. He was the guy I fell in love with probably a week into our friendship. He was the guy I dated for five years. He was the guy who made far away feel like home. He was the guy I left because I was a coward.

It's a bit confusing now. I promise I'll explain more in the next chapter. I really don't want to be one of those authors who waits until the very end to reveal the biggest part of the story. I hope you enjoyed reading this! Until next time my friends.

Feedback is always great