*Chapter 1 Surprise!
It was an average day in New York City; the air was filled with the sounds of car-horns going off from the crowded streets, which were crammed with trucks, taxis, and cars. The sidewalks were also packed with traffic, but it was that of people, be they civilians rushing off towards the subway or tourists taking pictures every ten seconds. For me though it was more then just an average day; it was my twenty-third birthday. My name is Gabriella Montez and I am a resident of New York City and the past year had gone brilliantly for me, almost perfectly. I was engaged to the greatest guy I had ever met, and I was up for a promotion at my job, which unfortunately is a photographer at the Macy's on 34th street and Broadway taking pictures of squirming toddlers, who didn't want to be there just as much as I did; sure it wasn't that job as a photo journalist for The New York Times that I was aiming for but I'm good at it and it pays the bills. Today instead of staying late at the office and organizing my desk like I did every few days I went home a bit early to the apartment I shared with my fiancé, Malcolm Patterson, only to have to leave about two hours later to go to my friend Charlie McClellan's house where she and a few of my other friends were throwing me a small party for my birthday. I emerged from my bedroom and walked down the hallway, the heels of my shoes clanking against the hardwood floor, and into the living room where Malcolm sat on the large brown leather sofa.
"Alright," I smiled at Malcolm as I stopped at the sofa, quickly pulled out my lip-gloss, and applied it to my lips. As soon as I put the gloss back into my bag I turned back to Malcolm and said, "I've gotta get going or else the girls will start to wonder where I am." I expected a smart ass comment to come out of Malcolm's mouth, like usually he would say something about how I had been spending so much time with my friends I could manage to spare a mere five seconds for him; which is definitely not true, but that was just Malcolm. When Malcolm did finally speak through I found myself wishing that it had been some smart remark. Anything would have been better then the four horrific words that seemed to slowly spill from his lips,
"We need to talk." Instead of walking closer to him and sitting on the couch beside him like I should have, I stayed where I was, praying to God that he just hadn't finished his sentence yet and was just about to by saying 'about the floral arrangements' or 'about the curtains.' Since I didn't move though Malcolm got up and walking towards me, which was when I realized that my fiancé was about to give me The Speech while watching TV; Suffice to say I was disgusted and some what nauseated. Once Malcolm was standing right in front of me and he had taken my hand, not wanting to hear anything that he had to say, I cut him off before he could say anything,
"Look, I really have to get going, Hun, but I'll be back later tonight we can talk then." I tried to pull away from him and walk out the door, but Malcolm's grip on my wrist only tightened and he tugged me back slightly as I made an attempt to take a step forwards.
I reluctantly turned around to face him, and when our eyes finally did meet Malcolm said,
"No, Gabriella, this can't wait alright? I really need to say this now before I talk myself out of it again."
Again? I thought quietly to myself, immediately feeling self-pity at the fact that he was going to break off our engagement before and had just chickened out.
Malcolm took in a deep breath as he readied himself to continue on with his speech, "Look, Gabriella, you're a lovely women, and I want to be honest with you…I mean I owe you that much," I looked up at him absolutely positive that my eyes were filled with hurt and sadness. Malcolm, though, seemed unfazed. He just stood there in front of me his dark brown hair a mess, his dark almost black eyes emotionless and empty, like two never-ending craters. "I don't want to marry you, Gabriella." I couldn't help but suck in a small breath. Malcolm noticed this and suddenly realized that this might not be something that I want to hear… especially on my birthday. "It's just that I feel that I haven't been myself for the past few months that we've been together. And here at home," Malcolm paused to let out a laugh, which to me seemed completely out of place during this type of conversation, "well, here at home I expect it to be a haven. A place where I can escape for a while, but as for the last few months it hasn't and, and I mean you're just so on all the time, Gabriella!" Malcolm's last statement seemed more like an exclamation then anything and it stung the most. For a while I didn't even notice that silent tears were sliding down my cheeks, staining them as they began to dry. Malcolm glanced at me and asked, almost as tentatively as he had greeted me in bed just this morning,
"Are you crying?" at this I tugged my hand out of his, stalked over to the couch, grabbed my bag, and walked over to the door. As I placed my hand on the doorknob I turned around and said, trying to keep my voice from trembling,
"I have to go, Malcolm. I'll be back tomorrow to get my things. Please, don't be home when I come… let's not make this anymore painful or awkward then it already is. Be sure to tell the wedding planner of this new development so that she can recall the invitations and notify the guests."
"I already did," Malcolm said, bluntly. He was still standing behind the sofa with his arms crossed across his chest. I stared at him with my mouth hanging open slightly, an obvious look of shock spread over my face.
I was speechless.
When I finally regained the ability to speak I choked out,
"When?" Malcolm just stared back at me, his eyes which I once found to be the most relaxing and calming things in the world were now horrifying and hurtful. I felt as if they were cutting through my skin as he continued to stare me down, "When?!" I screamed at him, almost going hysterical at the eerie silence that I had received from him.
"This morning," Malcolm said. I let out a shaky breath feeling my body begin to tremble. So he had known all along that he was going to break off our marriage on my birthday… hell he might have even planned on doing it. I looked back at Malcolm, knowing that I should be mad at him but strangely enough I felt myself just wanting to run up to him and hold him. To try and make him remember why we had fallen in love in the first place, but it was a lost cause. I could tell from the look on his face that Malcolm would never give this marriage another thought, let alone another try. When I felt like I could, I looked back up at Malcolm only to hear myself let out a sob. My hand flew to my mouth as I tried to cover up any other wails that were sure to follow. I quickly turned around, pulled the door open, and ran out of the apartment. As soon as I was outside of the apartment building I stood on the sidewalk, willing myself not to breakdown until I was in the privacy of a taxicab. As soon as I gained control of my legs again I walked over to the edge of the sidewalk and hailed a cab, while all around me the city was buzzing. Even though it was almost mid-night that meant nothing in New York City, the buildings were illuminated with lights and video screens, and people littered the streets and sidewalks. Once a cab pulled up in front of me I flung open the door to the back seat, gave the cabbie Charlie's address, and then as we made our way there, slowly, I let myself quietly crumple in the back seat.
After what felt like forever but was really only about five or ten minutes, the cab pulled up against the curb of Charlie's parents' townhouse that they let her rent out. I hurriedly wiped my eyes, handed the cabbie the amount that I owed him, and quickly climbed out of the car. As the cab zoomed away looking for more costumers I slowly walked up Charlie's front walkway, taking cleansing deep breaths each five seconds to clam myself down. After a while I was standing in front of the front door; there was nothing else that I could do now except ring the doorbell and wait for my friend.
So I did just that.
In a matter of seconds the door flew open to reveal Charlie. Her bright red hair was expertly straightened and a wide smile spread over her face that spread to her hazel eyes with a slight sparkle. She hadn't yet seen the condition of which I was in.
"Hey, Gabs! Come on in, sorry but the other girls couldn't make it tonight" she said stepping aside and ushering me in, "so I guess it will be just you and me… I hope Malcolm is okay with you hanging around with a bad influence like me" Charlie joked. I let out a slight snort as silent tears slid from my eyes and down my cheeks,
"I don't think we'll have to worry. He called the marriage off and dumped me." Charlie froze and then when she regained her voice she said, "What?! When?!" I laughed bitterly, "Right before I left to come here." Charlie's jaw gave way and she just stood there for a good minute with her mouth wide open,
"Well, we're not gonna stay around here for much longer. Come on, grab your coat." I suddenly become utterly confused,
"What- Charlie, where are we going?" Charlie already walked over to the coat rack grabbed my jacket and threw it at me as she said,
"We're heading down to Old Richards. You are in desperate need of some liquor." I opened my mouth to argue this, but as I thought it over I realized that Charlie was right and so I just closed my mouth and nodded my head before following her out the door as I slipped my coat back on.
The cab ride to Old Richards was filled with me telling Charlie all about what had transpired in the last hour or so and when we arrived she was so absorbed in the story, or she was just really pissed off, that she almost forgot to pay the cabbie the amount that was due. Once we had paid the man we started into Old Richards and found a place right by the bar for better alcohol access.
After a few drinks I slurred out the conclusion that Malcolm didn't deserve me; Charlie simply nodded her head with a slight smile on her face, thinking that I might actually be getting over my now ex-fiancé. That is until she saw me staring at the ring on my left ring finger.
"Gabi, honey, you're gonna have to get rid of the ring" I tore my gaze away from the diamond that sat on my finger gleaming elegantly in the light, thinking about how many times I had admired it on my finger thinking about the man that had given it to me and how wonderful it would be to spend the rest of my life with him. Or at least how it would have been...
"Oh, no, no. Charlie, he spent so much money on it I'll just..." I trailed off trying to think up a solution to my pathetic excuse, "I'll just wear it on my other hand." As I slid the ring off of my left hand and onto my right hand Charlie frowned and resisted the urge to tell me that Malcolm had also spent a lot of time with me, but that didn't stop him from getting rid of me.
The next few minutes were filled with silence until Charlie looked up from the electric blue liquid of her drink and said, her eyes twinkling,
"Hey, Gabriella, do you still have your honeymoon tickets?" I looked up from my amazing view of the worn hardwood tabletop and said, a confused look spread over me face,
"Yeah, I have no idea what I am going to do with them! I mean I'm going to have to practically beg the travel people to take them back seeing as they're nonrefundable"
Malcolm and I planned to go to Las Vegas, Nevada for our honeymoon. It wasn't my first choice, I wanted to go somewhere like Spain or Italy, but Malcolm loves Vegas so I decided to push aside my own dream locations, put on a strong face, and go to Vegas with Malcolm. Because even though I would be in cheap, neon-lit Vegas I would be there with someone that I loved. Now I was simply stuck with a pair of useless tickets.
"Then why not use them?" Charlie said, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. I began to shake my head violently, trying to ignore the throbbing pain that accompanied it,
"Charles, I can't just use them!" This time Charlie was the one that looked taken aback,
"Why not, Gabs? Vegas is the best place to let loose and act like a complete idiot!" Before answering, my face scrunched up into a look of annoyance and curiosity.
"And who says that I want to act like a complete idiot?" Charlie completely ignored my question and simply shook her head before looking me in the eye and saying,
"Oh come on, Gabriella! Just think about it... Vegas. The one place in the world where there are absolutely no rules. You can be anyone you want to be! I mean look at those MIT kids that broke the bank in Vegas playing roulette" I laughed, partly because I had had too much to drink and partly because it was incredibly hilarious that Charlie mixed up roulette with one of the most well-known card games in the world.
"Actually, it was blackjack. Not roulette, Charles." Charlie rolled her eyes, giving off an obvious it-doesn't-really-matter vibe,
"Whatever, we all know that you're way more into that kind of stuff then I am.
But seriously, what do you say, Gabi?" I placed my chin lightly to rest in my hand as I began to think over Charlie's request,
"I don't know... Vegas?" Across the table Charlie began to nod her head and said, as if it would help to convince me to go,
"Yes. Vegas."