In life, you'll learn people love to bend and shape the truth to fit their stories. Whether it's your friend trying to make herself seem more of a victim in a situation than she is, or the media trying to sell a quick buck on some celebrity's personal life, they'll lie to make it more interesting. And while it's useful, sometimes the lies become out of hand and well, the truth will come out eventually. In my experience, the media and its lies can be untrue and harsh. This is the story of how I, Kali Woods, made my way into headlines and how my life came to be the way it is portrayed now. The real story.

If someone asked me how to describe my best friend in one word, it would simply be "indescribable." He had a way of getting everything he wanted no matter how hard, or how little he tried. Nothing slowed him down. And when he told me he wanted to grow up and become a rock star, he made that wish come true too. He liked to consider himself like James Bond, an average man by day and a rock star by night.

Despite his reputation of being a player who got his kicks flirting around, (once again, the media loves to bend the truth,) he was the sweetest and most down to earth person I had ever met. Although, he was attractive, I had to give him that. He had soft chocolate curls with auburn eyes to match and freckles that traced constellations along his face. He was always fit with strong arms and hard abs. He played almost every sport you could think of.

For the first 18 years of my life, he was my best friend. I didn't have a horrible life per say, but if I was given the choice to change it, I would; but I wouldn't change him. I wouldn't change anything about him or the way he made me feel. The way he could make my entire day better with one smile. My best friend was the most wonderful person in my entire life. And I loved him.

It was a regular Tuesday afternoon at the coffee shop I had been working at downtown. Not too busy, not too slow either. We had a few regulars come and go, but one particular familiar face made my heart jump.

"Nick!" I exclaimed at the face that walked in.

"Kali." He smiled as he engulfed me with a hug and surrounded me with his comforting scent.

I figured his older brother was somewhere close behind so I took a step back from him and put my hand to my face in a 'thoughtful' manner.

"Hmm… Let's see… Joe wants a regular mocha with a packet of sweetener and Nicholas wants one venti iced coffee, half and half."

"Right again, Miss Woods." Nick smiled showing all of his teeth. I couldn't help but blush. I loved when he did that.

"Well it's easy to get it right when you both always order the same thing all the time."

Joe finally made his way up to the counter after taking his sweet time making his way into the building.

"Hey, California" He smirked at me.

"Hey, Joe the Hoe." I remarked emotionless, making my way back behind the counter.

"Hey! You promised me you weren't going to call me that anymore. Besides aren't you like weirdly religious about like 'human sexual rights' or something."

"I have no problem with people partying and having fun and enjoying themselves. What I don't appreciate is when men take advantage of women by promising to call them after their night of fun… and then don't." I glared at him as I finally turned my gaze from the piece of paper I had been writing on.

Suddenly his face lit up and he chuckled darkly. "Oh right, your friend."

"You lied to her."

"Technically, I never promised anything. She asked if I would call her afterwards and I said I'd think about it." He shrugged with a smug look on his face. God, if only he was the one who had to comfort her over the phone at one in the morning.

I rolled my eyes and handed the coffee over to him. "Just take your damn coffee and get out of my face. That'll be $2.50."

He stuck his hand in his pocket and attempted to retrieve his wallet. After a minute of him fishing in his pockets both Nick and I got the idea and groaned.

"Hey Nick—"

"I got it… again." He rolled his eyes handing me the money for both his and Joe's coffee.

I handed Nick his coffee as he took a seat in front of me and Joe turned to become a part of the afternoon mass.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Nick sighed, taking a long sip from his coffee.

"It's okay, I guess. She'll get over him eventually… she just seemed so into him, you know?"

He nodded with sympathy.

"So how's life?" He asked, looking at me curiously.

"You know the usual. Tiring and then boring and then overwhelming and then you're tired all over again." I sighed and began wiping the counter for the millionth time today.

He nodded in agreement and shot me a sad smile.

"What about you?" I asked.

He shrugged, "The same as always."

I couldn't help but notice the bags under his eyes and his seemingly tired posture. I couldn't imagine the kind of schedule he had to go through.

"How is, um… Chad is it?" He asked, jokingly. His sleepy eyes, glittering.

As soon as I tore my eyes away from his face and gathered the question, I rolled my eyes. You would think after dating someone for 3 months the joke of forgetting his name would grow old after a while, but not to Nick.

"It's Brad, and you know that." I retorted hitting him playfully on the arm. He chuckled.

Slowly, my smile faded when I began to think of an honest answer. "He's… fine."

A look of worry fell across his face and he looked as though he might respond but he kept his mouth shut. A few moments later, he hesitated before opening up a new subject.

"Do you wanna… come over sometime? Nothing serious, just like lay around and watch Law & Order: SVU marathons and eat pizza… like old times."

I chuckled to myself, it didn't seem as though the last time was too long ago, but it sounded fun.

"Sure," I smiled. "I'd like that..." I leaned over counter to speak softly, "let's just keep that between you and me though." I winked.

"How about tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow's great."

"Sounds like a date, Miss Woods. I'll see you at 7." I smiled in a way I hadn't smiled in a long time, he just had that effect on me.

An effect I knew he would always have on me.

New story time! This is a story I've been working for... well ever, and it means a lot to me. Kali is a character I've been writing about for nearly 5 years now and I feel it's time to finally put her to rest, and I'm hoping this story will do that for me. Although, knowing you can probably expect a few one shots of her and this story every now and then. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Reviews are my biggest inspiration and motivation to keep writing :)

- xx Alley