Rosalyn sat in the uncomfortable plastic bucket seat, periodically shifting herself from left to right to keep her lower half from going numb while her mind drifted from day dreams to reality, she quickly snapped out of it when the loud bell rang out overhead followed by a soft feminine voice, "Now boarding area A". A large hand cupped itself around Rosalyn's "We're next, are you nervous?" the deep voice asked while squeezing her hand. Rosalyn swallowed back the truth, shook her head no and took the large hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. The truth was, traveling never terrified Rosalyn, she always looked for adventure and found traveling to new places filled her with so much excitement. Moving to a new country, well that was something she was not all familiar with and to be honest that along with something deep down frightened her.
Rosalyn grew up in a small part of the world; Warrior, Alabama, with a population of a little over 3,000 people, Rosalyn knew everyone and of course, everyone knew her. About seven years ago she stumbled into a very handsome Brit that was on vacation with a group of friends at the Gulf coast and six years later they were packing up their life they had built together in the small town of Warrior and were headed off to the big city of London. Under any other circumstance Rosalyn might have been extremely excited about this new journey she was about to encounter but her relationship with Jonathan had been having some troubles the last year and a half, he at 29 was ready to settle down, get married and have children, Rosalyn who just turned 26 was still too young in her eyes to settle down and begin a life of changing diapers, wiping drool and "obeying" her partner. Rosalyn was a free spirit who didn't want to be tied down to anything, not that she didn't want to have a relationship with Jonathan, on the contrary, she loved him more than anything in the world but something just wasn't right. She wasn't right, she didn't feel that desire and she wondered if she ever would; not to mention all the fights they were having lately, she would sit up for hours at night and wonder when and if things were going to change and would moving across the world help at all. The Psychologist in her let her know real fast that she needed to get out, but her heart; her heart wanted her to wait and work it out, so off they went. Little did Rosalyn know, this move would be the greatest adventure she would ever know.
One year later
"I CANNOT believe you would embarrass me like that in front of my ENTIRE family!" Jonathan yelled out hitting Rosalyn as hard as he could with the back of his hand, the ring on his index finger catching her lip and tearing it open. She stood there for a moment; tears flooding her eyes, a hand clapped over her mouth. Rosalyn couldn't comprehend what had just happened, her mind buzzed as everything came together and all she could get out was "You hit me…" "I… I'm… I'm sorry, I don't know…" Jonathan stumbled on his words as he himself tried to figure out what came over him. "Rose, I" "No" she replied gaining her strength, "I'm going to bed and I would appreciate it if you didn't follow me." And with that Rosalyn walked into the bed room and wept until she fell asleep from exhaustion. The next morning when she awoke she made her way into the living room only to find an empty couch and an envelope on the coffee table
"Rosalyn,
I know nothing I say will never be enough to make up for what I did to you, hitting you was not the right answer" "Damn right it wasn't asshole." She mumbled while rubbing the split lip "What you did to me is forgivable, however in my current state of mind I cannot find it in me to forgive you. That is why I must leave, in the bank you'll find half of what was there, that should get you through and help you find a new place seeing as how this one is way too expensive for one salary. I wish you well Rosalyn, I really do."
She threw the note on the floor. "I wish you well my ass! If you did you wouldn't have just given up on me, I mean it's not like last night was a shock to you…" "I can't believe this." Tears welled up in her eyes; she knew this was likely to happen but she wasn't expecting it to hurt like this. "All these years together, for what?" she thought "You just threw it away because I needed more time!" Rosalyn couldn't think or see very well for that matter, everything became a blur as she tried to find her phone to call the one person she knew would listen and giver her good advice. "Hello?" the soft voice on the other line answered. "Katie," Rosalyn sobbed into the phone. "Rose? Is that you, what's wrong hun?" Katie asked shocked to hear her oldest friend having a complete melt down. "Katie," Rosalyn began, she got all the way to the part when Jonathan hit her then mumbled the rest; she realized at that moment she was not the least bit over that. "Rose, Rose just slow down and breathe, I can't understand you. Rose everything will be ok." "No, no Katie it won't be ok."
After an hour of conversation and about half a bottle of wine later Rosalyn was in a much happier place, giggling and making jokes with Katie about old times. "So do you think you'll be moving back here?" Katie asked, hoping that Rosalyn's mood wouldn't falter when she brought the present situation back up "I don't think I'll be able to afford it," Rosalyn sighed "It's alright though, I've got a good job and you know what, maybe something better will come out of this, maybe this is my moment to be free and live my life and enjoy myself! Not to mention how insanely expensive it's going to be to move back." Katie sighed "If you need any help, anything at all please don't hesitate. I am always here for you." "I love you Katie." "Love you too." With that Rosalyn hung up her phone and proceeded to finish off what was left in the wine bottle.
Rosalyn locked the door behind her and headed off to the train station to go to work; she had tried her best to cover her now large bruise that covered most of her lip and the side of her jaw but not surprisingly it still showed through and she knew what was to come as soon as she stepped into the office; Emma the office receptionist was more than likely going to lose her shit and call in Richard the Director. "He will then probably usher me into his office to have a "meeting" about how I need to do "this" and "that" and he will then proceed to turn this into a much bigger deal than it already is, to me anyway." She growled to herself out loud while going over the scenario in her head over and over, acting out different ways to get around it; unfortunately she found no way out and with that she walked the rest of the way to work with a horrible scowl on her face. As soon as she stepped into the office building Emma took one look at her and her eyes grew three sizes "Please don't," Rosalyn began but it was much too late, Emma was already screeching and waving her hands frantically causing a huge scene and then as expected Richard walked in "What is all this nonsense?" He asked, glaring at Emma for ruining his tea break; all Emma could muster was to clasp one hand tightly over her mouth and point at Rosalyn with her other "Oh dear god." Rosalyn sighed out as she slapped her hand against her forehead "Rosalyn, could you please step into my office." Richard demanded instead of asking as he always did, "Thanks" Rosalyn murmured and glared as she walked past Emma following Richard into his dark office. "Have a seat, would you like something to drink? You look like you need it." "I'm good thank you." Rosalyn replied as she situated herself on the edge of a leather chair facing his desk. "Please pardon my language but what the hell happened?" He inquired setting down a scotch in front of her and sitting on the edge of his desk studying her bruise sharply. "Long story short," Rosalyn began breathing in deeply trying to hold the tears back that she felt forming "Jonathan got really angry at me and we fought a little and he hit me, it was a bit of an accident; heat of the moment really nothing major really!" She rushed the last bit of the sentence. Richard furrowed his brow and gently brushed his finger over her lip and bruise as he made his way back to his desk to retrieve some antibiotic ointment. "Are you pressing charges?", "And there it is" Rosalyn thought to herself "No, as I said, it was an accident; heat of the moment type thing. Not to mention he left shortly after." She pulled out the wadded note from her pocket and handed it to him as he came over to apply the ointment to her cut. "I figure he probably won't bother me again." "Well, you should anyway." Richard began as he briefly studied the note. "Nah I'll give him this one, but if he tries to come back I'mma hit him across the face with a chair." She smiled and quickly winced from the pain "Sit still." He requested as he gently rubbed his finger across her lip "Do you plan on staying in the flat you're living it?" "I don't guess so, it was super expensive with just the two of us paying for it so yeah, got any ideas?" Rosalyn asked trying her best not to make eye contact with him while he was gently touching her face, it was weird enough he was this close to her; he had never seemed like a very delicate man to begin with, this was new. "You could stay with me." He replied while studying her lips closely. "Wait, is he joking? He doesn't look or sound like he's joking. This is weird, he's being weird. He's never affectionate. He's never like this, period. Oh my god does he like me?! Eww… Well, he is super attractive; I mean that thick dark black hair and those baby blue eyes and neatly trimmed facial hair… Don't even get me started on his physique; I can see that sculpted collar bone from underneath his shirt collars… No… NO! This is ridiculous." Her mind raced and fluttered at the thoughts she was having as her cheeks blushed a bright red revealing what was racing through her mind. "I'm kidding." He said as he backed away from her. "Yes of course; that would be wildly inappropriate!" Rosalyn's blush deepened. "Yes it would, however I do have an idea," He started "Ella Thompson mentioned to me the other day that one of her clients said his landlady is looking for some new tenants since one had passed away awhile back and needs some help making up the rent. She might be willing to help you out, you should go check it out." "Oh yeah? Where at?" Rosalyn sat up listening intently "I have a business card right here," he responded as he pulled the small card from his wallet "Let's see, it is 221b Baker Street."
~Cue Sherlock theme music! Hope you enjoy my story, please let me know what you think! I love reading all reviews :D
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