Auburn couldn't describe the amount of nervousness she had in her gut. Her bag of belongings, the only belongings she decided were too sentimental to leave behind, slung over her shoulder and her new apartment key clutched tightly in the palm of her hand. She looked down at her phone, the screen displaying a picture of a woman with long black hair and sky blue eyes and pale skin smiling up at her. Her heart aches for a moment and she blinked back tears. She sucked in a deep breath and pushed herself forward.
"Okay, Christine. Let's do this." She said allowed. Christine, her best friend of sixteen years, the girl on her phone. Auburn had lost her last year to stage 3 sarcoidosis, a disease not unlike lung cancer. Christine had been struggling all of her life with it, but at the age of 24 she had finally succumbed to it. Auburn turned her door knob, opening her apartment door and looked into the small but cute living room with a shaggy grey carpet. The living room was joined by a linoleumed dining room and kitchen as well as a hallway that led to two bedrooms, a bathroom and two closets. It was quaint, a bit like an extended stay hotel room and at just $745 a month she decided it would do for the time being.
Closing the door behind her she dropped her bag on the ground and slid down the door, her arms wrapping around her legs and pulling her knees under her chin. It all seemed overwhelming to her now. She'd moved from her small town in West Virginia to the busy city of Los Angeles. While it wasn't a hard move, it was definitely not the most ideal. But she supposed a promise was a promise. Her earthy brown hair with natural red highlights fell over her shoulder in loose, messy waves. Her heart feeling more than a little empty. Tomorrow she'd be joining the L.A. wrestling Academy to begin her training. This was Christine's dream, she wanted to be a professional wrestler, to be in the middle of the ring and hear her the crowd cheering her on. Auburn had always wanted to be a professional dancer, starting her own dance company one day and training others who had little to no means to get into an uptight dance company. She'd been in a few performances, all of which paid her a good amount of money. Still, she had to sell almost everything she owned so she could keep this promise. Her phone began to ring, the carefully soft buzzing of the ringtone filling the empty air.
"Auburn Helsic speaking," she answered, making her voice appear bright when really she felt crushed.
"Hello Ms. Helsic, I'm just calling to remind you that you'll need to bring the required clothes to training tomorrow." The almost mechanical voice greeted her.
"Right. I have everything and I'm looking forward to tomorrow." She said. It was a lie, but they didn't need to know that.
"Okay, thank you for choosing Los Angeles Wrestling Academy. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Have a great day." The line went dead, her phone switched back to its screen. She let out a muffled huff, pushing herself up. Thankfully her apartment came with a fridge and wasn't far from the grocery store. She grabbed her apartment key and her wallet and headed out the door.
The grocery store was filled with busy workers and anxious citizens anxious to get home. She couldn't blame them, she hated going shopping. She made it over to the frozen food section, her hands grabbing a few packages of chicken and some breakfast sandwiches. Her cart was simple, some salad, a bulk bag of rice, gravy mixture, some apples and the chicken and sandwiches. Not much, some people might find the combination odd but she once saw a video of a girl in basic training eating rice and chicken with some gravy poured over the rice. She had decided she'd do a sort of boot camp training in order to get in shape on top of the workouts the school might have had planned for her. Plus this food was pretty cheap. With her items in the cart she began to push the cart down the isle, her eyes looking at her list of songs in her phone instead of watching her surroundings. She felt the cart stop harshly. She gasped, her head shooting up and her cheeks stained pink with embarrassment. A low growl of frustration escaped the man in front of her as he glared at her with cold, blue eyes. His light brown hair seemed a bit shaggy an a little unkempt, but it was tame enough. His jaw flexed.
"I am so sorry! I wasn't paying attention," she began, hoping nothing fell out of his full cart.
"Clearly." He grumbled. Auburn blinked back her shock as annoyance began to build up. After all, she apologized and nothing fell out of the cart, yet this man still took the harsh jab at her.
"Alright well, whatever. Sorry about hitting your cart, dick." She scoffed. She may have overreacted, but rudeness was a big no-go for her. Her father always taught her to fess up to her mistakes and to be polite. However, he didn't account for her short temper. It was his turn to blink back in surprise. He stood at 6'4" at the very least, towering over her like a giant. She was only 5'5", she was sure that if he wanted to he could step on her. She pushed her cart away, heading to the nearest aisle that seemed less filled, leaving the man behind to watch her walk away. Aisle 4 seemed to be the least filled, a teenager with a pimply face checking people out slowly. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, patiently waiting for her turn. She heard an object drop behind her followed by a few short sobs. She turned, seeing a cute baby that couldn't have been more than a year old. She smiled softly, bending down to pick a small rattle up.
"Oh! Thank you so much, I swear if it's not one thing with him it's another," the mother said with a soft chuckle. Auburn smiled brightly at her, returning the rattle to the baby.
"Oh it's no problem at all, I understand." She replied, giggling as the baby cooed. Her peripheral vision caught a certain dark haired man glowering at her, watching her interaction. She turned around, her back going poker straight as she moved forward, the cashier checking out her items slowly before practically yelling out the total. It wasn't much, and it wasn't like she was embarrassed, but she found herself becoming increasingly paranoid. She quickly handed him the appropriate change and exited, not even waiting for her receipt.
Outside she was greeted by a cool breeze, making her wish she had actually worn more than a sleeved shaw. Nevertheless, she shrugged off the chill, placing in her earbuds again and switching to a better song before trailing off, leaving the store and the disheveled looking lunatic behind her.