Disclaimer; I only own the characters I created.
January 2026
Nina POV
I arrived at the airport in new heaven, with a huge smile spread across my face. This was what I had wanted for so long now, I was doing this alone. Starting a fresh and becoming independent. As I made my way through the airport I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I had a small apartment only ten minutes away from the hospital with was handy. It was fully furnished and ready for me to move into, my vampire family had seen to that. I only had my hand luggage with me as all of my things had already been set here too, waiting for me to unpack them. My first shift at the hospital was tomorrow afternoon, so if I could get most of my things done tonight then I would be able to spend tomorrow prepping myself for work. It was only around four pm so I had plenty of time. Once I'd managed to get through the busy airport I hailed a taxi and gave him my address. It was only a short twenty minute drive, and cost me fifteen dollars.
Standing outside the apartment building, I opened my bag and pulled out my new set of keys. I unlocked the door and pulled my suitcase in behind me.
"Hello dear" a older women said to me.
"Oh hello" she smiled, and walked over to me from what looked like the mail boxes.
"Are you new here?" I nodded.
"Yeah I've just moved here today"
"Oh well welcome sweetheart. You will like it here, everyone is very friendly" I smiled and shook her hand.
"Thank you ma'am"
"Oh please call me June. Were neighbours now" I giggled.
"Well thank you June" I smiled once more before going over to the elevator and pressing the number 5. Once I was on my floor, there was three other doors. I was in apartment 107. Unlocking the door, I walked straight into the living room. I hadn't been here before, I'd only ever seen photographs so this wall new to me too. In my living room was a natural colour Bailey Jumbo Cord/Leather Effect Regular Two seated couch. The one I had picked out of a magazine a few months back with a matching love seat. In front of the couch was a light brown coffee table with a glass centre and in front of that was a stand holding a large flat screen TV, thanks uncle emmett I thought. There was also a book case in the room which looked like it held thousands of books. At the back of the room was a large window that looked out over new heaven. There was a large opening that took me into a sorta dining area, and that led into the kitchen, it wasn't huge but I didn't need a huge kitchen space. There was also a swinging door from the kitchen into the living room. There was a corridor that led from the living room, through one door in the corridor led me into my bathroom, it wasn't anything special. A toilet, bath tub, shower and sink exactly what I needed. And finally at the end of the corridor my bedroom, there was a large bed in there with two side tables and a large three door closet. I grinned then, I was my mothers daughter of course and I loved my clothes.
I spent most of my night unpacking things and moving things into the right place until my new apartment. My grandparents must know me better than I thought because on one of the kitchen counters were Chinese takeout menus. I laughed as I called up the takeout and ordered my dinner for the night. I ran myself a bath as I waited for my food to arrive. I put on my robe and tied my hair in a bun on my head. Just as I turned off the taps there was a knock at the door, rushing out and making sure my robe was done up tight I opened the door.
"Hi, thirteen dollars and fifty cents please" a man with dirty blonde hair said looking up from the receipt he smiled. I returned his smile and reached for my purse. Pulling out a twenty I handed it to him as he passed me my food.
"Eating alone tonight?" He asked counting out my change.
"Yep"
"A pretty girl like you shouldn't be eating alone" I smiled awkwardly.
"Oh I don't mind" he shrugged and handed me my money.
"Have a nice night" I closed the door and sighed. Wow that was annoying. I opened my box of noddles and went straight for my bath. After I'd ate I put the box on the floor and enjoyed my soak until my cellphone rang.
"Hello?"
'Nina! Why haven't you called me?' It was mom.
"Oh I forgot, sorry I've been unpacking"
'Did everything go okay? How's your flat? Is everyone being nice to you?' I laughed.
"Mom I've spoke to a number of three people, they were all fine. My flat is great and everything is fine" she sighed.
'Im sorry baby. But you can't blame me for worrying'
"I don't, so how's your house?"
'Fantastic. It's exactly how I wanted it'
"That's great mom. You'll have to send me some photographs so I can see it"
'I will baby. Do you start work tomorrow'
"Yeah"
'Okay well call me when you get off, let me know how it goes'
"I will. I'll speak to you soon mom, I'm just in the bath"
'Oh well okay then. I love you baby'
"I love you to mom. Tell dad I said hi"
'I will' and then I hung up. I washed my hair and then got out. Drying myself off I put some sleep shorts on and a tank and let my hair dry by it's self. I watched TV for a while but at nine pm I decided to call it for a night and went and climbed into my new bed and fell to sleep.
At four pm I was in the hospital, dressed in my nursing clothes ready for my first day. I was just over seeing today seen as though it was my first day. I was following one of the head of department nurses Alesha around. Around halfway through my shift there was a women being brought in who had fell down a flight of stairs and had broken her leg. When the paramedics wheeled her in, I stood at the side and over seen the doctors taking charge.
"Nina?" I turned to see mark smiling at me.
"Oh hey! I wondered when I would be seeing you"
"I was wondering the same thing. When do you get off?"
"Eight, you?"
"Same. Do you want to grab some coffee or something?" I nodded.
"Sure that would be great" he smiled.
"well I'll meet you in the reception then" I nodded and grinned as he left.
"Old friend?" Alesha asked coming over to me pulling her gloves off.
"Sort of. He's a friend from college. He's dating my old roommate" she nodded and smiled. The truth was I always thought mark was kinda hot. The first time i met him I thought he was cute but once I walked in after he and Sarah as obviously been getting busy, she was in the shower and he was buttoning his pants back up. It was awkward to say the least but his body was Amazing! And I'd seen half the guys in the pack shirtless,what am I saying I've seen them all shirtless, non of them even own a shirt! But let me tell you, he could give some of them a run for there money!
My shift really dragged in after my conversation with mark. Alesha found it funny that my first day was kind of quiet, hopefully it wouldn't be like this all the time. At 8pm I went and changed back into my normal clothes and sighed out. Mark was already waiting for me and greeted me with a hug and kiss on the cheek.
"Shall we?" He said and I nodded smiling.
"I know a nice little place not to far from here"
"Great. I trust your judgement, you've been here longer than me" he laughed and we made our way to the coffee shop.
"I'll have a skinny latte please" I said to the waitress.
"Just a black coffee please" the women took our orders and went back to make our drinks.
"So what's new since graduation?"
"my niece and nephew were born"
"Really? Wow... Twins?" I shook my head.
"No my brother had a little boy and my sister had a little girl"
"Wow. So only you left to have kids now huh?" I nodded and held back a sigh.
"Got to find someone to have them with first" he laughed.
"too-shay" I smiled.
"Yourself?"
"Not much, I've been pretty busy working here. Finally got my apartment sorted out, it was a dump when I bought it but it was the only place I could afford... Oh and I don't know if you spoke to Sarah but me and her broke up"
"Wait... What?!"
"Yeah" he sighed "we'd been arguing for a while, before graduation honestly. She was being so demanding and mean"
"Oh I'm sorry. When did you guys break up?" I asked as the waitress gave us our drinks.
"The day before New Years"
"Oh that must of been rough" he nodded.
"It was. I had to work New Year's Eve and she was going off on one because I couldn't come down to New York and be with her. She claimed I wasn't coming because I had feelings for someone else and I couldn't be with them. So she said maybe we should just end things and I agreed. And that was that, I haven't spoken to her since"
"Oh I'm sorry. But why did she think you had feelings for someone else? Where you cheating on her?" I asked taking a sip of my drink.
"No! I'd never cheat on her, no matter what. She thought I had feelings for someone because I did, do? Kinda. it's confusing"
"Who?" I asked feeling nosey.
"Oh nobody that would be interested"
"Have you told this mystery person?"
"In a way" he said drinking his coffee.
"And what did she say?"
"She asked me if I had been cheating on Sarah" I thought about that for a moment and then looked up at him.
"What?" I said confused.
"Yeah... Sorry, I can't really help it. I'm not sure how I feel it's just well... Your beautiful, I've always thought it, and the more sarah pushed me the more I wished I was with you instead of her"
"Oh" was all I could manage as I hugged my drink with my hands.
"Please don't worry about it though, I don't want it to come between our friendship"
"It's okay... Really, I'm flattered honestly. I always thought you were kinda hot too" he smiled.
"You did?" I shrugged.
"Your not bad" he laughed.
"Well, if I think your beautiful, and you think I'm hot... Could I take you out sometime?" I had to think about this one. Sarah was my friend, one of my best friends. And you don't do that to friends no matter if they've broke up on good terms or bad, so I decided to play it safe.
"How about you come to my flat? I could cook you dinner? gives me a chance to use my kitchen and stop ordering take out" he chuckled.
"Sure"
"This isn't a date" I said pointing my finger at him making him laugh.
"Of course not"
"No... Just two friends, having dinner and enjoying each other's company"
"Exactly" I nodded and drank my drink. What was I doing?!
"So when is this 'not date' happening?" He asked.
"Well I've got work all week this week so that doesn't work out well. How about Saturday? I could do that" he smiled.
"Saturday... Where do you live?" I wrote down my address and passed it to him over the table.
"No way! How the hell do you afford to live here?" I chuckled.
"My grandparents. There not exactly short of cash" his eyes bugged and he nodded.
"You don't say" I giggled and we enjoyed the rest of our coffee and our catch up.
Saturday
It was around five pm on Saturday night and I was cooking a curry for myself and mark. This wasn't a date I kept chanting to myself thought the day. I'd dressed a simple pair of jeans and a nice top, my hair was just down and straight. See very causal I would not be dressing like this if I was on a date. I didn't even have a dinning room table, I had a kitchen island with stools on, so I guess we'd be eating there... You see no candle lit dinner, because this Is not a date. There was a knock at the door and I ran to get it.
"Calm down girl! Geez!" I mumbled to myself before opening the door.
"Hey" mark said grinning, he leaned down and kissed my cheek before I invited him in.
"Wow... Smells great in here" I smiled and shrugged.
"I learned to cook from my nana and mom. There really good" he smiled.
"Well if this meal tastes as good as it smells I'll be thanking your nana and mom for teaching you" I laughed and took his coat hanging it up. I walked into the kitchen and he followed me slowly.
"Great place"
"Thanks. It gets me by" I said stirring the chicken and sauce.
"And your view is fantastic" he said looking out of the window.
"Yeah I love the view" I said staring at mark, but he didn't see... Thank god. I served our meals and we sat down on the kitchen island and began eating. I was waiting for him to taste it first though.
"Oh my god! This is amazing" I grinned.
"Well thank you"
"Seriously! If you weren't working at the hospital you could of been a chef" I giggled.
"Well I wouldn't go that far but thanks" he smiled at me and I blushed looking down at my food and eating myself.
"So we've never really got to know each other Proberly before, tell me about your life" he said as we ate.
"Well there's not much to tell" lie "I have a older brother and a younger sister, as you know. There isn't much between us all in age so we all grew up together really. Growing up I was close to my older brother for a while" until he phased "and then we kinda got a little distant, he would always hang around with my sister and his new friends... He began popular"
"You weren't?" He asked.
"Well I wasn't hated or anything, I had a lot of mutual friends but my sister and brother are what you would class the popular ones, head cheerleader and jock the typical stereotypes" he chuckled and nodded.
"I guess me and my sister were never that close, we clashed. My mom claims it was because we were too alike but in my eyes we couldn't of been more different. Seriously, we don't even look alike. I look like my brother and dad, were as my sister looks like my mom. We have complete different interests and never really had anything in common" I chuckled. "I always knew how to piss her off something rotten It was great. I use to tease her constantly about a crush she had on her now husband... God that got me" he laughed as I continued.
"Anyways, growing up my moms always been more protective over me than my siblings"
"Why?" He asked.
"Oh um... I got sick as a child, the doctor found some odd things that could mean I could possibly one day get sick again and it may not end well so she use to like to keep me wrapped up in Cotton wool" which wasn't exactly a lie.
"And I really wanted to go to college but I didn't think my mom would ever let me, what I didn't know was my sister had already been accepted into college but she wasn't going to go if I wasn't aloud, that was the first big step we took together and I guess after that we kinda grew up and really started acting like sisters rather than my arch nemeses. She's my best friend now, and I tell her pretty much everything. She's what I always wanted us to be like growing up, I've finally got the sister I've always wanted" I said smiling to myself.
"That's great.. I'm really glad your happy" I smiled.
"Thank you.. Now yourself?"
"Well I was a only child for a long time, just me, my mom and dad. Then when I was ten my parents split and divorced. I had no clue why at the time but then I found out my dad had been sleeping with my moms best friend and boss. That didn't go down well. Anyways, my dad and Marisa got together and she soon fell pregnant. I was still young at the time but I remember my mom and her friends talking about it saying that Dylan who is my brother, well he wasn't my dads. Turns out my moms other friends son had slept with Marisa, and come to mention it Dylan looks a lot like her son. Nobody has ever questioned it though, my dad just carries on like Dylan is his even though he's proberly not. I doubt it myself. My dad and Marisa didn't last, but nobody expected them too. He ended up in another relationship with a women called Emma, they had a kid together too. She's called Ella, now she is my dads, she's his double... Kinda looks like me too. I don't think my dad and Emma will be together forever, there not suited plus there's a huge age difference"
"How long?" I asked.
"Twenty years" he said and I tried to look shocked, even though there was quiet the age differance between my dad and mom. Hell even bigger between annalee and embry but I suppose that didn't count in our world... Did it?
"Yeah, but those guys are still together now. And my mom has just had another baby, with her new husband. He's a good guy I guess... A little quiet for my liking my he's good to her and my little sister so that's all that matters"
"Well I'm glad your mom found happiness, and your dad even if you think it won't last" he chuckled.
"Thanks nina" I smiled and took our empty plates to the sink.
"Please let me do that. It's the least I could do after you cooked such an amazing meal"
"Oh no you don't have to do that, really. Come on let's go in the living room" I said gesturing towards the door. We spent what felt like days talking about each other and our lives. I didn't even notice the time until those commercials come on TV where there advertising things after all the program's finish, we'd even managed to finish off a bottle of red wine I had in the fridge.
"Wow is that the time?" He said looking at his cell.
"I know I didn't realise it was so late... Early? Oh you get it" he laughed and stood up stretching.
"I better get off. I've got a shift starting at lunch time" I nodded not feeling envious at all. It was my day off. I walked him to the door unlocking it and opening it.
"Well thanks for an amazing evening nina. I really enjoyed myself" I grinned.
"Yeah me too. It was really nice" he nodded.
"Well, maybe we could do it again sometime? And maybe next time I could call it a date" I blushed and shrugged.
"Maybe you could" he smiled and leaned down to kiss my cheek.
"Good night nina. I'll see you soon"
"Good night mark" I said before closing my door. Wow.
