Chapter Two


I woke up early the next morning and felt like my body had been replaced with someone's who was at least three times my age. Muscles I didn't even know existed ached, and I had an overall feeling of discomfort from deep within my bones. This hotel definitely needed to upgrade its mattresses.

I shrugged it off and figured it was nothing that a long, hot shower couldn't fix. While undressing I stood in the mirror and starred at my reflection. The thought 'I can't believe I'm actually doing this' couldn't help but cross my mind. I instantly began worrying about how things were back in Pennsylvania.

Sure, the other children my foster parents adopted could get annoying sometimes. But the more I thought about it, the worse I felt. I was practically their adult figure while Denise and Rick weren't around. I was all that they had left. And I had deserted them. Granted, the court would have never let me have full custody over them, considering I was still considered 'a child' myself, I still felt bad knowing they could be stuck with someone who didn't truly have their best interests at heart. Plus, I probably wouldn't have been able to handle all of them anyway. I wasn't even sure I wanted kids. 'Why am I still thinking about this?' I wondered.

As I got in the shower, I instantly felt better. The hot water and steam seemed to soothe and relax me as my thoughts suddenly shifted to Mason. I was wondering how he was holding up. The last conversation we had was about four days ago…

"You know I will ALWAYS be here for you, right Rosemarie?" Mason looked down at me sympathetically as he brushed the hair out of my face with his hand and gently caressed his thumb against the side of my cheek. His touch always felt good, and he always seemed to know how to make me feel better. I guess that's what happens when you're around someone so much, and are always going through tough situations together.

"I know Mase." I replied half-heartedly. I was still torn up about my foster parents, and now my plan of running away was beginning to weigh on me. I felt horrible doing this to him, of all people, the one person who was there for me one hundred percent of the time.

"You'll get through this, you're the strongest person I know." Mason pulled me in close, and kissed my forehead. His warm embrace brought tears to my eyes. I knew I had to get myself out of this situation before I spilled the beans, or decided against my plan entirely. I hated lying to him, but I knew this would benefit us both in the end.

I pulled away from him and gave him a small smile. "I love you. Please never forget that, okay?"

"I won't Rose, you know that. And stop making it seem like something is going to happen to you." He laughed and looked down at me adoringly. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"You better not! I only like getting into trouble if it involves you, if you catch my drift…" I winked at him and gave him a devilish grin. My attempt to lighten the mood must have worked, because we then continued to make out for a while.

After he pulled away, I kissed him again lightly. Letting my lips linger on his a little longer than he probably expected, because I knew it would be a while before I had any physical contact with him, or anybody else. I would certainly miss that…

My daydream must have been a lot longer than I expected because the shower water was now starting to turn cold. Either that, or the hotel just had a really tiny hot water tank. I quickly rinsed down my body one final time, making sure to get all the soap off before I turned into an ice cube.

I eventually dressed myself in a black v-neck, dark skinny jeans and plain black flip-flops and gave myself a quick glance in the mirror. I thought I looked pretty decent. I then decided to straighten my dark, naturally wavy hair and add a little make-up. Today I would go job hunting and I wanted to make a good first impression on all my future employers.

I really didn't have any idea of where to start applying, so I decided that I would walk around the city until I found different places I liked.

Pennsylvania was nowhere comparable to New York. On top of the fact that it was HUGE, it also had people everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. Crowds of people flooded the streets, to talk, to stop and haggle with vendors, to buy food off of the many carts that lined the sidewalks. I really think New York had it all and I was truly in love with this place I already.

The first place I decided to put in an application at was a small diner that was cornered by two very large buildings. It looked almost as if it were something that was ran by a family, and passed down from generation to generation. I had a sudden longing to be part of a family again after just losing mine, so I made my way into the restaurant. I could immediately tell (as if the sign hadn't given it away already) that my suspicions were right. This was indeed a family restaurant, and an Italian one at that. With a name like Giovanni's, how could it not be Italian? The air smelled of delicious pizzas, cheeses and pasta, and my stomach suddenly rumbled, announcing that it was indeed hungry. I sat down in one of the small booths and was immediately approached by a young girl who couldn't have been much older than me. She greeted me and I kindly asked her for an application as well as a personal pan pizza, with extra cheese and pepperoni. Yummy!

I savored every bite of that pizza, and took extra care when handling the application. I made sure not to get any grease on it, because I'm sure that's not exactly a good way to leave an impression. Just after paying my bill, I casually walked up to the guy at the front of the restaurant (I assumed he was the manager) and I was mentally planning the small talk I would start the conversation with in attempt to win him over. A petite blonde, who had apparently the same idea in mind, then cut me off and beat me to the punches.

After listening to their twenty-minute conversation, I not only felt dumber, but I was also twenty minutes behind in the rest of my job search. I then proceeded to hand the guy my interview, and was about to lay down the moves on him when he stopped me before I could speak and informed me that he had just given the girl before me the last open position. Of fucking course.

I sulked as I slowly made my way out of the restaurant, and continued my walk around the city. I applied at every cute boutique and diner I came across, and I was still jobless. I was beginning to lose all hope, and after many hours of the same tedious questions and applications I decided I would have to postpone this search until tomorrow. However, before going back to the hotel, I would do some grocery shopping so I could prepare my own food in the room. Instead of eating out every night and most likely gaining twenty pounds in the next month.

I asked a man who looked sincere enough to help me where the closest organic market was, and he thankfully pointed me in the right direction. I made it there quickly and efficiently, and maneuvered my way around the store effortlessly. I got a bunch of fresh fruit, vegetables and things like dried fruits and nuts, which wouldn't perish and would last me a while.

Just as I was about to head for the check out a mysterious looking man approached me with a creepy grin and before I had a chance to run away his eerie voice said something along the lines of "You don't look like you're from around here, sugar." And he slipped a business card into my basket and he was gone.

I hope this chapter was a bit better than the last! I wanted to give you guys two chapters at once because I feel like the first one wasn't enough to keep you interested. The ending of this chapter will certainly lead into the main part of the story, so keep reading! And leave feedback of course! xoxo