Most mornings are hard because it makes me realize that I am a jobless loser. It's been hard since I lost my job at Hollis, I can't go back to Rosewood High so I look for other means of money. Today I have a job interview with a local magazine called
'Bookworm' where they have short stories from local authors and short articles on different books coming out and events coming up. I applied three months ago and I got a call back two days ago so I am excited that I might be having an income soon.
I began today like any other day, I showered and dressed appropriately for the occasion. I texted Aria and told her I was heading out and enjoy her day at school. I left my apartment and got into my car, as I drove down the street I turned on the
radio and hear Edwin McCain's "I'll Be" and instantly remember this used to be meand Maggie's song. We used to sing the words to each other to help the other fall asleep. We loved the words to the song so much that we got matching tattoos. I
got "I'll Be" on the upper inner part of my arm and she got it on her wrist.
Hearing the words again makes me think of the last time I saw her, the last time I heard her voice. I loved Maggie and a part of me always will. She was the girl I planned on marrying one day, having a future with, until we made the mistake of getting
knocked up at 18. I promised her I would be there for everything but a few days before I was to leave to go off to college she left without a word, its like she disappeared off the face of the earth. I never loved another girl the way I loved her,
Jackie and Aria, they are different chapters of my life. The thing that made me the most devastated was that my mother paid her to leave town and abort the baby, I couldn't love my mother the same after I found out.
As I pulled up in the parking lot, I threw away those thoughts. I had to be focused if i was going to get this job. The building I was walking into is home to more than one business, apparently there is a doctors office, a bakery, another magazine called
'Pleasure' and other miscellaneous stores. As I walked to the closed elevator doors I see a variety of people waiting for it, and when the empty doors open we all shuffle in and press the button for the floor we need, I press number three. As the
doors close a woman rushes to it and asks to hold it, so I stop the door with my arm and allow her in. After she gets in, she says "thank you", and looks at buttons and sees that the floor she needed is lit up. "Your welcome," I tell her. As the doors
open on the third floor I exit along with this beautiful young woman, I head towards the Bookworm offices and she heads towards 'Pleasure'. I walk to the receptionist in the office, she's in her late thirties with brownish, red hair and black framed
glasses. "How can I help you?" she asks me. "I'm here for an interview with Gerald Higgins," I tell her with a little enthusiasm. She goes to a computer and starts typing words into the screen. "Mr. Ezra Fitz? I'm sorry the spot has already been filled,
we must have forgotten to call you and let you know." She tells me killing my excitement. "Your positive? I just got a call two days ago." I reassure her. She looks at me with condolence, "Again, i'm sorry." I walk out, I can't take this disappointment.
I begin to walk towards the elevator to exit when I feel the urge to look go look at Pleasure.
I turn around and walk towards the doors for Pleasure, I open the door and head to their receptionist a young woman in her late twenties with white blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her name tag says 'Tiphany'. "How can I help you today?" Tiphany asks
with a perky attitude. I look around and see an empty waiting room. "I was wondering who can I talk to about getting a job here." I ask out of curiosity. "That would be the owner, she hires and fires around here," she says with a smile and picking
up a phone and pressing a button I guess to call the owner. "Yes, Ms. Rhoe, there's someone here who wants to apply for a job. Ok, i'll let them know," she hangs up the phone and then looks at me. "It's your lucky day, follow me." She says getting
out of the chair and leading me towards the owners door. I'm anticipating possibly working for someone with so much power. "Good luck," Tiphany tells me and then heads back to the front. I open the door and walk into the room, I see the back of a
black leather chair a second later it turns around and I see the face i've been thinking of...
"Maggie?" I ask like I need to be reassured of the face I slept next to for days at a time. She looks at me just as more as surprised as I am. She basically looks the same except her hair is longer, wavier and a little darker than it used to be. "Ezra?"
As soon as she says my name I know i'm not crazy, I run up to her and kiss her as passionately as I did the day I found out she was pregnant. Before she left me. When we break apart she lets out a breath of revilement and I hold on to her. "Wha...what
are you doing here?" She then sounds confused. "Your mother's not here is she?" I look at the woman who I loved and see what she's now, it makes me love her more. "No... I was here for an interview with Bookworm but they hired someone already. I don't
know why I came in here, I felt drawn to it...Now I know why." I let go of her and look around the room. "You made your dreams come true, so it is possible." I look at her, she picks up the phone and calls someone, "Can you reschedule all my appointments
to another day, please? Thank you." She then looks at me, "We have some catching up to do." I follow her lead for once.
We decided to go to a near by cafe, so we can talk in private. We're sitting in a booth facing each other, she's sipping on hot tea while i'm drinking coffee, she's never been a big coffee drinker. We sit in silence for a few minutes, neither of us knowing
what to say. Then I begin to speak. "Where have you been?" I ask wanting to know what happened to her. "Or can you at least tell me what happened to you after you left?" She looks at me, her eyes look a little sad, like I made her upset. "I bet you
probably heard about what your mother did. She was probably pretty ecstatic to finally have me gone that she was bragging," she looks at me and I give her a look like I know. "It wasn't just her, it was the pressure to make a choice on having a baby
or not. I had to get away. I'm sorry I never called or messaged you back. That was one thing your mother wanted, she wanted me to loose all contact with you. I guess loving you came with a price. " I still can't believe what my mother put her through,
but I need to know the answer to one thing important. "What happened with that situation?" I finally have the nerve to ask. "I could lie to you and make you believe it but that was never our relationship," I see her taking a moment and then she starts
talking again. "When I left I went to my sister's. I stayed there during college and she helped me with everything. A place to stay, and helped me raise the baby. She's the best God mother I could've ever asked for..." I look at her, she said raise,
meaning... "We have a kid?" I ask.
"Yeah, we do. A daughter," she tells me smiling. I am overwhelmed, over joyed. I grab her hands and am suddenly flashed back to my life now. I am with someone, for all I know she can be too. And then I look down and see the tattoo that we both have, she
sees me staring at then looks at me. "I couldn't find the heart to have it removed." She tells me. I can't believe this. But I have to know one more thing... but before I can ask.
"I never stopped loving you, Ezra. I might have dated another guy but he was never you." I listen to her confession. "You've only dated one guy after me?" I don't know why I felt the urge to ask. "Yeah, we started dating a few months after Paytin was
born...and broke up recently." I look at her, our daughter's name is Paytin. "What happened?" I ask her out of curiosity and nosiness. "I wanted to settle down and start an actual family, he didn't." We start to have an actual conversation. "She calls
him dad doesn't she?" I blurted out and asked her, she drops her eyes and then looks at me, sympathetically. "He's the only father she knows. And I can't throw you into this right now, you might confuse her. But I can show you pictures. Maybe eventually
you can see her in person." Maggie picks up her cell phone off the table and searches for pictures of our daughter. As I look at this beautiful little girl, I see my nose, Maggie's cheekbones, a mixture of Maggie's natural blonde hair and my curly
dark brown, she's just as beautiful as her mother. And then I continue to hear stories about her and how she grew up, things that I had to miss out on because of my mother.
THANKS FOR READING THIS CHAPTER! MORE COMING SOON...WHATCHA THINK? LOVED IT? HATED IT? SO-SO? COMMENT, LET ME KNOW?
COMMENTS = LOVE! PLEASE COMMENT!
THE STORY WILL CONTINUE TO GO BACK AND FORTH FROM MAGGIE AND EZRA'S POV!