Boxes, some empty, and some still in different states of unpack, lay about the small one bedroom apartment, as Alanna Dowd shook her head in despair. It was going to take her months to just go through everything, let alone find a place of it. Going from her grandmother's house in San Bernardino to the apartment she current resided in now was a change. A needed one to be sure. With Memaw's passing two months previous, and having to take care of the funeral, it had left her drained, and now, completely alone.
Her mother had been killed when she was ten from a car accident that had left her scarred across her stomach. Some guy that was running from the cops had broadsided the late model Acura that they were in. It had flipped three times, coming to a rest on the side of the road. Memaw had taken her in after that. Her father, Daveed, was in the military, and was able to come home for the funeral.
He was killed the following year in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee. That was why she chose to take the job that she had. Across the US, and away from everything she knew. Now, she was stuck putting things in places and finding out what she would have to put into a storage unit.
Grabbing her cup of tea, she took a seat on the couch, and turned on the TV. Men had been in and out all day setting up her internet, and cable. Smiling, she turned the TV to HDMI 1, and turned on the Xbox. Just a quick level of Call of Duty would clear her head and she could get some much needed sleep.
Stalking through the battlefields, her level ended faster than what she would have liked, but looking over at the clock that hung on the wall, Alanna's eyes about came out of her head when she saw it was three in the morning. Her job started at nine! Shit! She thought to herself, I should have paid better attention to the time! Damn time shift!
An alert came up on the screen telling her one of her friends were online, and a broad grin passed her face when she saw who it was. EaglesDive87. They had been friends for four years now online, and she felt bad because she hadn't told him she was moving.
A message popped up in her inbox from him. Ya wanna play some COD?
A laugh came from her as she replied back. Sorry, Eagle, I'm heading to bed. Starting a new job in the morning, and if I'm late… U know how it goes. Maybe tomorrow? Alanna enjoyed playing the game with him. He was a tough opponent and just because she was a girl, he didn't give any slack. He was competitive like she was.
Sounds good. U R on Pacific Time, right? Sometimes she wondered if he ever got offline. He was on at weird hours of the night. Not that she was complaining. He was about the only friend she could truly say she had. Sad that her closest friend was a guy she met while playing Call of Duty, and she knew nothing about him! Oh she needed a social life!
Deciding to tell him the truth, because going by the old time zone would mess up her sleep more, she replied. Actually, I moved last week. That's why I haven't been on. Now on Eastern time like you. So, what time works?
His reply didn't come for a minute, and she was wondering if he was even going to respond. But then it came. I get off at 9. How about 10?
Grinning broadly, she answered. LOL! Works. Get your ego ready to be smashed again, because you are going to be eating bullets, Eagle. Unless you have been getting better. Which I doubt. A little smack talk never hurt anyone. It was banter between the two that she enjoyed.
And he did not disappoint with his comeback. Uh news flash, Diamond, U normally get UR ass handed to you.
Laughing at his comment, she smirked as she typed. Whatever! We will settle it later, ass. See ya! And Alanna turned off the machine as she suppressed a yawn.
She awoke with the sun, and glared at the rays as they made their way through the blinds. "Stupid sun." She growled, and untangled herself from the sheets.
Taking a quick shower, and blowing out her damn near waist length hair, Alanna managed to get the curls into a twist, securing it with more pins that necessary. Grabbing the outfit she had laid out the night before, she nodded at the reflection in the mirror. The turquoise top gave her tanned skin a soft glow, and the form fitting black jeans looked good with it.
Adding a little bit of makeup, she was ready to face the day. Her purse was the last thing she grabbed as she walked out the door, and locked it behind her. Looking at the door across the hall, her smile turned into a frown as she thought about her jackass of a neighbor.
She didn't know why he had pissed her off so bad, but he had. It wasn't as if he had really done anything to her, but bump into her. She knew she shouldn't have reacted the way she did, but the day had been shitty, and went downhill. The apartment she was supposed to move into in the complex had been damaged in a fire two days before she had gotten out there, and the last one left was the one she was in now.
The man had looked at her, face blank, and told her he was sorry but she snapped at him, called him some of the most colorful names she could think of in Arabic. Her father's parents were from Syria and Memaw thought it would be neat for her to know more about her heritage. The guy blinked at her, and she stormed off, leaving him standing there. Good thing he probably didn't understand a word that she had said. A few of them were digs on his manhood, and something about being a jackass. Just thinking about what she said made her blush. Yeah, a really good thing he didn't know.
Her first day of work was completely uneventful. She got another tour of the building, shown where her station was, and a stack of things she would be working on for the week. It had to be the most boring day in her life. That was until she got home, and found a guy about her age trying to get a jack under an older Civic.
Chuckling behind her hand, she watched him struggle for a minute before walking over. "Need some help?" She asked with a wide grin.
He looked up at her, one hand on the jack, and the other on the side of the car. "Uh, you know how to change a tire?" He asked sheepishly.
With a nod, she knelt down beside him. "First of all, you're never getting that jack under the car, and two, you're putting it in the wrong place. If you put it there, you're going to damage the rocker panel."
His brow creased, telling her this was all kind of like a different language to him. "Come again?"
Alanna couldn't help but let out a bark of a laugh. "Wow, and I thought all guys were born to work on cars." She didn't mean it in a bad way. She knew a few guys that couldn't, or in cases wouldn't, work on cars.
The guy rubbed the back of his neck. "Normally Mal or Altair would do this, but Altair's at work, and Mal took my car so he could go to work. There's no food in the house, and I am so sick of pizza. Name's Kadar. I live over in C3." He pointed to the building across from hers.
Smirking, she stood. "Well, let's get this tire changed so you can got get food. By the way, I'm Alanna. Just moved into D8."
He got to his feet, and snapped his fingers. "Oh, you're the one that moved into the apartment across from Altair! He's a good guy, but a little rough to take sometimes. Known him my whole life."
Alanna gave a sheepish look. "I kind of went off on him the first time we met. I am so glad not a lot of people know Arabic, because I would have been really embarrassed."
And that's when he dropped a bomb on her with a slight raise of his lips. "He does, and so does my brother." She felt the color drain from her face. "I'm guessing he didn't respond to let you know." His grin told it all. Altair had understood every word she had hurled at him, and oh my God! She was so embarrassed!
"I didn't really give him a chance. Oh shit. Now I feel like an idiot." Her hands covered her face, and shook her head back and forth.
Kadar chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he's over it by now." She peeked through her fingers at him, and he gave her a wide smile. "Well, pretty sure."
She hoped, but knowing that she was in the wrong, she was hoping that he would accept her apology. But that wouldn't happen until later, and so she set out to help Kadar change the tire, getting him on his way.
After the job was done, Kadar looked at her. "Thanks. Hey, for repayment, wanna go grab some food?"
Well, she did say she needed a social life early this morning. "Sure, but give me a few minutes to change. I am feeling a bit overdressed." And looked down at her work clothes.
He gave a nod. "I need to wash my hands anyhow. Say twenty minutes we meet back out here?"
"Hey works for me." And they parted ways.
I know I gave Alanna a bit of a sad backstory, but hers was kind of the same in my other stories with her. For those who don't know, Alanna was an OC in my stories Reawakening, and New Beginnings. Yeah, she was one of my favorites. Told you a few of them were going to come back. See ya later.