I felt like the biggest idiot in the world. Hanging there in a small window between an apartment door and trying my best to support my weight from cutting me in half against the metal seal.

"How did you get a key?" I asked, pushing my hair out of my face.

"I live here."

I shook my head, Jasmine didn't have a boy toy last I checked, and she certainly wouldn't live with one. "You can't live here, This is my friend's apartment... Room 904 I have it in a text."

Howell nodded and smiled as he pulled the door forward. Taking his finger he pushed on the number nine and pulled it around to line up with the other numbers, converting it into a six. The little light bulb went off in my head as I glanced at him, the door and then the apartment itself. It was more like a loft-style place where everything except the bathroom was nicely arranged into one large space. There was a larger line of windows in a hutch area where his bed was along with various lens equipment.

Stalking his surroundings it became more and more clear that this indeed was a completely different apartment of different sex. Plus there were no yoga mats and boho style decorations in bright colors anywhere. Yep, I felt like an ass. Technically I blame Keiko for bringing me to the wrong door...it was her fault. That was how I planned to justify this now extremely awkward situation.

"Come here." He smiled and reached up for me. "The blood is rushing to your face."

I did my best to avoid direct eye contact due to being embarrassed at this point. His hands were firm as they found their way around my waist, his fingers slightly brushed against my skin from my wrinkled bloused as I wiggled myself out of the window. Finding the ground again, I could feel my blood rushing back through my body evenly with relief. No longer standing on an end table I now realized how he towered over me. I barely came to his chest.

Bending formalities, I shook off any want to introduce myself to this unusual person and focused on my current humiliating situation.

"You," I pointed, "Watched me play with a window to break into your own apartment."

"I found it amusing." He said as he reached into his bag of food. Pulling out a small appetizer wrapped in wax paper. "Here's an egg roll for your efforts, maybe it will tame your hunger before you break into someone else's house."

"You are such an asshole," I bluntly scorned him as I snatched the food from his hand. Looking at his chest I noticed the twenty-dollar bill in his small shirt pocket. Glaring at him I reached in and took it from him, "And I'm taking my money back."

I spun on my heel and took my leave before I wasted any more time making a complete nitwit of myself. Howell folded his arms and leaned against the door frame watching me walk down the hall.

"You got a cute butt I'll give you that." He called to me, "Feel free to break into my apartment any time you want."

"Well get a good look at it, buddy!" I shouted over my shoulder as I flipped him off. "Because this is the last time you're gonna see it!"

After relocating Keiko as I made my way upstairs she notified me that we had gone to the wrong door. I tried not to act too startled. Apparently, as I was trying to climb through a window, Jasmine ran into Keiko by the front door and decided to go upstairs into the apartment before thinking it would be a good idea to retrieve me.

I kept my unusual encounter with the resident of door 604 to myself, but my curiosity did perk a lot of questions.

"Andrew Howell? The guy is a fucking asshole." Jasmine said as she handled baby Elizabeth on her hip. "And he's dangerous, so stay away from him."

"Dangerous?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, destructive, easily angered, and he's been in and out of jail for acts of hate and violence," Jasmine said as she unfolded a bundle of blankets for the baby to lay on and snuggle. "Not to mention the number of girls I've seen leave his apartment."

Beckett came into the living room with a tray of drinks and snacks as he listened to our current conversation. Even out of the Coffee Bean he can't help but serve food. "I heard the last girl who left him had bruises all over her face."

"No...that's horrible." Keiko shook her head as she reached down and grabbed a smoothie from the table. Taking a sip, his eyes got big. "Oh! Is this watermelon?"

"Yep!" Jasmine sparked as she picked up one for herself.

I took mine in silence as they continued to tell stories and gossip about the neighbors. From my point of view, that's not the vibe I got at all. Sure he seemed to be a weird one and held his own twisted sense of humor by letting a total stranger climb through his window. Hell, the way Jasmine talks, he should have dragged me through his window and had his wicked way with me before disposing my body into the nearest waste compactor. I wasn't sure we were even talking about the same guy.

Nonetheless, Jasmine was getting quite passionate with her words on the subject, as she always does, so I let her trail off to another subject. She was our fiery habanero of the group, one spicy little pepper. However, I could have done without me being the next category of news.

"So daddy kicked you out and cost you your job." Jasmine smiled, holding her drink to her lips.

I realized a deep sigh, she was the last addition to our group so hopefully, this will be the last time I tell this pathetic story of my "undoing". Taking a big drink of my smoothie, despite my hate for watermelon, and went down the list of issues. "Yes, my father burned my things and kicked me out and got me fired BUT I was able to get a new place to live in less than a week."

"And," Keiko chimed in, "I got an interview with my uncle at the Cubical Ninja tomorrow."

"The Cubical Ninja?" Beckett asked. "Isn't that the online newsletter kind of place down in Excelsior?"

"The one and only," Keiko said proudly.

"That's a long way for a girl with no vehicle?" Jasmine stated the obvious.

"Well, I have more than enough money to get me transportation from point A to point B. Taxi's, buses...Becky." Beckett looked up and smiled, giving me a small wink of approval. "And I've been investing in a ten-speed bicycle. I can ride it to work and it is a part of my exercise routine."

"But you don't even know how to ride a bike?" Jasmine added.

Once again she got straight to the point and hit it right on the nail. "True," I noted. Reaching in my pocket I pulled out my notebook and added yet another thing to my list. "But, it's something I want to conquer on my new journey on my own... I call it my self-discovery bucket list."

"A bucket list?" Keiko leaned over to my notebook to take a peek at what exactly was on this list.

"Yeah, I actually thought it could be something we could all do together. You know, like a group thing. A sort of hello to the new me transformation."

"Sounds fun." Beckett smiled. "Maybe I should make one."

Jasmine nodded but didn't seem as enthused as the rest of the gang. She was more of a realist and I completely understood her busy lifestyle since the birth of her daughter. "I'll have to think about it." she finally said, "With Elizabeth teething and me pulling double shifts a work it may be a stretch."

"Absolutely understandable," I replied, shoving the book back into my pocket. "This isn't a kill in one hit kind of thing....we got all the time in the world."

I had better ways planned to introduce that subject, but hey, I'm glad it came out. I'll be more than happy to clear out most of the list on my own starting with the one at the very top.

 Scoring my interview.

Call me Cinnamon butter because I'm on a roll.

Zanarkin Rune will always be my fantasy love, however I am not only happy but surprising myself with the chapters I am pumping out with this work. The genre and POV change has been very refreshing for me and I hope you guys are enjoying this!

Thank you for reading!