L E V I ' S     P O V

"No, wait!" I shouted a little too loudly as I jumped out of my car.

She tensed as she turned around quickly, her eyes glued to the ground, causing a frown to make its way on my face.

"Yes?" She answered politely.

I stuffed my hands in my pocket and gently rocked back and forth on my heels.

"I wanted to apologize about what happened earlier today with Amanda." I gritted out her name through my teeth, my anger piquing once again at just the thought of her.

After the incident that had happened, I drove us both back home and basically scolded Amanda like the little child that she acted like.

She was truly revolting and I didn't know how long I could keep this thing up.

"It's o-okay." She mumbled as she continued to look at the ground. "It was my fault." She whispered.

I scrunched my eyebrows together as she basically became smaller under my gaze.

I ignored her statement, knowing that if I commented on it, my anger would pique once again and she would think that she was on the receiving end of it.

"Is your shoulder okay?" I reached out to touch it gently but she flinched before I could even come remotely close.

I retreated my hand slowly and I'd be lying if I said that that didn't hurt.

I cleared my throat, admitting to myself that I shouldn't overstep any boundaries.

I just met this woman today and I didn't want to seem too forward or anything, despite the fact that I'm obviously attracted to her.

Who wouldn't be?

"It's getting late, I should go." She rushed, still staring at her shoes.

I was the slightest bit agitated that I still hadn't properly seen her face once again.

I wanted her to look at me with her big beautiful eyes.

"Oh, I could give you a ride home, saying it's late." I quickly offered, wanting any time that I could spend with her.

"No!" She basically shouted as her eyes snap towards mine, full of panic and fear.

My eyes widened at her sudden outburst. I got lost momentarily just looking at her. It's almost unrealistic how beautiful she is. Every feature on her face was made to perfection.

I shook my head quickly at the distraction and readied myself to confront the situation at hand.

"What?" I questioned as I raised my eyebrows slightly.

She quickly averted her gaze to the ground again and mumbles, "I-I just mean that it's far from here and I wouldn't w-want you driving so far. I-I'm sure you're busy." She fumbled over her words.

She was right about one thing. I was actually just stopping by my parent's house to grab a file that my father had for me when I saw her walking alongside the road. Although I hadn't made out a face yet, it would be impossible to miss hair like hers.

I checked the watch on my wrist to look at the time which read 10:47.

I was actually supposed to be there by 10:30. My father was a very impatient man and any sane man would never get on his bad side, especially by being late.

He hated tardiness.

I paused and thought for a second.

...

Eh, he can wait.

"No, I actually wasn't busy at the moment." I lied smoothly. "And if you said it was pretty far, that's even a better reason for me to ensure that you arrive home safely." I stated.

She looked unsure as she wrung her fingers nervously and just before she can decline my offer once again, I spoke up, "Please." I begged.

I had never begged so much in my life. This woman was seriously beginning to get to me and she didn't even know it.

"I-I guess..." She trailed off uncertainly.

"Excellent." I grinned widely as I began to place my hand at the small of her back.

However, before I do, I withdraw it.

Baby steps.

I led her to the car and opened the door for her. She frowned as she took in the interior of the car, her eyes traveling between her clothes and back at the seats.

She began to dust non-existent specks from her clothing and then the cutest little pout formed on her face as she took a step back.

"Maybe I should really—" She began.

"What's wrong with your clothes? I see nothing wrong with them." I took this as a time to look at her from head to toe.

She squirmed under my gaze and played with her fingers.

"Nothing..." She said but I can tell she didn't believe her words.

"Good," I smiled at her as I motioned towards the opened car door.

Unsurely, she entered the car, mumbling a polite 'thank you' in the process.

I pushed the door shut and round to the front, heading to my side.

As I made myself comfortable, I closed the door and buckled my seatbelt.

"So, where to?" I looked at Ophelia as her eyes slightly widened again.

"I can just point." She mumbled embarrassingly.

I nodded my head, understanding that she probably wasn't in the mood for speaking.

I drove around for a few minutes until she told me that we had arrived. I pulled up in front of a decent sized house. It looked very homely with a beautiful garden and the cliche white picket fence.

"Thank you," She whispered as she exited the car.

"No problem." I replied. "Uh, wait." I said before she can get too far.

She turned around questioningly as she readjusts the strap of her purse.

"Maybe we can— exchange numbers." I shrugged. "In case you need another ride?" I added hopefully.

Of course, I wasn't just referring to if she needed another ride. Sure if she did, I'd gladly give her one but I really just wanted her number in my phone for other purposes.

She hesitated for a while and I held my breath, waiting for a reply.

"Thanks but... I won't need one." She says as she looks at me one more time before closing the door.

She went to the back of the house, probably entering from the backdoor leaving me sitting there...

alone and confused.

O P H E L I A ' S P O V

I slowed my pace, hoping that he would just leave.

When I heard his expensive car drive away with a roar, I looked back to fully ensure that he left.

I then went behind the house that he had dropped me off by, to get onto my street.

I didn't exactly give him my address since I was too embarrassed to let him actually see my house, if you would even call it that.

With that being said, once I was on the next street, I began to walk to my destination which would only be about a five-minute walk if I increase my speed.

Tonight, outside was quiet. I liked it that way but I do know that in a few hours' time, the streets will be filled with gangs and violence...

another reason why I didn't want to be driven directly home.

Everyone knew about what happened on this street. They knew about all of the gang play and killing that occurred.

Even the police are too scared to come across this part of town.

I let out a sigh of relief when I saw my house come into view.

Reaching the little wooden house, I brought my fingers through the little space of the door and with a click, what's left of the door opened with a screeching sound.

Carefully opening the door so that it wouldn't fall off, I slipped inside of my house and closed the door behind me.

After leaving the orphanage and having nowhere to stay, I came across this little place as I was walking.

Before finding it, I had already spent two days living on the streets and had to call multiple shelters my home.

It didn't have any bedrooms, nor was there any walls to separate the house but it was all I needed.

It was a roof over my head and a place to lay my head at night.

A mattress was placed in the corner of the room with several holes that the springs were visible to see and there was a rusty old stove that was here when I came, positioned on the other side of the room.

There was also a sink and in the back of the house, there was a toilet.

The toilet was probably the cleanest thing in the entire house.

Every night I cleaned it down nicely because diseases were very easy to catch these days.

The only other things in the house were a few glasses and plates, along with a small couch and a round table placed directly in the center of the house.

Dropping my bag on said table, I pulled out the chair from and afterward, emptied the contents from the bag.

What came out was a few coins that I got for a tip today, including the 20 dollars that the twin's mother had given me, along with an old chap stick.

I barely made 600 dollars a month excluding taxes and at this rate, I'd be going to college in another 7 years.

Feeling my bottom lip tremble and my eyes burn with unshed tears, I held my head in my hand as I sobbed silently.

My life became pointless after my parents died. My parents loved me with all their hearts and I felt like I was a bad daughter because I hardly remembered anything about them.

The image of my mother's face was slowly fading away from my mind and I couldn't remember how deep my father's laugh sounded like.

What made it worse was that I distinctly remember every detail of what happened at the orphanage...

every minute of every day.

When my parents died, not only did they leave me in this cruel world to suffer but they took everything else with them.

It had been 15 years since they passed and I still remember sitting by the house phone that day as a five-year-old awaiting their call like they said they would.

but that call never came.

I'm still thankful though. Most people don't have anywhere to live at this very moment as I do.

Thinking so much was once again giving me a headache. It was either that or the fact that I still hadn't eaten or even had a glass of water.

Deciding that pitying myself wasn't going to change anything, I got up and headed to the sink after pulling a glass from my cupboard.

Turning on the faucet, I frown as dirty water filled the glass.

I had forgotten that I had to get that fixed or should I say, fix it myself since I could never afford it.

Tilting the glass so that the water could slowly pour down the drain, I place the cup on the counter and headed back to the table.

My stomach began growling at me once again, trying to get my attention to the fact that it needed to be fed.

Groaning and once again getting up, I headed back to the kitchen and opened the food cabinet.

I began to cough and fanned my hand against my face to get rid of the clouds of dust that threw itself at me as I opened the cabinet.

Empty as always.

So empty that cobweb started to form at the corners of it.

Looking deeper, I saw canned food directly at the back of the cabinet and smiled largely as I reached out to grab it.

It was tuna.

I blew the specks of dust from off of it, scrunching my eyes to be able to read the label.

Expiration date: June 5th

Hmm, it expired two days ago.

I'll surely end up in the hospital if I don't eat now so without another thought, I opened the canned food and threw it on a plate.

Getting crackers from the table, I used them to assist in flavouring it.

Placing the food in my mouth, I couldn't help but wince at the raw taste but it's always better than nothing.

After placing the empty dish in the sink and having nothing else to do, I let my thoughts roam.

In high school, I always thought of myself as smart but with everything going on, I was never smart enough to get all A's and a scholarship to college.

The two contacts from my phone were actually Kace and Charlotte.

Kace was my only friend from high school. He knew of my situation and on nights when I couldn't bear going back to the orphanage, he would allow me to sleep at his.

I secretly had a crush on him but I knew he thought of me as a little sister.

Unfortunately, I've tried calling him over the years and to no avail.

The next contact I had was Charlotte. She was the most popular girl at our school. We had gotten paired up to do a project together but because she had to get out of the state due to family problems, I ended up doing it all by myself.

Not that I minded.

I kept her number because it would look less pathetic of me only having one contact in my phone even though the last time we spoke was in high school when she said, "Don't contact me again, delete my number." I hadn't taken it seriously though.

Shaking my head to get rid of my thoughts, I decided that it was time for me to go to sleep since I had to be awake in the next couple of hours.

After taking a cold shower, I laid my head on the hard mattress and my eyes tiredly fluttered closed.

Somehow, I found myself thinking about Levi.