After her mom left for work, her dad dropped her off at Mayfield Local on his way to his job. Mayfield Local was their town's convenience store that sold almost everything she could think of. Zach had worked there since high school, and continued to work there when he wasn't commuting the hour to Albany University.

When she arrived, the door opened with its familiar chime, allowing Alissa to smile. Zach was behind the counter ringing up a customer. For such a small town, she felt as if she knew everyone, but, for once, she didn't recognize the lady at the counter. She was around her age with shoulder-length blonde hair. She leaned against the counter giggling at Zach.

Alissa raised her eyebrows seeing Zach's small grin as he told her to have a good day. The lady slowly walked passed her, making sure to sway her hips, as she left through the door. Alissa smirked as she walked up to the counter rolling her luggage behind her.

"Who was that?"

"I don't know. She moved here a couple of weeks ago."

"Seems like someone likes you." Alissa chuckled.

"What are you doing here?" Zach asked.

"I need a ride to the airport."

"I can't leave. Ask Hannah to take you." Zach began organizing things behind the counter. What was his problem, she thought.

"I don't have her number."

Zach handed her his phone with Hannah's number already dialing.

"Hey, baby," Hannah said after a few rings.

Alissa grimaced, "Hey, Hannah. It's Alissa. Are you able to drive me to the airport?"

"It's an hour away, though," she whined.

Oh, how she had wished Uber could reach her small ass town.

Alissa rolled her eyes, "I know, but no one can drive me. Zach said you could."

She sighed, "Okay, I'll be there soon."

"Thanks so much, Hannah. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah," she said as the call ended.

This was going to be interesting, Alissa thought.

~~~

They were ten minutes into the car ride and were already out of small talk topics. Alissa seriously couldn't see what Zach saw in this girl.

"So," Alissa started, then looked out the window.

Hannah sighed as she merged onto the highway in her small blue Volkswagen Jetta.

Fifteen minutes later and Alissa finally asked. "How have you and Zach been? The last time I saw you two was Christmas, and you weren't on the best of terms."

Was she overstepping her boundaries here? She didn't know, and part of her didn't care. All she cared about was finding out why the hell she was still with her brother.

"What's it to you?" Hannah said through gritted teeth.

Alissa turned to face her in the passenger seat, "Okay, you may think it's none of my business asking since it's your relationship, but it involves my brother, and if you're going to one day marry him and become my sister-in-law, I need to know why you two have so many issues and yet still stay together."

She may have let her mouth run, she thought.

"Wow, okay," Hannah said as she kept her eyes on the road.

"Like, why do you fight all the time? What do you even fight about? Are they serious issues or silly, stupid things like what parents bicker about? Zach doesn't tell me anything and I really need to know."

Hannah sighed, "That's fair."

"It is? I mean, yeah, I think so," Alissa said. "So, tell me."

"Well, I grew up with only my mom. It's just always been her and I. So many men have walked out of her life, our lives. Zach and I have been together for just about a year and a half now, and around the year mark was when the men my mom would date would leave us. Half our source of income would disappear and we'd be back to living in the Northway Mobile trailer park off Route 30."

Alissa didn't know what to say, "Oh."

"But Zach has been wonderful." She smiled, "He keeps reassuring me that he'll never leave me and that he's not like those men my mom dated growing up. I just..." She sighed.

"What? You can tell me." Alissa smiled encouragingly at her.

Alissa could see subtle freckles across Hannah's tan cheeks and nose at this close proximity. She had never paid enough attention to the girl to really notice before.

"Zach is such a catch. He really is. He's sweet, funny, and damn sexy, but," she paused, "I'm afraid Zach will leave me and I'll always stay in this town like my mom." Her voice grew to a whisper the more she spoke and her blue eyes began to water.

"You can't let a man dictate your life, even my brother. Hannah, you need to be able to live on your own. You need to learn to be independent. That's the only way you'll ever be able to leave Mayfield and make something of yourself. Yes, Zach will be graduating school this year. He could get a job anywhere. He could move all the way to Denver, like me, or to any other city! You could piggy-back with him, but life is unpredictable. You don't know if it'll work out, no matter how hard you want it to."

Alissa sighed as she stared out the window, "Believe me, I know."

The pine trees they passed by on the highway made her think of her ex-fiance, Marc.

She turned back to face Hannah, "Don't ever let yourself depend on a man to make something of yourself. Only you can make something of yourself. No one else can."

Hannah smiled sadly, "I love your brother, Alissa. I want to spend the rest of my life with him, but I don't want him thinking I'm using him to just get out of Mayfield."

"So don't. Figure out where he's thinking of moving after college, what cities he's job hunting in, and then job hunt there as well! If it's New York, then look for jobs for yourself in New York. Then tell him about it. Say you found this great job in New York and want him to move down there with you. It'll show him you're not using him to leave Mayfield and that you want to have a serious future with him."

Hannah's sad smile grew into a large grin, "Alissa, you're amazing! No wonder you're so good at what you do in Denver! That's exactly what I'm going to do! Even though I only have an associates degree, I still can get a job somewhere. Maybe I'll even go back to school and get my bachelor's. Who knows?"

"That's great!" Alissa laughed, "Oh, won't Zach be surprised!"

~~~

It was about eight in the evening when Alissa finally made it back to her apartment.

She had been debating it during the whole four and a half duration of her flight, but she couldn't wait until tomorrow. She had to speak with Trevor tonight. She tortured him long enough, not communicating with him for three days straight.

She texted Trevor asking him if she could stop by soon because she needed to speak to him. He said it wasn't too late and it was fine. It took her thirty minutes before she unpacked and worked up the courage to taxi over to his place.

When she arrived, her hands were clammy and she felt like she was going to vomit, but she held herself together when Trevor answered the door. He was dressed in black sweat pants and a plain white tee. He looked at her with crinkles around his eyes and his lips turned slightly in a frown.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she responded, then walked passed him into the apartment.

She immediately sat on the couch, waiting for him to follow suit.

"What did you need to tell me?" he asked monotonously.

She could tell he was trying not to show emotion. Probably because he didn't want to scare her off like after their last interaction.

She twirled her thumbs together as she looked at the floor before finally looking into his dark brown eyes. He looked so worried as his left leg began to shake, vibrating the couch.

"I should have been upfront about this from the beginning, and I'm so sorry I wasn't, but I'm not ready for something so serious in my life. So, I don't think we should continue to see each other."

She couldn't tell him the truth. She did it once to Marc, but it wasn't as if Trevor really needed to know. She wasn't even his girlfriend, officially. She owed it to Marc as his fiance at the time, but she didn't to Trevor. She didn't want to hurt him even more than she already had.

Trevor's confused face grew stoic and emotionless. Her stomach plummeted as she stood up. She began to slowly walk backwards towards the door.

"You're going to make a woman very happy one day, but I'm just not that woman. You deserve to be happy, too, Trevor. I'm sorry I can't be the one to do that." Alissa paused as her voice cracked. "You deserve better than me," she whispered as her eyes watered.

She was by the door now as Trevor stood up, "Wait."

He walked over to her and grabbed her small hands in his own large ones.

"Don't say that. You're an amazing woman, Alissa. You're sweet, beautiful, intelligent. You deserve to be happy just as much as I do. I'm sorry too that I can't be the one for you, but I don't want you leaving here tonight thinking you don't deserve to be happy, because you do."

She looked into his eyes that tried to convince her she was wrong. She grimaced. He was too good for her.

"Goodbye, Trevor," she said quietly.

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Goodbye," he said as he opened the door for her.

She left his apartment thinking she had officially ruined her love life forever. She'd never have a meaningful love in her life. She didn't deserve it.

~~~

A/N: I don't know about you, but this chapter is so powerful to me. The women empowerment in the second scene is just like, YEAH! And then the last scene, I was holding back tears as I reread this chapter, guys!

What do you think of Alissa's advice to Hannah?

And what do you think of the break-up scene between Alissa and Trevor?

Only two more chapters left! Eeep!

Please comment and vote! xo