Taken and Misused.

My eyes opened to the bright sun shining into my windows. It glowed orange through the aged lace curtains circling my bed. I guess I was too tired to have any nightmares about being in a huge empty house, I was thankful for that because now I was well rested and slightly excited for what today would bring. First I reached over to my night stand and picked up the phone that was there and dialed my parents house phone, I got the answering machine and assured them I was safe and sound.

I left the warmth of my bed and went to brush my teeth and wash my face, my thoughts drifting to Vaughn and a frown creasing my lips. I splashed some more water on my face and dried it off, I wasn’t going to let that jerk ruin my day. I was determined to make something good out of this whole situation; I didn’t want to sulk around all of the time.

I dressed in something comfortable and tied my hair back into a neat bun on the nape of my neck, a few pieces escaping it and falling into my face, I tucked them away behind my ear.

Cooking was not on my agenda for this morning and I decided to test my navigational skills and try to find a coffee shop around here. I went back to the lobby and found the same smiling lady standing behind the front desk.

“Do you know where the nearest coffee shop is?” I asked after she asked if I needed any help with that same cheerful voice. I found her awfully cheery for someone at 9 o’clock in the morning. I wasn’t much of a morning person really.

“There’s one just one block that way” she said, pointing north. “Down Melbourne avenue, it’s called the Coffee Bean, would you like me to get you a car to take you there?” she asked, obviously my step-mother had spoken to her about the arrangements that had to be made for me.

“No, I can walk, thank you” I said politely, no need to get cranky at her when she was just my step-mom’s minion in a way. She nodded and I made my way out onto Melbourne Avenue.

I noticed that every one walking by me seemed to be talking on their cell phone, texting on it, or cursing at it. No one looked up or said excuse me when they bumped into me, it was like there was a flow of traffic on the sidewalk and I did my best to stay in it. When I finally broke free of it I breathed a heavy sigh. I had to have said “excuse me” about fifty times only to be looked at oddly. Like manners were some crazy concept here. I looked up and saw the end of Melbourne coming up and assumed the coffee shop was near.

As I went to cross the street a familiar black mustang pulled in front of me and Vaughn looked at me with a dumbstruck look on his face from the driver’s window, like he was surprised he had found me.

“What do you want?” I asked, my French accent pulling through hard now that I was angry.

How dare he ruin my morning, I had had it all planned out, coffee, dance, and more sleeping. Maybe not a so much eventful plan but I liked it.

“That woman at your apartment building said you’d be going to the Coffee Bean so I came to find you and, well, apologize” he said, grinning like he knew I'd forgive him.

I scoffed and continued walking, I heard the rumble of the mustang’s engine following me. “And you think I’m just going to accept your apology and go on?” I questioned, not looking at him.

“Well that’s what I was hoping for” he said, doubt obvious in his voice as he frowned at me.

“Well too bad, you made a rash assumption and I’m not going to just forgive you so you can quit following me” I said, flashing him a glare with my last words.

“I can’t do that” he said, a grin on his lips.

“And why not?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“I can’t stop following you until you forgive me” he answered, keeping up with my brisk pace easily. "My karma wouldn't be able to take it" he added in a dramatic tone.

“Well, you’re going to run out of gas sooner or later” I muttered, but he caught it. A sharp honk sounded from behind him, followed by another. A line up had formed behind Vaughn during our conversation. “Can you just go?” I asked, embarrassed because I was the reason he wouldn’t leave.

“Nope, you’re just going to have to bear witness of some bad road rage soon, I don’t think they’re going to put up with this much longer” Vaughn said, his cocky attitude back now that he had this argument going for him.

A long honk made his grin wider I noticed and a few curse words from the car behind him just made him chuckle. He had to be the most annoying person I had ever met.

“Alright, I forgive you Vaughn” I said, but he shook his head.

“I don’t believe you”

“Would you just go!”

“Nope”

“You are being so immature Vaughn”

“If you just sincerely forgave me I’d stop”

“I sincerely forgive you for your rash, judgmental, and mean comment about me last night” I rushed, adding on the extra adjectives to vent my annoyance with him at this moment.

“Thank you” he said, then he sped up for a moment and slipped into a parking spot on the side of the street and got out. The people he had been holding up all yelled very colorful curse words at him but he just ignored them.

“I forgave you, now what do you want?” I asked, as he walked up to me.

“I want to buy you coffee to apologize for what I just put you through” he said, his grin getting wider.

“What are you going to apologize for next?” I muttered as I continued walking down the street.

“I’ll think of something” he said, either oblivious to my annoyance or just ignoring it.