A New Girl in Town

“Wake up, beautiful.” A soft whisper came into her ears and slowly she opened her eyes to find Halvo smiled sweetly at her. She quickly sat upright and rubbed her eyes, yawning. Halvo could just chuckled at her before ruffling her hair gently. “My friends and I are gonna wait in the dining room, kay? Just be beautiful as always.”

A single moment after the ‘click’ had been heard from the doorknob, she got up and took a look of herself in the mirror. “I gotta take a shower.” She said to herself, sighing.

A little bit of makeup on her face, a pair of shorts, and a polo shirt were enough to make her look gorgeous once she got out of the bathroom. Just with pulling up her hair into a pony tail, she looked more perfect. With that, she went downstairs towards the dining room, just like where her cousin asked her to.

Just as Halvo clapped his hands, all the boys’ eyes turned to the beautiful girl at the doorway of the dining room. “Guys, this is Julie. She’s my cousin from Dallas.”

“Hey guys!” She greeted them as friendly as she could. Some of them just gave her smiles while the other were more friendly, such as getting to know her well. She took a seat in-between a friendly long-haired guy who introduced himself as Pat and a guy who named himself Kennedy.

“Just ask me if you need anything,” Kennedy said and smiled as they all were done with their breakfast.

Julie just nodded her head and smiled back but suddenly the Garrett boy interrupted after throwing the dishes to the sink. “Don’t you ever believe in him. Just ask me, kay?” He winked and Kennedy sent him a ‘what-the-fuck’ glare, he could just chuckle afterwards. “You already have Molly as your girl, jerk.”

“So what the hell’s matter? She’s just ex, silly.” Kennedy rolled his eyes.

Julie could just laugh at them and get up from her seat, putting her hands up. “None of my business, I’m out now.”

As she walked towards the lounge and passed John who sat at the head of the dining table, she could see him smile from the corner of her eye. But when she turned to him, his facial expressions changed immediately. Didn’t know why, she just felt weird about him. It seemed like he avoided her or something, even he didn’t even respond when she greeted this morning or when she thanked and apologized last night.

What the hell happened? Did I do something wrong? She asked herself inwardly as she got into the lounge, but trying not to pay more attention to him and be just fine, letting it slide as if there was nothing happened at all.

The only thing that snapped her out of her thoughts was when someone threw his arm around her. When she turned around, she could just smile at the guy who sat next to her to hide her curiosity about the mysterious boy. “Oh hey, Halvo.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Um.. nothing at all, I’m just-..”

“Okay..” Halvo cut her off before turning around to look at the boys, then looked back at her. “They all are going home, are you interest in hanging around?”

“Maybe not for now. Maybe tonight or tomorrow. You know I’m still tired because of flying for hours.”

“I know.” He got up, sighing but bending down to give her a peck on her forehead. “Just stay here, kay? I’ll be back in two hours.”

Just as the front door slammed shut and she was being all alone, she regretted how she denied Halvo’s offers. They all would have fun while the loneliness would kill her slowly. The cars had been gone. She didn’t even have phone numbers to call when she needed something then. She was.. too silly?

She just remained silent. A few times she changed the TV channels. A few times she turned the pages of a novel. A few times she tried to close her eyes to take a nap but.. failed. She then looked at the clock. Five hours passed by, but Halvo hadn’t been back yet. Who wouldn’t be annoyed?

Okay.. Waiting wasn’t her thing, so she immediately put her sneakers on and walked out of the house. She kept walking to wherever her feet brought her to. She just enjoyed the fresh air and the warmness of Tempe until she realized that she didn’t know the way back home.

All of a sudden, her stomach growled, making her glance at her wristwatch. It showed 5 pm already. She started panicking. Well, who was kidding? It was almost dark and she was being all alone out of home, in the town she didn’t know well. She then walked back home and was confused about where she would turn, whether it’d be left or right until she heard footsteps behind her and suddenly a hand grabbed her wrist.

“This way.” A husky voice of the guy made Julie look up and stop her steps. She was kinda shock to see the guy who stood in front of her now. As he realized what she was doing, he turned back. “What’s wrong?”

“What are you doing here, John?” She kept looking at him in disbelief.

“I’m taking you back home.” He simply said before he continued walking, keep holding Julie’s wrist. “C’mon.”

“Wait.. Did you just stalk me?”

With that question, John stopped his steps and turned back to look at her. He just sighed and furrowed his eyebrows together. Without answering the question, he continued walking, leaving her behind. Was there something wrong?