Chapter 10 - You're here, it's good now (1)

And I'm bleeding in love,

you're swimming in my veins

You got me now

Been breaking for a lifetime for you

Wasn't lookin' for love 'til I found you

— Liam Payne, Rita Ora, For You

A U T U M N

My first thought was going to the bar across the street but I stopped myself, knowing that would be the first place he went, considering we both went there on the first day we arrived here in New York and established the bar as one of the places for us to drink. I heard faint footsteps, which were probably belonged to Tyler, so I quickly put my coat on and walked faster.

New York was truly the city that lived twenty-four seven. Even past midnight, there were still people partying and walking down the street. I jumped into the middle of the crowd and followed them closely.

I knew it was stupid to run from Tyler but his words really hurt me. I had no idea what the hell just happened. He was the one who lied, he was the one who went to see his ex-girlfriend behind my back, yet I was the one attacked. Not only that, but he also brought up things from the past. Things that I'd like to store in the back of my mind.

He dragged them all back to the front and made me feel horrible about my past. He made me feel awful about myself and it was the worst feeling. I hated my past, I hated what I've done but I didn't want to be judged for the rest of my life by my mistakes. Nobody's perfect.

I knew how much he hated what he has done too and that was why I never brought up his past in the conversation. I just wished he would've done the same thing.

My mind has kept me busy that I didn't realize I've ended up in a totally different zip code. I looked around to see the sign on the street and noticed that I was a few blocks away from the building where Ty and I lived.

There was a McDonald's in the corner of the street which was still open at this hour. I wasn't really hungry but I figured that some French fries wouldn't hurt so I walked across the street, careful to look around before crossing the road, and headed towards the yellow and red fast food restaurant.

I pushed the heavy glass door open and moved to the counter. Only two counters were open, instead of four, and I queued behind a blonde woman who looked like she just got out of a party. Her lipstick was smeared down to her chin and I caught a strong smell of alcohol from her.

I pretended to look at my shoes while subtly took a step back. Alcohol mixed with perfume didn't smell so good. I honestly had no clue that people would have a party on Monday. I mean, it was the first day of the week, even hours felt longer on Monday.

The people on the front moved to the right to get their orders and our line moved forward. A tall Indian guy was getting his orders taken, behind him was the blonde woman. I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and hoped that I carried enough cash.

Since my credit card days, I had a bad habit of not carrying too much cash around. I knew I could pay by card but it just felt wrong to pay one dollar seventy cents using cards. Plus, I didn't think they'd allow card transactions below ten bucks. The previous guy finally got his order so the Indian guy moved to get his while the blonde woman in front of me got her orders taken. I took a five dollars note and stepped forward.

"Temptress?"

There was only one person on the planet who would call me that. I looked up and saw him carrying two McD paper bags in one hand while the other hand shoved into the pocket of his sweatpants. I frowned. This was the first time I saw him wearing something that didn't come from the GQ catalog. I moved my gaze from the white running shoes he was wearing to the dark blue sweatpants hanging low on his hips, up to the white sleeveless shirt beneath the thin black jacket, and all the way to a pair of hot charcoal dark grey eyes. A faint of redness appeared on the apple of his cheeks.