When He Found Me

Chapter 1:

"Oh my god girl, you look horrible!" My mom tends to have a way with words. "Well I was just broken up with mom. For the second time." My ex, Jake, has done this before. At first, he thought he wanted me, then he didn't. Then he realized his mistake, and I took him back. Then he didn't want me anymore. I guess I'm just, not enough. I never am.

"Well we have to get ready for my company party. You're still coming with me right?" I almost forgot about that stupid party her company throws every other month for moral support. Last year was horrible. Right before my mom and dad divorced, they had a whole argument right in the middle of the party. It was so embarrassing. "Is dad going to try to come?"

"Of course not sweetie. He's banned from company grounds for how he treated me last year." Good. I was hoping he wasn't coming. "I'll go mom. I'll get ready now." "Okay hurry! We have to leave in 15 minutes!"

After a life lesson filled drive over to my mom's job, we made our way up to the 5th floor party festivities. The same people who were here a few months ago are at this party too. Same stuff, different day. Ding, ding! My phone is going off. I check it to see some messages, from who other than my ex. Why the hell didn't I block his number?

Ex: I'm so sorry. I need to tell you the truth. I didn't just break up with you cause I wasn't ready for you. I broke up with you because Cassie was better-

"CASSIE?!" I look up to see everyone looking at my direction. I smile and take my leave to a spare conference room. Wow. Embarrassing. I really just yelled in the middle of a company party. Smooth. I decide to keep reading his texts.

Ex: I know I told you to not worry about her, but the truth is that we have been seeing each other, and she suits me better than you do. She even has sex better. I don't know how to put it, but she makes me ready. I am sorry for pulling you through this-

I stop reading, there is no point in continuing. I feel the tears streaming down my face. Only then do I realize that I am crying. My mom comes into the room and hugs me tightly. "You okay honey? Who's Cassie?" "I'm okay mom. She's my ex roommate from Fullerton." "Wait, Cassie from college Cassie? Who stole all your stuff and dropped off the face of the Earth? Please don't tell me-" "Mom, don't. Go enjoy the party. I'll be out soon okay." " Are you sure honey?" "Yes mom. Go ahead. Enjoy the party" " Okay baby, but we will talk when we get home okay?" "Sure mom." I am not talking when we get home.

I was writing him a long text back when I realized, why am I even texting him? He clearly doesn't care. He's not even going to read what I send. I erase every word I typed out for this grade A asshole and blocked his number. He really left me for the woman whole stole everything I owned in college and sold it for drugs. They are both just sad and I am not going to give them anymore of my energy. Just as I decided to walk out of this conference room and go back to the party, someone walked in. He looked panicked.

"Umm, hi?" He didn't say anything. "Hello?" Again, nothing. "Okay, I guess I'll just-" "Hi." "Oh so he speaks." "I'm sorry, I just- I'm hiding from someone." Well this just got weirder. "Who are you hiding from? And why?" "If you must know I'm hiding from my dad. He thinks the boss of this company will hire me as an intern. I do not want to work with my dad" I can understand that. Working with my mom would not be fun. "I get you. You can just chill in here if you want. I was just leaving." He finally turns around and looks at me. "Hey didn't you just yell out there a little while ago?" "Uh, yea. That was me unfortunately." "Do you want to talk about it." "No not really." "Should we just, go have some fun then?" "Fun? What kind of fun?" "The kind of fun that involves going to Dave and Busters." I look into his eyes for the first time. He seems genuine, and not like a serial killer. "You know what, let's do it." He smiles at me and goes on his phone. I assume he's ordering an uber or lyft. Side note, he has a very cute smile. "Okay, uber will be here in like 2 min," "That fast?" "I guess he was in the area. Come on let's go quick."

We peek out the conference room and I start to realize that we are grown. "Dude, why are we doing this? We are both clearly over the age of 18. We can just leave." "Oh, so you wanna get stopped by your parent and get asked all the questions of why are you leaving, where are you going, who-" "Okay, okay. They're all busy. Let's just speed walk against the wall." We start to leave out the door and walk against the wall. Everyone is a little tipsy, so no one notices us leave and go to the elevators. "So uhh, what's your name?" " I'm Saharra. Like the desert but with 2 r's." "That's cool. I'm Tae. Nice to meet you Saharra." "Nice to meet you Tae." We shake hands and this time we lock eyes. His smile really is cute. The elevator dings and we walk out to the first floor. I hear the other elevator ding just as we make it to the door. "Tae!?" "Saharra?!" We turn and we can see our parents coming out the elevator. We look at each other and run out the door to the uber. Just as we get in we can see our parents making it to the door. "They'll be fine. We can't get in too much trouble when we get home right?" I smile and start to laugh. This is the best I've felt in the past week.

We make it to dave and busters and decide to eat something and get some drinks. I guess he must have not eaten all day too because we both ate in silence. "So, Saharra. How old are you exactly?" "I'm 23. You?" "I'm 25. You have a boyfriend?" I look him in the eyes and almost started crying. I blink away the pain and smiled. "Nope. Completely single and lonely. Forever and always." He seemed to give a sad smile. "Yea. I'm single too. Not on my own accord though" "What do you mean?" He looked at me as if the thought of telling this story would hurt him. So I change the subject. "You know what, I'm full, and a little tipsy. What game do you want to play first?" He started to give me a happy smile. "Ever play dance, dance revolution?"

"Oh my god girl! You making me sweat over here!" I am obviously beating Tae by a few hundred thousand points. "You sure you play this game Tae? You seem to be having some issues." He tries to push me as the end of the song comes up. I laugh and grab the bar behind me so I don't mess up my perfect streak. "No! You really beat me 5 times in a row!" "I guess now would be the best time to tell you that I won a state championship in this game." "You're joking." I show him a picture from some years ago of me winning 1st place in the DDR competition our state held. "Damn girl. I never knew you were that good." I laugh as we go to find another game to play. "Okay little ballerina. How about we play a shooter game. Wanna shoot some zombies with me?" "Sure, only if we can place a bet." "What kind of bet?" "The kind of bet that says if you shoot more zombies than me, you get a wish I have to grant. But if I shoot more zombies, you have to grant my wish." "Okay miss desert storm. You're on."

"Oh my god, Tae. Did you really have to shoot so many?" I should've known he would win. "Of course I did baby girl." "Okay, what's your wish?" "I'll cash that in later. Let's go play some more games." We played games all night. We got so many tickets we didn't even know what to get with them. "Why don't we just save them for next time Tae?" "Next time?" "Yea. We can get more tickets and get something more expensive." He looked at me surprised a little bit. "Yea okay." We left and got some ice cream from a local ice cream truck. We started walking in a nearby park. Even though we were enjoying the silence, I could tell we both didn't want to go home. I decided to break the silence and just tell him what happened. "My boyfriend left me for my ex roommate in college. And my ex roommate in college stole all my stuff and sold it for drugs." He looked down at me, shocked. I look up at him, saddened. "That's who Cassie is. I didn't know he left me for her. He told me he wasn't ready for a relationship. But then he texted me while at the party, and it kind of caught me off guard." He took a deep breath as we stopped at the fence surrounding the lake. "My dad made me break up with my girlfriend. She wasn't good for me. She was stealing my money, my time, my energy, but I still loved her. I wanted to marry her. I thought I could change her. My dad could see the things I wouldn't allow myself to see. I know it was for the better, but I still hurt you know." I looked at him with tears in my eyes. We stayed silent for a second. Who could do that to him? He seems so sweet. I'm sure he's thinking the same about my situation. He sighs and checks his phone. My phone starts to ring. It's mom. "Hey mom" " Saharra, honey where are you? I've been texting and calling all night." "I know mom. I'm okay." "And you're with my co worker's son, we called for you guys before y'all just left out the building-" "Mom. We are both okay. We just wanted to get out for a while. I'll be home soon okay?" "You're grown Saharra. I don't wanna seem like I'm in the way, I just worry sometimes." "I know mom. You're not in the way. I love you. I'll be home soon." "Okay honey. I love you too."

"Is your mom mad?" "No. Just worried. What about your dad?" "He's upset, but he'll get over it soon." I take a deep breath and sigh. "I guess we should get home before they get too worried." He orders another uber and I put in my address. We took the uber all the way to my house in silence. I think our hearts were just too tired to do anything else. He walked out with me. "Oh, Tae. Your wish. What did you want me to grant for you?" He smiled softly and grabbed my hand. "Are you sure I can wish for anything?" "Within reason, yes" "Well, can I wish for a kiss?" I swallowed as my eyes got wide. He wanted a kiss? From me? "You want, a kiss?" He looked down at lips then back at my eyes. "Yes. Is that a wish I can make?" I thought about it for a second. I honestly didn't know what to say. Why did he want to kiss me anyways? "Why do you want to kiss me?" "Because I do." What do I even say to this? Well, what can go wrong. Might as well do it since we're breaking rules tonight anyways. "Yes. That is a wish you can make." He smiled and leaned down til we were face to face. His lips brushed over mine and I closed my eyes. I could feel his lips smile against mine. "Why don't I save this wish for next time." What? Did he really do this to me? He backed away from me as I took a deep breath and opened my eyes.

"Did you really just do that to me?" "I did." He smiled at me and I sneered at him. "Fine. Next time then. If that's what you really want-" He kissed me. Before I could finish my sentence, he kissed me. His lips felt so warm against time. I put my arms around his neck as I deepened the kiss. He started to kiss me with his tongue and I let him. It felt so passionate, so strong. I could still taste the ice cream that he had earlier. He broke away first and I tried to catch my breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have wished for a kiss" "No. No its okay. I said yes remember?" He looked down and let me go. "We are both hurting right now. I'm sorry I wasn't trying to take advantage I just-" I put my hand over his mouth. "Give me your phone Tae." He gave me his phone and I put my number in it. "Just so you know, that was the best kiss I ever had." He smiled as I walked away and into the house. Mom was already sleep so I just went up to my room. I watched him get in the uber from my window, smiling. All of a sudden I hear my phone go off.

Unknown: Just so you know, that was the best kiss of my life too.

I smiled at my phone and saved his number. I went to sleep for the first time in a week. Maybe things can finally start looking up for me.