Chapter One: This is my Life

I woke up, adrenaline and an overwhelming sense of fear coursing through my veins. For some reason I woke up like this every now and then. I can’t be really surprised that this is happening. After all, last month I did get mugged and that does put a sense of panic in someone when it happens. You somehow get a panic stricken conflict in your mind while it happens about whether they will just pull the trigger and be done with you. Putting that to the back of my mind I slowly started easing myself up, turning my eyes to the clock in the corner of my room, it said it was about 7AM so I knew I had about an hour until I had to go to work.

I finally stood up fully and stretch my body for a while, making sure I was refreshed for today. After all I’m sure the customers would be pissed if I walked in and bitched at them or if instead of solving problems I created problems at the Tavern. I walked my way over to my dresser, picked out a plain red t-shirt and a set of striped sweat pants and walked into the kitchen. I looked around for something quick to eat since I had about half an hour until I had to go to work. I searched one of the cabinets beside the stove and found a box of smore flavored pop-tarts sitting in the far back. I ripped open the top of the box and took out two packets. I hastily opened the packets and put the pop-tarts in the toaster. I stood there for a few seconds waiting for them to heat up and soon enough they popped up and I greedily wolfed them down in an attempt to speed up the process. It worked marginally, my tongue getting slightly burnt in the process.

The pair of shoes I wanted to wear today were at the bottom of the staircase, being the no laces variety, I easily slipped them on and jogged out the door. I quickly made my way down the stairs of the apartment complex and jogged to the start of the street. I took a left and headed down the street to the highway separating my street from the collection of stores. Cars passed me, some were pretty rad but I knew that I lived too close to my work places and buy a car would be a waste of time. I looked around and waited for the light to turn red. When it did I just walked across and headed right for a block where the Publix Supermarket is located. I walked over to the doors, the electronic ding and sliding doors greeting me as I walked to the back of the store to grab my employee shirt and hat. As uncomfortable as they are, I kind of like this job. Every day I get to meet new people or old ones, we greet each other and ask how both of our days are going. It’s nice to meet nice people for a change.

During my shift I was required to, unfortunately drag a drunk customer out of the store due to him falling down and knocking a whole row of stock down. He barely resisted since he was so drunk he could barely be understood, so it wasn’t too bad for me. After that I rushed to my cash register and proceed on in the day as if nothing happened. But I knew I was probably going to meet him at the bar later, he seemed to be a regular drinker. After my shift was done I placed my employee supplies in a designated locker at the back of the Supermarket. I sprinted home and went about making myself a big supper as I knew I need the energy to bounce at the tavern. Seeing as I had some free time I decided to turn my TV on and watch some satellite shows. The news channel never really has something interesting on it other than murders and the occasional update on the war in Afghanistan. I switch the channel to the cartoon network and watched some Adventure Time since I find the show quite quirky at moments and nostalgic the next.

About an hour later I got up and began to practice for my shift that The Dakota Tavern. I did jabs, crosses, and uppercuts just to make sure my form was perfect and I didn’t mess anything up. I got ready to leave, slipping on a company jacket. I liked solving problems with people as a kid so in the small group of friends that I had I was almost always the mediator. I made sure everyone was on good terms and that everyone wasn’t depressed about anything. It made me a pretty messed up kid, I would hear horrible things come out of people’s mouths about how their dad drank too much and beat them or their mom was never home to take care of them and they had to work to feed themselves. That made me start to think about my unsuccessful love life. How I would be stuttery and shy around girls or if I do become friends with them then I stay at that stage with them. I shook these ideas out of my head and ran out the door. I walked down the stairs again and headed right to go on my way to the downtown district of the city.

I realized how long this was going to take to reach the tavern. I reached the main highway again and reached the other side safely. I then looked at the massive influx of people coming at me and swiftly weaved my way through the crowd. I heard a few complaints but ignored them as I ran through the streets. The years of running and bouncing had made my stamina high although I didn’t exactly look like the most fit individual, in fact most would call me fat. My breathing started to quicken as I looked ahead, the clear indication of the bar highlighted by the luminous red neon sign sticking out of the exterior of the building. I got closer and slowed my sprint to a walk so I could catch my breath before entering.

When I started breathing normally I walked in and sat at a table. A waitress came up to me, a look of disappointment on her face. “You’re late again Tyler and I’m guessing the boss will be on your hide for this.”

I groaned and slammed my head against the table. “I know that Lisa, just let me get ready to talk to him and I’ll be fine.” She nodded and left so I could collect myself, but what could I say so I don’t get in trouble? I mean I sprinted here and even then I couldn’t make it. As much as I like this job having only 5 hours of sleep is hurting me. But I knew I had to go see him so I just stood up and walked to his office. I reached for the handle and risk fully turned it to open the door, there was an audible creeping as it opened but really it doesn’t matter, I knew either way I was fucked.

I saw the glare he sent me immediately when I looked in the office. “What happened this time Tyler? Did you get lost while coming here? Or maybe you slept in? It doesn’t matter really, just get out of my office and do your fucking job.” I lowered my head in shame and excused myself from his presence. I sat in a corner at the tavern and watched the patrons drink and have fun, I was envious of them in a way. They probably either are friends with the people they are sitting beside or they just don’t care who they talk to. The second one is the more probable choice though. After my second look around I noticed a beautiful young woman sitting on the middle stool of the main counter, talking to the bartender. Her hair was brunette, smooth, and reached down to her chest. Her dress an elegant charcoal, it definitely showed off her figure and a little bit of cleavage. I then turned my attention to her arms, she wore elbow high gloves and they had holes in them exposing her peachy skin. Her eyes switched over to me and she beckoned me to come forth and talk to her.

After a minute, I did as she asked, making my way through the drunks and to the stool to her left. She looked down at her bottle of Bud Light lime beer and took a sip. She smiled softly at me and turned her head to look at me, her hair swaying with every motion. “Hi, my name is Chrissy, darling. What’s yours?” I sat there for a few seconds until the question register with me.

I snapped myself out of the trance and coughed to regain my voice. “My name is Tyler, so what are you doing here anyways?”

She looked at me wistfully. “Oh I’m just washing down some regrets, like everyone here.” Her eyes ran down my jacket. “I’m guessing you work here?”

I chuckled and rubbed my hand against the back of my head. “Ya, the jacket is a dead giveaway. I’m the bouncer and it’s a pretty awesome job. Doesn’t pay much so I have two jobs.”

She moved her finger around the rim of the bottle. “I’m a secretary, it gets good pay, but a lady can get only so many slaps on her ass before its sore.” She laughed for quietly until it petered out into a pitiful whimper. She turned her head and looked me in the eye with the same small smile.
“Tyler do you believe in destiny and fate?”

I looked at the bartender. “Hey Jerry, mind getting another beer for the lady and a Ginger Ale for myself?” He simply nodded and handed me the ginger ale and beer. I handed her the beer and popped open my can of Ale. My eyes looked at the fizzling can. “I’m not really supposed to drink anything alcoholic during shift, but anyways... I… I believe that things happen for a reason; that people do the things they do because it’s their destiny. Although I didn’t exactly get what I wanted for my life, I am at least healthy and I do have a home. So I can’t complain about it. Does this answer your question Chrissy, or should I go into further detail?”

She opened her beer and took a swig, licking her lips slowly as she enjoyed the taste. “You could tell me more about yourself I guess… you seem like an interesting person to me, Tyler.”

I lifted my eyes to look at her sympathetic face. “Yea, you could say I have an ‘interesting’ life, but not much happened to me. My father was a total asshole to me, said I would never achieve anything without him. My mother was a heavy gambler, so we barely had any food around the house; left me to work and take care of everyone. I’ve had my experiences with bullies and girls, but other than that my life was normal, after all it could've been worse.”

She slid her hands on the counter as if trying to create music with her fingers. “I believe it could have been destiny or fate, but let’s get off of this severely depressing topic, shall we?”

I nodded and put my hand on my chin in thought. “What do you suggest?” I saw her twitch slightly and before she could answer, she grabbed her beer and started getting up. I started getting concerned about her. “What’s wrong?” I went up to touch her shoulder, but she pushed my hand away.

“It’s nothing darling, I just remembered I have things to take care of at my home!” I was about to put out a rebuttal, but she quickly walked out of the bar and left me standing there.

I took another sip of my ginger ale and slouched as I sat down. “Well, that was quick.” I shivered as the temperature in the room got slightly cooler.

I finished work and went back home, once home I just took off my clothes, put them in my laundry hamper and crashed on the bed. I was out in about a minute due to exhaustion.

I looked around the tavern and made sure things where relatively peaceful before paying attention to my drink. It had been a week and I had yet to see a sign of Chrissy whatsoever. That thought was immediately put to bed when I felt something warm leaning on my side. Looking over to my right, I nearly gasped when it turned out to be Chrissy sitting beside me. She looked at me with a smile painted on her face.
“I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long, but things got busy and I had to take care of it.” Her hands moved a bit and she seemed very nervous about being late.

I took a sip and a smile tugged at my lips. “It’s fine, I was concerned after our first meeting. I actually thought I upset you or something, but I’m glad that’s not the case. So how have you been?”

She relaxed and spun her stool to face me a bit better, calling a waitress over with a wave of her hand. She ordered the same drink as she did before and sighed as she melted into the cushions of the bench. “I enjoyed our first talk so do forgive me for suddenly rushing out like I did last week.” She said with a smile, tucking back a strand of her luscious hair. “I’m doing okay, but you know how it is, sometimes you need to rest so Friday is my free day. That’s why I decided to come here and chat with you again.”

I chuckled and drank down more of my root beer. “I’m on duty here every day except Saturday and Sunday so I barely have any free time on the weekdays.” She nodded in agreement. “I never got the chance to ask you this before, but what are your interests?”

“I don’t have very many; though I’m interested in the aspects of love, people in general, and forms of mimicry. I found myself getting more enthralled with the internet and video games recently since I first found enjoyment in it.” I found my interest peaked by her words, as she shared some of my favorite past times.

I shook my head and looked at her. “Yea, I’m sort of into the same things as you. I’ve always loved figuring out people and my old friends would’ve definitely told you that I’m kind of a hopeless romantic.” She giggled at that and I shyly chuckled back. “So will I be seeing more of you or are you going to just forget about me and move on?”

She stopped laughing and looked at me very sternly. “Why would I do that? You’re are a nice guy to hang around with and plus despite you being a little chubby, you’re a pretty cute looking guy. I wouldn’t worry about the weight though because I bet you could lose the weight easy if you put a bit more effort into it.”

I sat there stunned a bit, my face turned a faint tint of rose as all of what she said was going through my head. Guiltily I bit my lip. “Um... Thanks for that. I’m not usually called cute by any girls, in fact… I was mostly used for venting by my friends. So my thought was that you just wanted to vent all your troubles away by talking to me and just like my old friends, when you had nothing else to vent you… you would just slowly talking to me...sorry…” I looked down at root beer, feeling terrible for jumping to conclusions.

She grasped my hand away from the root beer, causing me to look at her, surprise on my face. “Well I don’t plan on leaving you anytime soon. I need a friend right now more than anything and you seem to be a good candidate. So what else do you do other than just bouncing at this tavern or is that all?”

My hand felt warm under hers and I took a sip of my root beer with my other hand. “Well I work at the local Publix Supermarket, as a Register Attendant and a general helper of the store. It lets me meet new people and it fills my schedule so I enjoy it as much as this job.”

“It’s great that you enjoy what you do, most people would say they hate a life like this. In fact I plan to be a singer in my later years because I have a beautiful voice.” She smiled sheepishly at my surprised expression. “Or so I’ve been told.” She nervously chuckled and I slow let go of her hand. She blushed as she noticed me doing so. “Oh, was I making uncomfortable? I’m sorry if I did. I just like physical contact is all and your hand felt so comforting.”

I blushed brightly and stuttered a bit. “Um, if it makes you more comfortable then you can do it. I just thought that you were automatically feeling uncomfortable with the situation. Most girls don’t do this to friends.”

She tilted her head questioningly at my answer. “Why so? Can’t one friend enjoy another friend’s contact? I see that as just silly and I bet you're probably itching for actual physical contact from a female.” She slid her hand back over mine and smiled warmly at me. “You know I’m going to be here for ya. I’ve been through some shit as well.”

“Shake on it?”

She laughed a great bit before calming down. “Sure Tyler, sure.” We shook hands and she finished her beer. “Well it was nice talking to you, but I got to go. People to talk to and places to see. Can I meet you next Friday?”

“Sure thing. I need some excitement in here.” She giggled and stood up. She waved as walked off and I watched her exit the room.

“You like her huh?” I jumped in surprise and glared up at Lisa.

“Why is it any of your business Lisa? As far as I recall,
you don’t like me so much and only talk to me when you have to.”

She grunted in agreement. “You’re right about that, but it doesn’t answer the question”

I sat there a blank expression coming over me as I stared at the open bench ahead of me. “I like her Lisa, and she likes me. If it gets more serious than friends I would be grateful, but I don’t see that happening.” I looked over at Lisa. “I’m not good enough for her.”

She sat down beside me and patted me on the back. “Kid, this is cheesy, but love doesn’t care about who you are. If you got it, you got it, and from what I saw you both got it pretty bad. There’s a lot of hope out there for all who need. Like you said “destiny will guide you into the correct fate” She got up and left me with my thoughts, but is that something I want?

I met up with Chrysalis once every week and this was the fourth week since we first met. I guess I felt special to have a friend for this long and right now I wanted to see if she would have coffee with me. If she says yes then that would be great, but I can see the answer no coming up as well. I felt a warm body hug me from the side and smiled at her. “Hey Chrissy, so how have you been?”

She settled back down and orders the same beer she always orders. “Not much, you know just the usually, but anyways, you seemed like you wanted to ask me something so spit it out please so we can get onto our normal conversations.”

I cleared my throat. “Well Chrissy… uh… would you like to go out to the Molisana Cafe with me?”

She looked at me quite nervously before settling down and laughing at me. “Sure I would, but gosh you don’t have to be so nervous about it after all it’s just me and you having coffee. It’s not like we are going out on a date or something.” I sagged in relief. “Although if you were to ask me to go on a date with you, I would probably accept. Take chances my good sir or you will never be able to succeed in the romance department.” My face felt hotter and she laughed at my reaction.

“Thanks, I just never asked this of a...girl before and I honestly didn’t know what to expect.” I looked at the bottles in front of her and she was on her seventh one. She’s definitely drunk by now.

“Well… if you never got that far…*hic* I wouldn’t suspect you have had...” A sly grin crossed her face. “You’re a virgin, aren’t you?”

I felt the heat in my face go up tremendously. “Well.... I am, I mean look at me and I told you I’m not good with girls so what would you suspect of me?”

She put her arm around me and pulled me in close enough that she had her mouth up to my ear. “You know I could always take care of that.” She licked my ear and I made a not so manly sound followed by me shuffling myself away from her. She of course was laughing hysterically at my reaction to all this. She wiped a tear out of her eye and unsteadily got up. “Well this has been fun and all but I gotta head out before I get too drunk. So I’ll meet you here tomorrow around twelve, Tyler.” She says before stumbling through the crowd and back outside.

I stood and adjusted my jacket. “Well that went better than I predicted.” I waited until my shift was over and left, knowing that I had done what I thought would be impossible for me to do.

Author's Note

This is totally different, eh But anyways, this is for the fans who said things have been moving to fast. I will try to continue the story in the other version as well so you can all cool your shit. Also Silver Fang, you didn't see this all so I recommend you read through it. Again hope you like this new material and see ya later.

HenryAnthonyCourtler is my editor give him props for this as he gave me the idea to remake.