Stella

The worst thing about being twenty-six years old and only have lived in the same two cities your entire life is you have nowhere to go when you have people to avoid in both of those cities. I wanted to go back to Manhattan but Liam and the rest of the Fitzgerald’s lived there, I would stay in Huntington Beach – it was the most beautiful place out of the two – but I don’t think I could put up with my parents long enough to even find a house. Plus, I don’t know what would happen if I ran into Zack.

I decide to stay in Anaheim, it’s far enough from Huntington Beach but it was close enough that I could get some sleep before I fell asleep at the wheel. The bellhop at the Ayres Hotel gives me an odd look when he opens my trunk and notices all my bags.

“Just this one,” I tell him, pointing to the smallest one.

He follows me into the hotel while the valet takes my car. I approach the front desk and the woman greets me immediately. “Hello and welcome to the Ayres Hotel! Did you make a reservation for your visit today?”

I shake my head. “No, I just need to book a single room…just for one night, probably.”
The woman smiles. “Okay, thank you so much for booking with us! I just need to see a form of identification and the credit card you’d like on file, please.”

“Oh, I actually don’t have a credit card on me,” I tell her which is a lie. I had my credit card that was linked to Liam’s bank account, but I didn’t want to use it. If I did, Liam would know exactly where to find me.

The woman frowns slightly. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but we only accept credit cards as a form of payment.”

“I have cash,” I tell her, pulling out my wallet. It wasn’t much but it was enough to get me a room.

“Ma’am…” The woman starts.

I open my mouth to reply and probably even beg a little, but instead, I'm interrupted by a man in a suit walking up behind the woman. “Is everything okay over here?”

The woman mumbles something to her manager as I rub my temples. It’s not even noon yet and I’ve already flown across the country, dealt with my uptight, cold parents and now I'm being rejected from the only thing I want because my payment method is cash instead of plastic. When I open my eyes, the manager is sending the female worker away and he’s giving me what I'm sure is his most apologetic smile.

“Ma’am, I understand your frustration. Unfortunately, it is our policy to only accept major credit cards. If you’d like, I’d be more than happy to give you some names to some hotels in the area that take cash as payment Ms. –”

“Saint-Clair,” I tell him. I hated using the name card, but I was so tired I thought I was going to fall asleep standing up.

The manager’s demeanor completely changed, and his apologetic smile turned into a nervous one. “Oh! I’m so sorry, Ms. Saint-Clair. Of course, we would love to have you stay with us.”

Within the next couple of minutes, I’m in the elevator with the bellhop who is still holding my bag. He leads me to my room and insists on opening the door for me.

“Can I get you anything, Ms. Saint-Clair?” He asks me.

I shake my head and hand him a tip. “No, thank you.”

“Have a great day, madam,” he slightly inclines his head before heading out of the room.
I immediately pull the blinds and curtains closed and slip out of my heels and dress before crawling into bed and I’m pulled into my dreams before my head even hits the pillow.

---

There’s a strange ringing that wakes me up. I wipe the drool from my cheek and it takes me a minute to remember where I am. The ringing continues, and I realize it’s my cell phone. I groan before rolling out of bed and searching for it. Before I can find it, the ringing stops and I'm tempted to ignore it and go back to bed but before I can even turn, it rings again.

My hand finds it in my purse and I pull it out glancing at the name on the screen before answering it. “Hello?”

“Jesus, Stella. It’s about time you answer.”

I fall back onto the bed and close my eyes. “I’ve been sleeping. I’ve had a rough couple of days.”

“Yeah, I know. Liam called me and told me you took off in the middle of the night. Did he hit you again? Why didn’t you call me?” My best friend asks me.

Vivian and I met somewhere in between Physics and Social Etiquette 101 during my first week in New York. She was the only other person in that place that I felt any type of connection to and that was partly due to the fact we were so similar. Like me, she also felt out of place at family functions and was sent to my grandmother’s school to be whipped into shape.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “He passed out and I…I just knew I had to get out of there.”

Vivian sighs on the other line. “He knows you’re in California with your parents. He’s talking about taking his fathers plane to fetch you if you’re not back by the end of the day.”

I groan. Of course, he was. “Can, you just…stall him? Please? I’ve finally got some money to call my own. I’m going to go to the bank after this and get a bank account and then I’m going to disappear for a little while.”

“Are you sure this is how you want to handle this, Stel?” Vivian asks me.

“I don’t know what else to do. Liam just isn’t the guy he was when I first met him. I mean, you know I love him, but he just hasn’t given me much choice. He won’t stop and if I still love him, I’m going to keep forgiving him. I just need some space to clear my head.” I tell her.

“I understand,” she’s quiet on the other end for a moment. “I’ll stall him as long as possible, but you know I can’t guarantee anything.”

“I know. I’ll call you when I’m leaving the bank,” I tell her. We say our goodbyes and I hang up the phone.

Within the hour I’m dressed and on my way to the bank. A bank card would have to work until I could get access to a credit card. I wait in the waiting room for several minutes before I'm finally called back to a banker’s office. I fill out the paperwork, give her my drivers license to copy and then hand her my in her inheritance check only to be told: “We will have your banking card mailed to you in 10-14 business days.”

“I’m sorry, that won’t work for me,” I tell her shaking my head. “I need that card today.”

The banker folds her hands. “I’m sorry, Ms. Saint-Clair, the best I can do is expedite it but even then, it will take up to seven business days.”

I sigh and knowing it’s the only choice I have, agree before leaving. After updating Vivian, I decide to head to a local bar in Anaheim. It’s after five so the bar has several people in it. I sit down at the only empty seat at the bar and try not to feel so out of place.

“Can I get a shot of whiskey and a Guinness, please?” I ask the bartender. He nods and turns away from me while I pull out my phone. I had 37 missed calls and over 100 text messages; I shove the phone back into my purse.

The bartender sets down my beer and whiskey and I thank him before taking the shot and order another. “Rough day?” The bartender asks me as he refills the glass.

“You don’t know the half of it,” I tell him with a weak smile.

He returns it. “Well, hang in there.”

I nod and take a gulp of my Guinness while he walks away. After a few minutes, the guy to my left pays his tab and leaves. A moment later, a pretty blonde woman walks up.

“Is this seat taken?” She asks me.

I shake my head. “No, go ahead.”

“Thank you,” she mumbles, sitting down. She sniffs a bit before ordering a margarita. And then begins picking at her cuticles. “I just got into a fight with my fiancé,” she tells me sadly.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I tell her unsure of why she was telling me.

“He travels a lot,” she explains. “So, when he’s home I just want to spend all of my time with him. He has to remind me that even when he’s not working, he’s still working. See, I wanted to have this party tonight to celebrate the end of…to celebrate him coming home. He’s been gone for a few months, so…well, he still has work to do. He has other projects he’s working on.” I’m unsure of what to say so instead I take another gulp of beer. My grandmother would be disappointed in my rudeness. “Sorry,” the pretty blond gives me a weak smile. “I just kind of poured that all out there and you don’t even know me.” She extends her hand. “Gena.”

“Stella,” I tell her with a smile, shaking her hand. “I’m sorry to hear about the fight with your fiancé. If you want to have the party though, you should. He will appreciate it in the end. I mean, if he’s been working nonstop.” Who am I to give relationship advice to? My engagement is over.

Gena nods. “You’re right. Tomorrow is our anniversary, too. We were going to have dinner, but I’d much rather celebrate with our friends. We do dinner dates all the time. It’s been a while since we’ve had a house party like the old times.”

“Big partier, huh?” I ask her.

She laughs. “Oh, you have no idea. Most of my late-teens and early- twenties are just some big black hole. What about you? Did you have a lot of party years growing up?”

“Oh, not at all,” I laugh. “There were a couple of nights when I was like fifteen and sixteen but…I had very strict parents, so they didn’t let me stay out all night very much.”

Gena scrunches her nose. “Oh, that sucks!” I nod; if only she knew the half of it. “Well, you should totally come tomorrow! It will be so much fun. If there’s one thing me and my friends are good at, it’s throwing a party!”

I shake my head. “Oh, thank you but that’s alright.”

“No, come on, I insist! I have to get going but here’s my address. Uh…let’s say it starts at like nine? Oh, and here’s my cell phone number just in case you get lost. Huntington Beach streets can get a little crazy sometimes.” Gena is writing her address and number on a napkin while she talks.

“Wait, did you say Huntington Beach?” I ask her.

She nods enthusiastically. “Yes! Have you ever been? I’ve lived there for quite a few years now. It’s beautiful.”

I smile weakly and nod. “Yeah, I’ve been there.”

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Stella! Thanks for letting me vent! I’ll see you at the party tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” I agree with a smile and I watch her walk out of the bar. I might not know what I’m going to do for the rest of my life but I do know one thing – there is no way in hell I’m going to that party.

Notes

Zack will be in the next chapter, I swear it!! until then, thank you so much for reading, subscribing and rating! also, Big thanks to Holly, SevenfoldSweetheart, and kiss my sas for commenting! And Holly, just to answer your question: I haven't completely ruled it out! Brian is my best friends favourite member so I've written a one-shot for her a looooong time ago, so ill definitely have to write about him one of these days!

Title credit: Hollywood Undead “Pour Me”