Chapter 1 One

ELLE POV

If I put the clothes in the dishwasher at the same time, I am screwed, especially since the neighbor's pipe exploded last week. I need a miracle to function with all of this crap, and anything I do at work gets me nowhere; many people get down because they lose what two? Two hundred readers? Customers for their work? While I am here, will those close to me express their sympathy? Talk about greedy, but if I keep thinking that way, I will be a bad omen. I roll my eyes, so much for support for one another. Maybe if the term 'it is not a competition, it is to support each other' was interpreted as it is written in literature, things would actually change, but then again, it is one vs. the world. Using the last duck tap I had available, I urgently needed to go to the dollar store; living in a foreign country but passing for one of them is truly a blessing in disguise, but man do I get tired of society; the constant bickering makes me nauseous; well, that was a waste of my time; here I am doing the exact same thing, but with one major difference: I am not acting in public. I am just getting it out of my system because I do not want it to stay in my heart. Okay, I am no Plummer, but YouTube is my version of how to for dummies; I need to get that and hopefully do not need anything else. Getting to the Dollar Store I play my video of the DIY in fixing my broken pipe in my bathroom, "Now you have your new piece to replace the old one, if you do not have this, you will not be able to solve this problem," I heard the horrible words of the instructor, I let my hand down still holding my iPhone, and as I let my head back, I let out a groan of annoyance, "Why me?" I walked to get the duck tape and small items I found and needed with me; I only have $157.12 in my unemployment card; I am never good with these types of names, so I am constantly giving names that irritate the hell out of other people; $21.12 was my total; awesome, I have enough to go on my bus one more time before I need to give more in the card, which I am sure I can do at any time with my phone. The bus was, as usual, a complete annoyance; if I tried to be a good person, I was on the verge of being taken advantage of yet again. Finally getting off the damn bus, I walk to the big ass Walmart that is only 44 minutes away from my apartment. I only have, what, $130? If not, I have $50 in cash, but I need to get some potatoes to go with the chicken, which I do not have. Getting a cart, I sigh because I know I will have to ask my mother for some money, why me. Also, why are the little hand carts no longer available? Or is it only me? I roll my eyes; clearly, society has it out for me. Okay, I need potatoes, so a sack of these, oh! Hello! Two for the price of one! Okay, do not mind me on the small hand cart; I am so in need of it. As I play my tutorial to ensure I have an idea of what I am doing, I hear a commotion behind me. I have been walking without paying attention to my surroundings, and when I come face to face with a man who is way out of my league, he takes his sunglasses off and moves to read something distracting himself so he does not notice I have caught him, but man, his bright blue eyes, medium black length hair, and cute pink lips, "beejigers," I shake my head, pull yourself together, woman. I let out a breath as I kept moving; when he does, in fact, follow me, I stop twice and accept it, so without warning, I try nicely, "Excuse me, do you need anything from me?" The man had put his sunglasses back on, "Mister sunglasses, I am referring to you, can I assist you with anything?" He noticed I was making a scene because his sexy voice was heard, and man, if I could give him the actor behind the voice, I would gladly say he sounded like Victor Seiz; ugh, why must I be tortured like this? My celibacy was not my choice, and now it is a battle of the sexes to get to first base again. I am waiting for the guy, who walks closer but with his hands up. "I will tell you everything, just pretend we are here together, please, I swear I mean no harm, I am just trying to avoid someone." I literally screened him like a freaking MRI, and a winning lottery sound screamed in my head when I saw no wedding band, fuck me yes. I smiled slightly at this, thinking that maybe things are not so bad today. I scrunched up my face, though, because this guy could be bad news; once again, I have the terrible trait of not knowing who is good and who is a waste of my time. "Here, just walk with me until your parents arrive," and my day was ruined. I closed my eyes and my head returned to its original position, "why did puberty hate me so?" Let out a breath, I raise my hand as I turned my fingers at the guy, all my life I have looked 20 years younger, hell, when I was 8 people thought I was 4, which is putting it mildly, it is cute until you are freaking 18 and in college trying to get laid but constantly confused to an 8 year old, it is a curse, "look kid, I am not a teenager, my 20s were 12 years ago, I am in no way near illegal, now for the legal question, how old are you? "And where are your parents?" He removed his sunglasses and reached into his back pockets for his wallet after handing me his driver's license. I returned to my cart, where my golden girls sac bag was, and opened my butterfly wallet, taking my driver's license and handing it to him. We both looked at our driver's licenses; his name is Leonardo Greenwood, 24 years old, and from what is shown single, "ca chica." I constantly quote Disney, so that is another con of looking younger than I am. "Okay, change of plans," he said, and he was now in front of me, "call me Leo, we can act like we are dating, do not worry after this, I will not ever bother you again," I heard him say, which discouraged me greatly, "as tempting as it sounds, I really do not think that is a good idea." I took my ID and gave him back, walking away, I swear I felt like I was pulled into a joke for the world to fully enjoy, everyone kept looking at me like I just got punked, the guy named Leo runs to my side clearly nervous as I push the cart, he keeps trying to butter me up. "I did not mean to insult you, I just, look, I really need to be taken away in terms of time, trying to ditch a pain of a person," I groan then glared, "what girl trouble?" He pressed his pink lips into a line, damn his cute. When a guy taps him on the shoulder, instead of turning to respond, he mouths the words "please help me." I hit his shoulder and said, "Seriously!" You will owe me for this, Leo; wait until mom parks the car; you will regret it!" The same guy taps again, and I move Leo to see a guy who I swear I had to look around because I assumed this was MIB, "Can I help you?" The guy clears his throat; he had a military cut, clearly Asian, with sunglasses; what is up with these guys and sunglasses seriously? "We are looking for this man," the guy says in a broken English, which I take advantage of by looking at Leo and saying in Spanish, "toma (take)" I pull his hand to the cart, "quédate tranquilo, ma llega pronto (stay still, mom is on her way)." I stand in front of him, hands in my pockets, and say, "Look, my big brother has autism, so he can not react like normal guys, but I can tell you that guy I have never seen before in my life, and you must be nervous chasing him around." Do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep someone with autism calm while being stalked? "Leave us alone or I will call the cops," the guy said as he snapped the photo and bowed slightly.