Excerpt: My Mother's Boyfriend

The city of Jacksonville looked so small from the plane. I couldn’t believe I had lived there all my life and I still didn’t know half the place. I had spent all of my summers traveling to New York to visit my father. Then a month before school started I came back to Jacksonville. But this year it was going to be different because it was my last year studying here and my dad offered me a job in his company. He had built a photography studio and he wanted me to help him run it.

Welcome to Jacksonville flight 890 I know most of you are sleeping since it’s 3 AM but it’s a beautiful night. Thank you for flying with Serene Airlines we have arrived at our destination. Enjoy your stay!

I grabbed my bag and walked over to the luggage claim.

“Welcome to Jacksonville, can I see your passport?”

“Yes.” I pulled my passport from my bag and handed it to guy behind the window. I never understood why they had to check flights when they came into the airport. Obviously I had to have paid and have a passport to get on the plane in the first place.

“Okay you are all set.” He stamped my passport and I went to pick up my bag. There weren’t a lot of people in the flight I guess because there weren’t a lot of people in Jacksonville to begin with.

I couldn’t help but notice how handsome this guy was. He was wearing a leather jacket, black jeans, and black sneakers. He had long straight brown hair and beautiful big brown eyes.

Who was he?

He didn’t look like he was around here because he didn’t go to school. We had one middle school, one high school, and one college. All the students knew each other.

“Do I have something on my face?”

I jumped at the sound of his voice. Had I been starring too much? How embarrassing!

“I’m sorry?”

“You keep starring at me. I want to know if I have something on my face.”

“Oh no, I…I had never seen you before that’s all.”

I spotted the luggage with the butterflies on it and tried to grab it but it was much more heavier this time around. It was probably because I had brought a couple of extra stuff from my dad’s. He was moving to another apartment so we had more room.

He grabbed the other side of the suitcase and helped me pull it out.

“Thanks.” I said.

“I’m not from here.”

“Oh.”

He grabbed his own suitcase and walked towards the exit. I followed because he just happened to be going out the same exit as me.

“Following me?” He asked as he pulled a cigarette and lighted up.

“No.”

I noticed the smirk on his face and I was starting to not like him.

“It’s not good to smoke. You are hurting the environment.”

“Don’t you think I’ll be more worried that I’m hurting myself?”

“Obviously not.”

“So why are you so concern about the environment?”

“If you were smart you would be too.”

“I though a stuck up rich girl like you would not care about anymore but herself. But I guess I was wrong. You care about something more than just your money.”

“How dare you talk to me like that?”

“How dare you talk to me like that?”

“Asshole!”

He laughed.

“I hear that a lot.”

“Maybe because you are.”

“Whatever rich girl.”

He putout the cigarette and got in the first taxi that came. Meanwhile I was stuck waiting for Vince my oldest brother. He was supposed to pick me up but obviously forgot.

I turned on my cellphone and called him but he didn’t answer.

So, I waited for a taxi but at this time of night I was lucky if I could catch one. And so after an hour or so I finally saw a car coming. I thought it was Vince at first sight but then it turned out not to be him.