Alpha's Revelation

Chapter 3

I stood at the curb, waving bye to Taylor and Rocky. I felt terrible that I couldn’t go with Taylor, but a little grateful I didn’t have to face her family. They were lovely people, just a little too involved and in your personal space. I like distance and space.

I head back upstairs and find Blake on the phone with someone near the lift. He sounded angry, and the words coming out of his mouth aren’t very fancy. Without warning, he hangs up on the person and jabs the lift arrow with his finger. Sensing me behind him, he turns his head slightly.

“s**t, I’m sorry. Did you hear much of that?” He asks timidly.

“It’s okay. I heard a little, but I don’t think the person on the phone will mess with you again,” I laugh, trying to lighten the mood. “Everything okay?”

“No! My furniture was meant to arrive today, so I rearranged my schedule to be here. That was them on the phone telling me their truck broke down and they don’t have a replacement. So, now it won’t be here until tomorrow,” he says, shaking his head. “Now, what am I supposed to sleep on? The floor? I can’t believe this is happening. This week has just been a s**t hole.”

I feel awful for the guy. This is another first for me. I don’t really socialise or make new friends, and here I am, wanting to help this stranger. I was once in a situation where I needed a friend, and if it wasn’t for Taylor, god knows where I would be today.

The lift dings, and we both get in. “I have an air mattress in our apartment. Would you like to use that for tonight? We have spare blankets and pillows as well, if you’d like. Nothing too flashy, but it will get on through the night.” I try not to make eye contact out of fear that I’m pushing myself on him too hard.

“Are you usually this nice or are you making an exception for the pathetic, pretty boy across the hall?” He asks. I look up, and he has a cheeky smile on his face. I start to laugh.

“Yeah, sure, I’m a sucker for pathetic, pretty boys that need help,” I joke, and he cracks up laughing.

“Thank you very much for all your help today. I will take you up on that offer. An air mattress will save my back from the hard, cold floors. Although, in return, I’ll buy dinner tonight. Would that be okay?” Something about the way he gives me the option to say no to his offer makes me smile.

“Sure sounds like a reasonable deal,” I reply with a laugh.

We get off on our floor and walk down the hallway to our doors.

“So, what would you prefer? BBQ pork stir-fry or honey chicken fried noodles?”

He remembered what I had told him. Impressive.

“BBQ pork, please, and thank you. I’m just going to grab everything,” I say before walking into my apartment.

He’s so cute.

As I walked around the apartment gathering the mattress, pillows and blankets, I can’t help but think about him. I don’t even know him, and yet he has taken over my thoughts. In my twenty-eight years of life, I have achieved a lot. An excellent job, successful career, some great friends, a double degree. It’s a very comfortable life. But I’m still single and have never really felt much emotions towards any man. Don’t get me wrong, I’m attracted to men, but thanks to my younger life, my experiences have given me reason to be cautious. My love and trust won’t come easy. I have nothing but hate and bitterness in my heart for any man who disrespects women. I don’t want to involve myself in a relationship and have a guy rule my life like an object. If my mother’s mistakes taught me anything, it was to love myself. To build me. To not let circumstances take away the ability to live my life.

I resented my mother for the childhood I had. It wasn’t her fault. Well, not entirely. I knew one day it would catch up with me, and I wanted to build my life so when that day finally arrived, I could walk away from it with no issues.

When I see Taylor and Rocky, yes, I’m envious. Rocky isn’t like other guys. He was raised by a single mom that had taught the boy well. I just haven’t found someone I’ve wanted to trust. Blake is stirring feelings in me, and like Rocky said, it could just be hormonal. I’ve never been with a guy. Intimacy scares me more than anything. But damn hormones. You can’t run from them, can you? I may not trust Blake, but there is no harm in getting to know him.

There is a gentle knock on my door that pulls me out of my thoughts.

I open the door, and Blake holds up 2 bags. “Foods here,” he says

“Oh, awesome. Lemme just grab the sheets, and I will be right there.” I collect everything and close the apartment door behind me.

Blake has left his apartment door open. I walk in and put the stuff on the floor near the kitchen bench. He is busy pulling out food from the bags. Poor guy must be hungry. Without asking or thinking, he starts to eat. I stand, watching him, and laugh.

“What?” He asks with food stuffed in his mouth.

“So much for ladies first, huh?” I joke.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry. I’m so rude. Please come and eat.” He says, putting his food down.

“Blake, it’s okay. You carry on. You’re obviously hungry. I’m a grown-up and can help myself.” Grabbing the box that’s marked BBQ pork, I find a corner to sit in and then dig in.

Blake walks over and sits on the opposite side of me, making himself comfortable.

“Yes, I was starving. Thank you for giving me the restaurant’s number. This is fantastic,” Blake mumbles in between chewing.

“That’s okay. We always order from here. Mr Hong’s is the best in town. Hmm, so tell me about yourself.” Choosing my words wisely, I try to find out more about him.

“There’s not much to tell about me. I grew up in Huntly. After finishing school, I started helping with the family business. Grandad has a few satellite offices, so he sends me to different locations every few years to just see how things are running. Which means I move a lot. So you would think I would have gotten a little more organised with the whole moving issue,” he says, laughing lightly. He’s obviously trying to cover up the real reason, but I don’t want to probe.

“What about you, Rose? You own the apartment across the hall?” he asks.

I laugh. “Hell no, I’m not that rich. Taylor owns that. I just flat with her. Taylor and I are originally from Greenwoods. We both went to Mariners Bay Boarding school together. We just clicked so well that we haven’t left each other’s side since. Taylor really liked it here, so after graduation we both decided not to go back to Greenwoods. Her dad bought her the apartment, and we settled here. Rocky had gone to boarding school with us, and after we stayed here, Rocky stayed as well. He grew up somewhere further up north. Once we settled here, he got a nice place down by the bay and called his mum to come to live with him. He and Taylor just hit it off, and I didn’t get much of choice.” I laugh at the memory of Taylor telling me about how she really liked Rocky and thought he was the one. We were sixteen when they first started hooking up, and as life got serious, they both decided just being part of each other’s life was more than enough, for now.

“Oh wow. So Rocky and Taylor are a thing, then?” He asks.

“Well, sort of. Rocky and Taylor are together. They do everything together. But if you ask either of them about their relationship status, they will both say single but not interested in anyone else. They don’t want to put a label on their relationship. They are very faithful to each other but don’t wanna have obligations, which is funny since they do everything together, anyway. I don’t know if that makes sense,” I say, shaking my head, trying to figure it out myself.

“Yeah, I get it. They have each other, and that’s all that matters. What about you? Do you have someone as well?” He carries on the conversation.

I chuckle. “Yeah, Nah. I have way too many mental issues to keep a boy interested in me. I like to keep to myself, and it’s hard for me to be comfortable around someone. Plus, I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to hold conversations. Like I’ve been on very few dates and the last one I had, the date ended even before we got to the restaurant.” I couldn’t help but laugh. It was funny but true.

“I find that hard to believe. You are sitting here talking to me just fine. Something special about me?” He stops eating and looks at me. A slight smile laughing on his lips.

“Ummm... I.... uh...” oh lord Blake was right. Here I am sitting and having a normal conversation with him, like I’ve known him for ages. I usually just shy away from a situation like this, but Blake’s presence makes me want to be around him. Without even thinking about it, I’m comfortable, and I want to know him.

“Okay, let’s change the subject. What do you do?” He eats again.

“Have you heard of Cooper and Co? They invest in small businesses like clothing, electronics, hardware. Well, once they buy a company, they set up a team that helps handle these small companies by doing marketing and making sure the businesses get all the things needed to blossom and then when it reaches its peak, they sell it.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of the company,” Blake says, putting his food down and paying a little bit too much attention.

“Yeah, well, I’m the sales and marketing manager there. I build small teams that we send to companies to help them work on their sales. I can have four to eight small teams at one time, and I overlook their running and progress.” As I told him, I felt proud. Being the youngest manager Cooper and Co had made me very proud of where life had gotten me. I remember starting as an intern in the sales and marketing team. The CEO, Mr. Cooper, had come in for a visit after a massive meltdown in a meeting when the previous manager was called out for stealing. In the week Mr. Cooper was there, he was very impressed with how I was helping with the department and the work I was doing. So before he left, he offered me the job and left many people speechless.

“Wow, that sounds like a big job? Is it stressful?” Again asking with a lot of curiosity.

“Yes, it is, but I love it. I’m very proud of my achievements. Mr. Cooper, our CEO, put a lot of faith in me, and I don’t want to let him down. Just trying to do my best, to be honest.” Blake is paying close attention to every word I say.

“Interesting. Dwayne Cooper sounds like a great man. What about your family?” He asks.

That dreadful question. It’s one reason I choose not to make new friends. I don’t enjoy talking about my family, especially since I don’t really have one. However, social convention dictates that this question is necessary.

“Umm, well, I don’t have a dad. Mum is still in Greenwoods somewhere. So that’s all my family,” I say quickly, hoping he will move on.

“Somewhere in Greenwoods? You don’t keep in contact with her?” He continues.

“Not really. Mum has her own life, and I have mine.” I pick up my now empty container and walk over to the kitchen bench.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. You obviously don’t wanna talk about it.” He says as he follows me.

“Just not much to talk about, actually. Shall we put the mattress together and make sure it’s comfortable?” I try to change the subject.

The next hour leaves us blowing up the mattress, getting it set up for Blake. He excuses himself to take a phone call, and I use that as an excuse to get out of here. We say our goodnights and I go to my apartment.

Sleep doesn’t come until the early morning hours, as my mind keeps constantly thinking about useless things. Walking out onto the balcony, I let my mind wander to Blake. Last night, I felt a little silly about not asking him more questions. I had given him more information about me than he had about himself. But I can’t get over how comfortable I am around him. I couldn’t stop talking, and it was unusual. Blake has a spark in him, and it’s drawing me in. I walk back in and lay down on the bed. Around three AM I finally fall asleep, and my tasteless dreams taunt me again.

A loud bang wakes me up, and I quickly look around for the noise. The clock on the wall reads ten AM, and I’m panting from fright.

I walk into the kitchen to get some water when I hear more noise outside the main door. Peeking through the peephole, I see four men trying to move stuff into Blake’s apartment. His furniture must have arrived. Calming myself down, I walk back into my room to shower and get ready for the day.

At around one, the noise finally dies down, so I think now will be the best time to go across the hall and check on Blake. When I open my apartment door, I see his is shut. I knock on it, but there is no answer.

Maybe he has gone out, I think to myself. I head back into my own apartment and carry on with my day.

By seven, there’s still no movement from across the hall. This irritates me. I was so nice to the guy yesterday. The least he could do was come and tell me that his furniture had arrived and returned the mattress. I don’t know if that is what’s irritating me or the fact that I haven’t seen him today. I try not to overthink the latter.

I order some dinner and call Taylor to check up on her. Unfortunately, Grace had passed away overnight, and the funeral will be on Friday. I’m actually glad that the funeral is a week away because I want to go down for it. So I pass on my condolences, and Rocky says he will be back Monday and we can drive down together on Thursday for the funeral.

I have a long week ahead and really want it over with.

Sitting on the couch watching Vampire Diaries, I work on some projects. I hear someone talking outside my front door. Quickly, I go to the peephole and see a guy that looks similar to Blake knocking on Blake’s apartment door.

When no one answers, the guy gets angry and bangs harder.

“I know you’re in there, Blakey. Open up. Let’s party. I didn’t drive all this way for you to be a p***y,” he yells as he bangs harder. He carries on for a good fifteen minutes before giving up and going back down the lift.

Well, that was intense, I think to myself. Blake obviously isn’t home, but whoever that was really wanted to see him. I went back to doing my work. Around eleven, there is still no noise or movement across the hall. I keep thinking back to why Blake hadn’t come over to say hi or even return the mattress. Maybe after our conversation last night, he didn’t find me attractive enough to want to be friends. I knew I was terrible at keeping a conversation going.Many random things keep coming to mind. Finally, I shower to clear my head and lay down in bed. My favorite songs play in the background as I read my book. At some point, I fall asleep, and my dreams take over my thoughts.