Last Night: Taking Chances

Chapter 1

Author's Note
I know the beginning's a little strange but trust me. It definitely gets better 😂

Florida. America's sweaty armpit. Florida. Home of America's weirdest news. Florida. America's retirement home. Florida. Home to the infamous Florida man. Florida. A place Victoria couldn't wait to get the fuck away from as soon as she could.

She couldn't say she hated it but saying she liked it was a lie. She'd grown up here but she was tired of the humidity and the crazy weather and the ridiculous amount of old people. She was finally done with high school and she was more than ready to leave and go some place new where the headlines didn't read like the state's water supply was laced with cocaine.

"Florida woman arrested for assaulting ex with pork fried rice"

"Naked Florida man steals $25K swan statue"

"Florida man dressed 'like a lady' to avoid arrest"

Yup. She wasn't gonna miss any of the craziness that was Florida. She'd miss her mom and her sister, some days she'd maybe miss her brother. She'd definitely miss her friends but she knew they'd miss her too so that kind of made it a little better. There was one person she would miss that she was sure wouldn't miss her at all.

The one person that Victoria wanted to miss her or give any indication that he knew she was alive at all, even smoke signals would be acceptable here, was the boy she'd been crushing on seemingly forever. The one who didn't seem to notice her, probably because every time she saw him he had his tongue down the throat of the bitch he was dating, Cherry.

I mean, it's bad enough that she was a bitch but Victoria was certain the girl was repeating her senior year for the THIRD time now. She was way too old to be here and WITH Levi but that was really none of her business.

Unlike some people, Victoria was finishing her senior year for her first and only time and it was tradition that the senior class get together for an end of year party at Parker Klein's house because he'd been one of those people who'd been popular since freshman year based on his looks, personality and how rich his family was.

She knew that this was her only and probably last chance to shoot her shot with Levi, girlfriends be damned and she knew that this would be the best place to start her master plan. Unfortunately, she couldn't go to the party alone and so she'd need to convince her friends to come with her. She'd need to convince her friend Allegra to come with her.

The best way to do this was to ambush her at work and annoy her until she agreed to go. So she hopped into her car and started the short drive to the convenience store.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Allegra was watching makeup videos on her phone as she worked her shift at the convenience store, muttering the occasional "Oop" and "That's...AMAZING". She worked at the convenience store to make a little spending money and to keep herself occupied while her friends were busy.

She was really supposed to be watching the security feed but nothing ever happened here. And why would it? This place was about five steps below a 7-Eleven but her hours were flexible and the pay was decent enough. It didn't hurt that it was 10 minutes from home and she got free food on the job, even if it wasn't exactly gourmet, free food is free food.

The bell above the door chimed but she didn't bother to look up. This was Florida. Nothing interesting ever happened here and no one interesting ever came here, unless, of course, it was Miami. She despised that tourist trap with all her heart.

She heard the thud of something hit the counter and rolled her eyes behind the hipster frames her mother told her not to get, before preparing herself to serve yet another redneck asshole.

She raised her head to look at the customer and almost choked on her dye free chewing gum (food colouring allergies really suck) as she recognized the combination of the messy curls and awkward expression that could only really be pulled off by one person. Max Hawthorne. She was so shocked that she thought she would pass out.

He then asked, "Are you quite alright?", in the faint British accent that didn't belong in the shitty convenience store.

Her only response was a barely audible whimper that left her looking like a fool in front of the man she had been in love with, from afar, for so long.

Air! She suddenly couldn't get any into her lungs. Had breathing always required this much thought? She couldn't believe he was here. She hadn't seen him in a few months, since he left school. She remembered the day he'd shown up when she was 13, in the middle of the semester, transferred from England. She was sure she'd loved him from the moment she'd seen him and she'd been sure she'd talk to him at some point but somehow she'd lost him to some record producer who'd taken notice of his music before that had happened. He'd moved to LA to chase his dream and now here he was, as suddenly as he'd appeared before, in front of her. Just the way she'd been dreaming of, looking as good, if not better than he had before.

Another minute passed of her gawking and he shuffled his feet awkwardly as he cocked his head and peered at her curiously.

"I know you," he said quietly, "You're Gwendolyn right?"

She finally snapped out of her stupor.

"Uh...it's Allegra actually. I mean, my first name is Gwendolyn but I prefer Allegra."

He smiled at her, "Sorry, I'll remember that for next time."

Next time! There's going to be a next time. She looked down at the counter and started ringing up his bottle of water and pack of cigarettes.

"So what are you doing back here?", she asked in what she hoped was a casual manner.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Couldn't miss the senior year party right? Are you going?"

She opened her mouth to answer as she took the money he was offering her, when the door chimed and they both heard someone exclaim.

"Hey you long legged hoe!"

She turned her head to glare at the door as she heard him laugh softly. When she turned to look at him again, he was halfway to the door.

"See you tonight Allegra," he called as he exited the store and disappeared from sight.

She sighed in frustration before turning her gaze onto her guilty looking friend, "Hey Victoria".

"Was that...?" She trailed off as she turned her gaze to the door he'd just left through.

"Yeah," Allegra sighed.

"Weeeelll...if you really want to see him again, we know where he'll be," Victoria said with a deceptively, innocent smile on her face.