The Fated Malachite Luna

Chapter #2 - Unexpected Visitor

Camille’s POV

I came home from work later than expected tonight. My shift was supposed to end at 11pm but I didn’t get to clock out till 2:30am after the bar closed. Apparently Wednesday is the new Saturday to drink your face off and be hungover for work the next day. Idiots.

I drag my feet into my house and get ready for bed in lightning speed. As I lay in bed in my matching silk pyjama’s, I anticipate spending my Thursday off with my best friend, Shyla. She likes to go shopping every chance she can and I like tagging along. I have the weirdest days off though and only get Thursday and Sunday to relax or run errands so it’s not very often I actually get to have a social life.

I doze off to sleep thinking about what clothing Shyla will want to buy tomorrow and what she’ll probably force me to try on.

~

I wake up at 9am feeling absolutely exhausted but ready for the day of shopping ahead of me nonetheless. A few cups of coffee and I’ll be good to go.

I throw my long and wavy ash-blonde hair into a messy bun and apply the smallest amount of makeup. My makeup routine is mascara and lip gloss so barely anything at all. Mascara tends to make my green eyes pop and they’re my best feature, aside from my full lips and hourglass figure. According to Shyla I don’t flaunt what I have enough and every time we go shopping she tries to make me buy the tiniest pieces of clothing she can find. No thanks. I’d rather rock a pair of blue skinny jeans and a graphic t-shirt with comfy Birkenstocks.

I end up wearing my usual ensemble when Shyla comes to pick me up in her Mercedes Benz.

She comes from money and most of what she has is paid for by her daddy’s credit card. We’re polar opposites when it comes to a lot of stuff but we’ve been best friends since grade 2 when I moved to the US and she’s never not been there when I needed her. I recently moved to Oregon from Ohio about a year ago and she was more than happy to follow. My mom followed along too even though I begged she stay in Ohio.

Shyla has platinum blonde hair and caramel brown eyes with tanned skin. She’s naturally gorgeous beyond words but of course uses all the beauty enhancements at her disposal such as eyelash extensions, lip filler, hair extensions and gel nails. You can thank her daddy’s credit card again for those.

“Cami! Get in!” She screams out the window as she pulls up beside me when I patiently wait on the sidewalk.

I climb into the passenger seat and throw my macramé shoulder bag at my feet.

“What the heck are you wearing?!” She asks with her mouth gaping wide open.

“Clothes…?” I shrug.

“Girl! Could you at least make it look like you care about your appearance?”

“What makes you think I don’t care? These are comfy.”

“Well maybe if you wore something less “comfy” you’d get laid once in a while.” She slaps her hand against her bare thigh dramatically.

“And why would I want to get laid?” I raise an eyebrow at her.

“Umm who doesn’t want to get laid?!”

“Me. The last thing I need after Keaton is more dick.” I huff.

Keaton is my ex-boyfriend whom treated me like crap and manipulated me into staying with him for way longer than I should’ve. We started dating senior year and surprisingly stayed together for almost 2 years. He was as selfish as they come and it took me a lot of courage to get rid of him. I’ve been “laid” once since I broke up with Keaton when I moved away and it was a mistake. The last thing I need right now is more boys.

“Ugh you have to get over him!” She says as she drives off towards the mall.

“I am!” I protest. “I just don’t need another man in my life at the moment. I’m happy doing me.”

“Oohhhh… so like… you’re doing you…?” She asks in a suggestive tone.

“Absolutely not! Get your head out of the gutter!”

She cackles loudly and slaps another exaggerated hand on her thigh.

“I’m just saying it’s been a long time since you’ve had anything… you must be deprived at this point!”

“I’m not like you, Shyla. I don’t need a new flavour of man every week to get by.” I clap back at her.

She just laughs again and shrugs.

“Hey, at least I’m not drying up.”

I just shake my head and can’t help but giggle at her humour. That’s Shyla for you. She has a new man every week or two and they get older and richer every time. She said she’s searching for the perfect sugar daddy. I don’t judge but it does worry me because of course I want the best for her. We couldn’t be more opposite when it comes to our taste in men.

We arrive at the mall and our first stop is the food court to get a couple iced coffees.

“Mmn… Nothing is better than iced coffee.” She says as she moans sexually at her gulp. “Well… maybe sex.” She giggles.

“Is that all you think about?” I ask as I take a sip of mine.

“The question is, why don’t you think about it?” She nudges my shoulder as we walk side by side in the direction of Victoria’s Secret.

“You already know why. Ya s*x can be nice but it’s not worth all the emotional turmoil.” I explain.

“You probably just haven’t had good dick.” She laughs loudly.

“Hey! Yes I have! Just not good enough to throw my life away for.”

“When you put it like that it makes me sound like a hoe.” She sips her coffee.

I stop walking and look at her funny until she spins around on her heels.

“Hey! Okay, ya… maybe I’m a hoe!” She throws her arm in the air.

I shake my head again and we laugh as we walk into Victoria’s Secret.

“Cami, you probably need some new panties so grab a handful on me!” She says as she throws a crotchless thong at me.

“Hey! I definitely don’t need this!” I chuck it back at her. “For your information I actually only wear thongs because otherwise I get stupid underwear lines. I’m not a virgin!” I defend myself.

“Oh thank god cause sometimes I picture you wearing granny panties.”

“You picture me wearing panties?” I laugh.

“You know what I mean! I only do it cause I’m concerned for my best friend.” She sticks out her bottom lip like she’s trying to give me a puppy dog face.

“Well be assured you won’t find any granny panties in my drawers.”

We browse the store for a bit and continue chatting. She ends up buying herself basically a whole new lingerie wardrobe and I oblige to her begging and get a couple new thongs. Not that I have anyone to show them to. We go to a salad bar in the cafeteria for lunch and hit up a couple more stores. We’re strolling through Aritzia when Shyla strikes up conversation again.

“Have you spoken to your mom recently?“

“Of course I have. You know she checks on me once a day still. Why?”

“I just thought maybe she had finally backed off.”

“We both know that’s not going to happen anytime soon.”

It’s been just my mom and me for as long as I can remember. My dad took off when I was around two and it’s been just the two of us since. She sheltered me pretty badly and because of it I rebelled for a couple years throughout high school. I learned to accept that that’s the way my mom is and got over it pretty quickly. She didn’t want me to basically ever move out but I demanded that I have my independence and space and ended up moving out right after graduation. Once I moved to Oregon I bought my own condo right away. My dads family had apparently left me a ton of money that they had safely put away in a savings account until after I graduated high school. Realistically I’m just as well off as Shyla and don’t need to work much but I refuse to just get by on other people’s money and take the easy way through life. I work when I want and once in a while will take a month or so off and travel by myself to wherever. I like being free and not being tied down to anything or anyone. Shyla is like that too but in other obvious ways.

“She’s still helicopter mom then, hey?” Shyla asks me.

“Yeah but I know she just cares a lot. Otherwise she wouldn’t give a s**t what I do, you know?”

My mom is very protective and tends to over-worry about a lot of stuff. Some people could call her paranoid but I think she’s just worried I’ll make the same mistakes she did. She got pregnant young and the guy ditched her. I can’t blame her for being concerned. I hated it when I was younger but I’ve learned to just shrug it off. I definitely won’t make the mistakes she made when it’s time for me to have kids, if I ever have kids.

“Sorry to bring that up. I was just curious.” Shyla apologizes.

“No, no! No worries. It doesn’t bother me at all and I’m glad you asked.” I reassure her with a big smile.

We continue our shopping day and Shyla buys many more articles of clothing. So much that we have to make a stop at her car before our arms fall off from the weight of all her bags.

“My feet hurt. I think I’m gonna call it a day.” I say as I sip my mango smoothie that I picked up from a smoothie bar.

Weirdly enough when I bought my smoothie a super hot guy offered to pay for it for me. He was honestly more gorgeous than any man I’ve ever seen. His deep voice was so sexy and Shyla almost blurted out loud that I should get his number. I shushed her before she could say anything though and thanked the guy. There was something about him though that drew me in and I continue to think about him for the remainder of the day.

“Your feet hurt?! Try wearing these!” She sticks out her leg to flash her stilettos at me.

“No thanks.” I cheekily grin at her.

She surrenders to her aching feet and drives me home just before dinner. I haven’t shopped that long in forever and now I’m kind of sad my day off is basically over.

“Girl why didn’t you get that guy’s number?? He was gorgeous!” Shyla asks me as we make our way back to my condo.

“I told you, I don’t need more testosterone in my life at the moment. I’m content.”

“Ya but it’s not like you have to marry the guy! Just hook up with him or something.” She says shrugging.

“Jesus. No.” I shake my head quickly.

I can’t deny there was something about him that really drew me in, but I’ve sworn off men for the meantime. I’m not going to let some hot guy change my mind for one night.

“Fine.” Shyla exhales deeply. “Call me on Sunday and maybe we’ll go out for drinks!” She says as I step out of her car with my purse and one shopping bag on my arm.

“Will do. Talk to you soon!“ I wave and close the door as she blows a kiss and speeds off.

Sometimes I wish I had her crazy flare but at the same time I love being my calm, down-to-earth self. I picture all the clothing items she’s going to have to get rid of to make room for her new wardrobe as I pull my keys out of my purse.

I approach my condo door and suddenly my heart sinks to the floor. I stop dead in my tracks and stare at my open front door in terror. Did I get broken into in the middle of the day?! The last person I want to call right now is my mom because there’s no reason to give her a stroke if it’s nothing. I immediately grab my phone and call Shyla.

“Hey girl, miss me already?” She answers the phone with a cheeky ‘Shyla-like’ question.

“No. I think my condo was broken into.” I say in a serious tone.

“What?! Did you call the police?!”

“No. Should I?”

“Duh!! Hang up and call 911 moron!” She screams into the phone.

“Okay, okay. I’ll call you back in a bit.”

“You better or I’m driving back over there!”

I hang up and reluctantly call 911. As I do so I cautiously enter my condo after standing outside my front door frozen for a few minutes. Shyla was right and I should’ve called the police right away. My place is absolutely trashed. They ransacked everything as if they were specifically looking for something. Drawers are pulled out and strewn across the floor, items are smashed and furniture has been rearranged. This is going to take me so long to clean up! After explaining the state of my condo to the police, they send an officer over to take a full statement and search the place for evidence or clues. The officer leaves after about an hour and I flop exhaustedly on my sofa. I’m going to get my locks changed tomorrow just in case and install and dead-bolt latch as well. That’s just too scary. What if I had been home?!