"Come on Autie! We need to get out! I'm tired of sitting in an apartment all day! Let's go to that bar a few blocks down!" My friend Rachel exclaimed loudly.

I shrugged and continued flipping through channels on the tv. "I'm waiting for Alec to come back."

"He's not coming back! I told you he disappeared with that girl when we were on the beach. Wake up and realize that he's cheating on you!" I could tell she was getting frustrated.

Rolling my eyes I sighed. "Fine! If it's that important to you, we'll go to the god damn bar!"

I got up off of the couch, grabbed a room key and a leather jacket, along with my car keys, and stomped out the door. Rachel quickly followed silently.

When we arrived at the bar she gave me a thumbs up before pulling me over to the bar and setting me down.

"Two vodka's please." She requested, giving the bar tender both of our ID cards.
He handed us both our drinks and our ID's back to us.

I winced when I took a sip. I wasn't the biggest fan of alcohol; and when I did drink it, I didn't exactly enjoy it.

She rolled her eyes at my pathetic attempt to drink vodka. "Oh come on Autie! Just drink it!" She insisted.

I shrugged. "I think I'm just going to go use the restroom." I walked over to the bathrooms and cast one last uneven glance at Rachel.

~*~

I stepped out of the bathroom as I wiped off my damp hands on my shirt.

When I exited and looked over at Rachel, I saw that she was sitting with this man that I've never seen before.

When she turned around and saw me her face lit up. She hopped off her seat and ran over to me.

"Autie I need the keys to the car!" She said.

"We get to go home?!" I asked cheerfully.

"No, I'm driving Billy and I back to his apartment... come on Autie please!!!" She begged, practically getting down on her knees.

I rolled my eyes. I love Rachel, I really do. But I'm not gonna lie, she is what people would consider a slut. And I made a promise to her back in 2nd grade when we had became best friends. I promised her I would always accept her decisions and not judge her.

"Can't you just take a cab?"

"Autie!!!" She whined.

I sighed heavily and held up the keys. She smiled and snatched the keys from me.

She hugged me happily. "Thanks Autie! Love you!" She ran back over to the man she called Billy and they headed out the doors straight away.

I groaned when I realized I had no ride home now. And I was not going to let a stranger drive me back to my apartment.

I walked through the door and started walking the way back home. It was cold and starting to drizzle; and I was still five blocks away from the apartment.

The worst part was that this city isn't exactly what you would call safe. Here we have thugs, gangs, criminals, mafia's, and crack heads. Walking alone at midnight isn't exactly smart here.

Soon enough it started down pouring. But still, four more blocks to go. The cold and the rain became to much to bare. I quickly ducked into a bus stop.

I was surprised to see another person there staring at me. He was smoking a cigarette and looking me up and down with a smirk.

He scooted over so that I could sit on the small bench. Of course, the bench was so small that our arms were pressed up against each other.

Out of the corner of my eye I tried to make out his features. He wasn't wearing a shirt so I could see his abs and huge biceps. He had tattoos all Over his body and on his neck. he looked scary and dangerous. His hair was spiked up in the front and a nice color of brown. The man had tan skin and from what I remember, he had blue eyes.

I noticed he was still staring at me. I glance up at him and smiled. He smiled back; and I started to blush. He had adorable dimples.

He gave me a curt nod. "Hey. I'm Ryan."

"I'm Autumn." I mumbled. "But people call me Autie."

Ryan smirked and nudged my shoulder. "Nice to meet you Autumn."

I looked up at him fully now. "Autie." My voice sounded strong as he made friendly conversation.

"Does anybody call you Autumn?" He asked.

I shook my head no. "Not since kindergarten." I confirmed.

He smiled and chuckled. "Good. Then I can be the only one."

I giggled at his response. We sat there in silence for a few minutes. the only sound was the pouring rain. It was, however, thinning a little now.

"How far away do you live from here?" He asked, shifting his body so he was facing me.

"About four blocks from here." I said reluctantly.

He gave me a weird look. "Do you have an umbrella?"

I shrugged. "No but I'll be fine. It's just that my friend took my keys to go have sex with this strange man, and I wasn't think about it until I left the bar, and-" I stopped talking when I saw him holding in his laughter. "Sorry I talk to much." I said. I looked down to try and hide my blush.

But Ryan pulled my head up to look at him. "You also blush to much." Of course, this statement made me blush even more. "You should smile more too. You have the cutest dimples." he said, while looking into my eyes.

"So do you." I commented, before realizing how weird that probably sounded.

He laughed loudly. "Well thanks I guess. But you have a weird way of flirting." he smirked.

My eyes widened and I punched his arm lightly. "I'm not flirting! I'm just talking to you!"

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Whatever you say Autumn." I smirked/glared jokingly at him when he said my full name.

The sound of laughing from down the street stopped our moment of silence. They stopped when they reached the bus stop where Ryan and I were sitting.

They stared at me before turning to Ryan. "Who's the chick?" One of them asked him.

"She's hot." another decided.

I blushed and looked at Ryan. He slung his arm over my shoulders and smiled at the men. "This is Autumn. But you guys can call her Autie."

One of the guys pushed Ryan off of the bench and sat next to me. "Hey babe. Want me to take you back to my place? I got drinks." he smirked leaned closer to me.

I jumped off of the bench and ran over to Ryan. I hid behind him and peered over his shoulder. It was weird how safe and comfortable I felt around him.

He glared at the man and pulled me to his side, putting a hand on my waist. "Come on Tyler! Leave her alone!" He yelled.

He threw his hands up in defense. "Sorry bro! I didn't know she was yours!"

Now we were both glaring at him and I inched farther away from Ryan. His hand didn't move from my waist though. "She is not mine! She's just a new friend and I'm pretty she doesn't want a man-slut like you hitting on her."

A different man who hasn't spoke yet stepped up in front of me. "Your new here aren't you?"

I nodded. "I just bought an apartment with my friend."

He nodded. "And how old are you sweetheart?" His voice was gentle and his eyes were soft. I looked up and Ryan and he nodded.

I stood up straight but moved closer to Ryan at the same time. "24." I stated to the stranger.

He smirked at Ryan, and then me. "Oh! Your only a year younger than Ryan!" He exclaimed. I saw Ryan blush out of the corner of my eye.

"Come on Ryan! We have to get going. We all have some important business to take care of." Taylor raised his eyebrows at him knowingly.

Ryan nodded and all the men started off down the street. "Three things." Ryan said turning to me. "First of all be careful, okay?"

I nodded. "I promise."

"Secondly." he held up two fingers. "Give me your hand." he ordered, pulling a pen from his pocket.

I handed him my hand with a confused look on my face. I watched as he wrote down a series of numbers down.

"That's my number. If your ever in trouble, just call me." I nodded in understanding.

"And lastly." he handed me an umbrella off of the bench that I hadn't noticed before. "Try to stay dry."

I took the umbrella and looked at the ground. "Thanks." I muttered great-fully.

Once again, he lifted my head with his hand. "And try to smile more. You have a nice smile."

I smiled weirdly on purpose. But I'm guessing it only made me look even more helpless because he laughed and ruffled my hair.

Before he ran off I called to him. "Ryan wait!" He turned back. "Maybe I'll call you for a different reasons." I winked.

His eyes widened and he started to blush. If I didn't know any better I would have said that he was holding back a smile.

"Who flirts weird now?" I smirked.

He relax and laughed. "Bye Autumn."

"Bye Ryan."

~~

Be sure to check out my new book Alyssa's Journey! It is garunteed to be my best book yet but is also a work in progres :) i hope you find the time to read the prologue.