Chapter one
Me. Just, me

I’ve been alone since the love of my life, left my life. And I have been fine. Besides I am in a strict relationship with my job. Oh my! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Ella Bay Pierson, yes, as is the Ella Bay Pierson, the most famous interpreter, I know up to Sixteen different languages. I have up to seventy-five different clients. fifteen of them are in different areas of the world. Like I said, I am in a committed relationship with my work. No time for dating. No time for a lot of fun. For me it is constant movement. Well at least until I took all my vacation time to get away from work. Now, I am a professional driver for my niece, and on top of it I get recognized at least once every time I go out. But it was worth it, getting recognized, driving my niece around while my sister was at work, it was all worth it. After all it lead me to the person that would make my heart beat a mile a minute. The person that would make me open to what I was most closed off to. It would lead me to him.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start from the beginning.
I was walking through the halls of my work heading to my office after a meeting. As I walk around the corner my phone buzzes and I notice that it is my sister calling me. I answer the phone with a business type tone in my voice “hello, this is Ella speaking” I say as I take out my keys and unlock my office door. “Well hello miss formal” my sister Rebecca says as I slip into my office. I chuckle underneath my breath as I close the door behind me, holding the phone between my shoulder and cheek. I sit in my desk chair and open my computer checking my emails. “So, what’s up Becca? Is something wrong with Callie?” I say curious with what has been going on with my sister. “No, Callie is fine, and I called you because I need to rant” said my sister, and as she did I sat their waiting for her to start her rant. My sister calls me whenever she can but always, once a month she calls me to rant about her kids, her husband, and her job. My sister is twenty-seven years old she is the manager of area bankers, and she has been married for three years. She and her husband got married about two years after having the cutest little girl on the planet. And even though her life seems like perfection sometimes, it is not easy. I sit at my desk as my sister rants on about how Callie is being bullied, and how her husband Jordan is constantly getting calls from work. And when she is done ranting what she says next makes me think. “and on top of all of this, Jordan and I are barely spending any time together because between drop off, work, pick up, and repeat, we have had no time to be a couple” she said, and I can almost hear her heels clicking on the wooden floor as she walks around her office.
The gears in my head begin to turn.
I think, and think, over, and over again.
And that is when I got it!
“hey sis, I’ve been wanting to take a lot of time off and live a little. So why don’t I take all my vacation time and cash it in. and I can drop off, pick up, help with my amazing niece” I say as I start typing up the email to send to my boss. “you would actually do that?!” said Becca and I could almost hear her excitement. “of course, I am sending the email to cash in my two years-worth of vacation time right, now” I say as I click on the send button. After discussing the details with my sister, we hang up and I gather my things. I leave my office locking the door behind me and as I do I catch glimpse of a simple keychain. Like one of those ones you can find in the claw-machines and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop myself before a single tear, fell.
I think back to Derek, my first love, and the person who I thought would be my last. As I look at the keychain I feel a tear drip down my cheek and onto my hand. And that’s where everything went a blur.
Suddenly I wasn’t there.
I felt like I was traveling through the air, but my feet were still planted firmly on the ground.
And suddenly I was where I was planted, I was at the arcade where Derek and I first said those three fragile words that can shape the future of a relationship. And in our case, it did. I look at my outfit and notice that I am wearing the same pair of skinny jeans and a denim tank top. And before I can stop these feelings from rushing in, something takes a hold of my hand. And then I look up I meet the eyes of the man I loved, the deep blue eyes that made me fall harder and harder with every glance, the eyes, of Derek. Derek’s smile gleams bright as he turns around and runs towards the exact claw-machine that my keychain came from. I look down at my keys that are hanging from my jean pants and I notice that the keychain in not there, and my mind instantly shoots into panic due to the fear of never having it again.
When Derek and I approach the claw-machine I see the keychain I had lost come into view. My heart begins to beat faster, and my cheeks redden. Derek and I holt in front of the claw-machine our cheeks red as we pant from running here. “I’m going to get you that one, I promise you” said Derek as he pointed to a keychain that looked like a teddy bear holding a heart. He placed a quick kiss on my lips and put two quarters into the machine. I watch him as he tries to grab the keychain with the teddy bear, but he is about an inch off and ends up grabbing the keychain that looked like an oval with rose prints on it. My heart flutters when he grabs it from the winner bin. “I can’t believe I didn’t get the one I promised I would get you” he says as he looks down, but I pull him into a quick kiss to bring a smile to his face. “it’s perfect” I say and before I can say anything else he pulls me into a deep passionate kiss that sends a shiver up my spine. “I love you” he said as he looked down at me and I can’t help but blush “I love you too.”
“Ella?” I hear from a distance “Ella? Are you ok?” I take in a gasp of air and realize that my friend Alize is grabbing my shoulders trying to pull me out of my trance. “Ella? Earth to Ella? Are you ok?” asks Alize as she shakes my shoulders slightly “yeah, I’m fine” I say finally coming out of the trance that I was trapped in. My eyes go wide, and I look down at my keys looking for the keychain I won with Derek. And when I see it I open the small oval shaped rose print locket only to see a picture of Derek and I, the day he proposed. “are you going home?” asked Alize as she wiped the few tears that were streaming down my cheeks away. “Yeah, in fact I am going home, and I won’t be coming back because I turned in my vacation time which is worth two years” I say as I start walking towards the elevator. Alize follows behind me, and the familiar click clack of her heels of the floor follows behind me. I press the button to the elevator and wait anxiously to leave the office.
And from there I only travel down, lower, and lower.
And before I know it I am saying my goodbyes to Ali as I head out of the elevator towards my car.
I call my sister when I get in the car to discuss me picking up Callie tomorrow. And after a long drive home I lay down and fall into the deepest slumber I’ve had in a long time.