I slowly walked across the courtyard towards my apartment, dragging my feet the entire way. I was relentlessly replaying the elevator scene, over and over in my head. Overthinking it.

Hindsight was such a fickle little thing, always late to the party. Like most people, whether they admit it or not, I fantasized about the scene. Only now, I perfected it in my mind. I cast myself in a new leading role, the charming vixen that sweeps the elevator guy off his feet.

Pff, dream on. Miss Priss rolled her eyes at me.

I sighed. At the very least I should have asked his name. Now, he will forever be known as the stranger I met in an elevator, Mr. Blue Eyes. I would just have to file him in the 'you blew it' folder and move on. The allure ought to fade soon enough because, honestly, I had already unfairly weighed him against Gabriel, and he couldn't compare. I hadn't decided if that was a good or a bad thing yet.

My phone buzzed and I hurried to fish it out of my handbag. "Hi, Mom," I said with a smile.

My mother was my best friend and I loved her more than cookie dough ice cream, which was saying a lot. She was the one constant thing in my life, the anchor to my ever-wandering hot-air balloon.

I finally reached my door, but the lights were off, meaning my roommate was out gallivanting and prowling the clubs. I mentally facepalmed upon realizing I now had to do the one thing I sucked at–multitasking. I had to listen to my mother while searching for my keys in my bag, without dropping either in the process.

"Yes, Mom." I breathed into the phone, holding it to my ear with one hand while rifling through my huge handbag for my apartment keys with the other.

Tissues, hairbrush, wet wipes, loose change, deodorant... Ugh, where were those keys? I was up to my elbow in the bottomless pit that was my handbag, pulling up long-lost treasures but nothing resembling keys. This is just so typical, I thought while cursing Murphy and his menacing law.

"Yes, I am listening, Mom," I said exasperatedly.

Liar, liar pants on fire, Miss Priss called my bluff.

Ha, got it! Success was sweet as I grasped the cold hard metal of my keys. I pulled them out and then dropped them, twice, but eventually, I managed and made it inside. I was still grunting out responses at set intervals as my mother rambled on in my ear.

I sighed, plopping down on my bed, and rubbing my temples. "Ugh, Mom, not this again." I groaned at the direction the conversation was heading. I kicked my shoes off and wiggled my toes in freedom as I lay on my back, staring up at my feet in the air.

"I just want you to be happy, honey. It's like your life took a 180 and you became a different person overnight. You don't seem to have found your way back to that bubbly, confident person you used to be," my mother whined in my ear. We have been having this conversation for the past four years and honestly, I love her for it, but I was just not in the mood for it. I was tired and hungry.

"I know, Mom, and I am happy. I just grew up. You can't expect me to be the same person I was in high school." I gave a deep audible sigh. Hopefully, if she knew me as well as she always said she did, she would pick up on the fact that I was over this conversation.

"All right, I get it. You are tired and you don't want to talk about it. Just know that I love you, honey bear," she said with a sigh.

"I love you too. Bye Mom," I said relieved. Guess she does know me pretty well. I shrugged, staring up at the cracks in the ceiling, crisscrossing in intricate patterns.

I was tired of defending myself because, in truth, all throughout high school, I had pretended to be something I was not. I was the type of girl who went out of her way to please others. The perfect student. The perfect cheerleader. The perfect girlfriend. The perfect daughter. That Girl. It was exhausting.

Since prom night, I vowed to only be myself and not what others expected me to be. Admittedly, it stung knowing people preferred the fake me, but I had grown numb to it over time.

I tried to convince myself that it wasn't a white lie when I told her I was happy. But am I really happy? I sure as hell was in a better place now than back then. Maybe, I wasn't fully happy but I was happier.

I pondered for a few seconds, playing with a strand of my dark auburn hair. At least I didn't have to bleach it anymore. These days I was all-natural, though it had taken a while to get the bleach out of my hair. For the longest time, it looked ridiculous as I allowed it to grow out, stubbornly refusing to dye it again. I lived in beanies till my hair was long enough to chop off without it looking like a buzz cut.

I sat up, reluctantly staring straight at the ominous plastic crown sparkling on my bookshelf. I pulled a face at it, hoping to insult it, but in reality, I probably just looked childish. I kept that little piece of crap from my past as a reminder to never ever change myself to fit someone else's idea of perfect ever again.

Yeah, look at you, such a rebel, Miss Priss mocked me.

Standing up, I gracefully yanked off my work clothes like the swan I was. This was one of the few joys in life, something I had been looking forward to all day. The unclasping of the bra was sacred. I sighed with satisfaction as I let the girls free from confinement.

I slipped on my pink Hello Kitty jammie shorts and a Star Wars t-shirt with the caption 'the force is strong with this one' written across it. A mismatch, but I reveled in the soft comfy embrace they offered. The force was strong with the mismatched story of my life.

I walked back to the kitchen, striking a pose as I passed the mirror. I just couldn't help myself. I grinned and strutted to the stereo to turn it on, then proceeded to dance the rest of the way into the kitchen, looking for something to pacify my howling stomach.

Soft fluff rubbed against my bare ankles making me stare down at the little bundle of joy that was my cat, Jimmy Choo.

"Kitty," I cooed, picking him up and snuggling him. As I pulled away, he was merely hanging in my hands with angry green eyes and a twitching tail. He was glaring at me in a –feed me woman- kind of way.

I frowned at him. "Fine," I said, putting him down to fetch his food.

He sat regally as ever, still glaring at me as he gracefully wrapped his tail around his paws, the tip still twitching in annoyance. Only when I opened the fridge did he perk up. "Ugh, typical. Only nice when you want something from me," I said out loud to the cat. I served him his food, feeling used.

The stereo at least loved me. One of my favorite songs started to play and I danced and sang to it as I made my way around the tiny kitchen. I was a horrible singer and a goofy dancer but, in my mind, I was a superstar.

Miss Priss threw her hands in the air making crowd cheering noises.

Just when I hit a particularly high note, the door opened and closed. "Welcome home sugar," I sang never missing a beat.

After a few seconds of unusual silence, I turned to look for Bex, my roommate. I took a large un-ladylike bite from my messy sandwich in the process.

I froze immediately, and my chewing effectively halted. I stood there, staring at my roommate, who was red in the face and literally ready to burst with laughter. No doubt, I looked like a hamster with glowing red, sandwich-stuffed cheeks. The spotlight shone brightly on me.

Blue eyes stared at me in amusement.

The stranger from the elevator stood next to Bex. That beautiful smile on his face.

"Hey roomy, brought you a present," she said, grinning at my discomfort before she turned on her heel and walked to her room, snickering. Purposefully leaving me alone with him because she knew exactly what a dud I was around men.

I swallowed painfully then returned my shocked expression to Mr. Blue Eyes. I wished the floor would open up and swallow me whole.

"Nice t-shirt," he said, pointing at me before shoving his hands in his jeans, looking just as awkward.

I chuckled while I nervously tried to pull down the hem of my shirt to cover the naked and exposed piece of skin sticking out from under it. "Yeah, uh...the dark side had cookies, so I joined," I mumbled.

His eyes widened, and realization slapped me across the face, I had no bra on. I instantly crossed my hands over my chest sacrificing my exposed stomach and smearing mayo on myself in the process.

"Yeah, I bet those cookies taste great," he said, biting his lower lip to contain his laughter.

I glared at him, knowing that I solidly walked into that one, and apparently, he wasn't enough of a gentleman to let it slide.

Bastard.

Jimmy Choo ^^