(Emily's Point of View)

I waited for harsh cold ground to hit me, but it never did. Slowly I peeled my eyes open to see what had saved me from my fall. They widened when they took in what exactly had rescued me.

I was in the arms of a man that could only be described with one word, Sexy. He wasn't your usual blonde hair blue eyed Casanova, instead he had luscious dark chocolate hair and entrancing cobalt eyes which was being hidden by a sleek pair of glasses. If he had been a nerd in college he would have been one that all the girls drooled over. Then the world began to spin once more and I faintly could hear him talking, as his smooth lips moved.

His voice was husky and it cut through the silence like butter. I wanted to lean up a bit and place my lips I'll his but refrained, I could never be that bold. Besides this was just the alcohol talking, it had to be. While I couldn't help but feel like I had meet this man before as the warmth from his voice floated through my head. But there was no way I would forget a man like this.

"Are you alright?" His voice was soft and caring, which was weird since there was no real reason for him to care about me.

Being so heavily intoxicated I could only respond by nodding my head slightly. He didn't really believe me, and rightfully so. I tried to blink the blurriness from my vision to get a better look at him. He definitely reminded me of someone, but the more I tried to think back the more I confused myself.

He steadied me onto the ground as I stumbled like a baby deer walking for the first time. I fell into him slightly, his arms wrapping around my waist and keeping me steady. His soft laughter flitted through my ears, and his chest slightly moved in tune with his laughter.

Silently I grumbled in my head, I mean even though he wasn't exactly unpleasant I still had no idea who he was. He could take advantage of me and my drunken state, saving me from that man could have all been a ruse. This was exactly why I never liked to drink, Sierra was always the one of us who loved to. Even my brother, they could both party like the best of them.

I have no idea what I was thinking when I drank all those shots, it was incredibly irresponsible of me. But I was upset from that woman, and that father of mine. Do they really think they should be able to pick the person I'll spend the rest of my life with.

I looked back towards the man, he had a sort of glint in his eyes almost as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. My heart thumped violently in my chest, and my mind thought that he must have been able to hear my heat beat. If he did, he made no comment of it. Yet for some reason I felt safer in his arms then I did in my own father's.

"Are you sure your ok?" He asked again, a small smirk pulling at corner of his lip.

I made a conscious effort to save my pride even if it was dwindling, "I don't tend to drink too much." I stumbled over my words slightly but he nodded like he understood what I meant. I hated that I wasn't firing on all cylinders, made me feel insignificant and weak.

He looked at me with a smile before his voice cut through the silence once more, "How about I give you a ride home Fenice?" His last word jogged something in my brain, but I had no idea what it possibly could be.

He chuckled slightly which made me sort of annoyed, but the noise set of a chain of swirls in my vision. My head banging to be what was obviously a hang over already appearing.

"Do you need me to get you a ride home, Fenice?" He asked me, his voice deep and husky.

"Fenice, what does that mean?" I asked wanting to know why on this earth he would call me that.

"It's Italian." He chuckled with an amused smirk, he was toying with me. I felt red go up to my cheeks, I hated when people toyed with me.

"My name is Emily!" I snapped at him not really caring how loud my voice got. I didn't know Italian nor did I really care, after all I took French in College.

"Alright then Fenice-" I immediately interrupted him, that was not my name under any circumstance.

"Emily." He paused slightly, weighing his options before complying to my simple demand.

"Emily, do you want me to call you a taxi? Unless this dark and dirty Alleyway is your home?" He smirked at me slightly, how utterly infuriating. However, I weighed my options in my head, did I really want some Uber pervert to pick me up and drive me home? No.

"I'll just call my brother." I flipped out my phone from my pocket, my hand shaking slightly. Dialing his number only to hear his answering machine.

"No luck Fen- Emily." He tripped over his words once more. But he was right, it seemed brother dearest had completely forgotten about me.

"Sadly no, he's probably dancing with some poule." A bit of my French slipped out as I thought about him with some floozy.

"Poule? French, really?" He replied almost like he couldn't believe it. Did I not look like I could speak French?

I stared at him blankly, what was that suppose to mean. A small laugh slipped through his lips, and a small smile made it through.

"I mean no offense, I was just shocked." He explained, pausing slightly, "I can take you home." He offered to me, his eyes held walls but I still could find his sincerity from them.

"No funny business." I replied, holding him down with my stare. He laughed once more before leading us out of the small alleyway. Eventually he led us to a car in a nearby parking lot, I stumbled slightly and he caught me in his arms almost as if he was expecting me to trip.

"Thank you." I replied before looking at the car more closely. It was a royal blue mustang, slick and modern. I looked back at him in shock, I wouldn't have thought-

"Now whose making assumptions Fenice." I didn't even notice his nickname for me, instead I mumbled a half-hearted apology and got into his car. However, my ears did process how deep his voice was with a smaller amount of a New York accent.

He jumped into the drivers seat beginning to power up the engine. The cool breeze was nice although a blast of heat would be nicer since it was the fall. I put my address into my phone, fumbling slightly with the numbers, and gave it to him.

"Your a pretty tame drunk." He told me as we barreled down the road, and I guess he was telling the truth. I was beginning to sober just a little bit, enough to know my address and such. However, if I had been totally sober I probably wouldn't have entered this infuriating man's car.

"You think I'm pretty." Maybe I was wrong, it seemed the alcohol was affecting me again. This was the exact reason why I hated to drink. But my eyes were beginning to blink more as my body started to relax.

He let out a low chuckle before responding, "Yes, very much so Venice." My eyes started to close and my vision fading to black. I shivered slightly only to feel a warmth against my body.

"If only you knew..."

The next time I heard his voice was when he was shaking me awake. Gently my world shook as he repeated the nickname over and over, "Fenice wake up."

"My name is Emily." I responded with a bit of groggy sass, my eyes opening slightly as I looked around disoriented. We were on my street once more, he actually took me home. I suppose I misjudged him just a smidge.

I began to get out of the car, slowly staggering over to the sidewalk before a thought passed through my head... Did I ever ask for his name? No, I didn't.

"By the way-" I was cut off by him answering the exact question I was going to answer.

"Nathaniel, I was wondering how long it would take you to ask." He replied before smiling at me, "it was nice meeting you Fenice." I shot him a playful glare, in which he returned with a smirk.

My gaze softened a bit, "Thank you though, really, you saved me from a very bad situation."

His eyes twinkled with sincerity for the second time today, "It's what anyone would do."

"No it's not, most would just ignore it all." A certain sad spark entered and his eyes, before I could stop myself I walked over to Nathaniel and placed a hand on his face. I brought my lips down and placed a small kiss on his forehead.

Our eyes locked for a moment, and I could almost feel the blush on my face. I quickly took off towards my window, I heard his wheels speeding up. I scurried over to my window opening it just enough for me to slip through.

Only to look over my shoulder and whisper, "I hope I see you again... Nathaniel." However my mind was thinking about something else, how I was gonna beat my useless brother and best friend.

Auburn was curled up on my bed and slightly tilted her head towards me. Her tail thumped against my sheets softly before she put her head back down and went back to sleep.

I got changed into my night gown and went under my sheets as my world began to fade into darkness once more. My last thought or rather feeling was how familiar Nathaniel felt to me.

~~~

"There will always be a reason why you meet people. Either you need to change your life, or you're the one that'll change theirs."

                                                    -Unknown
I wonder who you will meet in your life that will change you for the better? Or who you'll impact through your actions. We are all just actors and actresses in a larger play.

Love you all my amazing readers!