88

                                    

                                          
༻ Rose's POV ༺
I decided to walk back from Matt's. 
My mom had been giving me money for the bus ever since she got her first pay check. Logan paid her at the end of each day for her first week so we had an income immediately. Now, it's weekly and then it will be monthly, like all the other employees. It was a small gesture but it showed how much he truly cared about his employee's. No other would give a second thought to the fact some people can't survive a whole month without any form of income. 
The new apartment was right in the centre of town, meaning I rarely needed the bus money, but I appreciated it regardless. 
The sun was still scorching but a breeze had picked up, rustling through the trees and providing a blessed relief from the heat. I took a long, deep breath, filling my lungs with the fresh summer air. The smell of freshly cut grass blended with the warm tarmac and smoke from people cooking in their gardens. The streets were quiet, empty of cars, while the sidewalks were bustling with people. 
I felt a little lighter than I had this morning – than I had for a long time. I didn't know what it was about my conversation with Logan that made me feel a little better. Maybe it was his reassurance that it was okay to accept help. Maybe it was the way he hadn't even flinched when I'd told him I wasn't sure about college anymore. Or maybe it was the way he believed in me the way nobody ever had.
I was more than a little envious of Matt and his siblings for having a father like that until I recalled what he'd said about Jay. Even if he wasn't his biological son, he loved him like one. And being compared to him caused a wave of emotion to stir. 
I'd never known the unconditional love of a parent. In fact, I wasn't sure I'd ever really been loved. I loved my mother and I knew we were close, but I wasn't confident she loved me back, not the way a mother is supposed to love their child.
The idea that maybe, just maybe, I could find that outside of my biological parents had tears welling in my eyes.
I blinked them away and shook away those thoughts as I stepped into my apartment building. Logan was nice to me, sure, and he was helping me out a lot at the moment, and he believed in me and seemed to care about me. But of that was a far cry from thinking of me as another daughter. He already had those. And a son whose heart I'd broken, breaking my own in the process.
I passed the security guards positioned outside and stepped into the revolving door. The glass only intensified the heat and in here, the air was stagnant and suffocating. I'd never felt more relief than I did when I stepped out the other side. The air conditioning brushed over my sweat soaked skin and I breathed it in, offering a smile to the doorman and other staff loitering around downstairs. 
The revolving door was enough for me so I decided against the crammed elevators and headed for the stairwell instead. However, as I passed the flock of people leaving the elevator, a voice stopped me in my tracks. "Rose?"
I recognised it instantly and practically flinched. "Rose, hi!" she called again.
My stomach dipped and I turned slowly, meeting a bright smile that I couldn't bring myself to return. "Sierra," I greeted, eyes wide as I took her in. She looked different. Her hair was still curly, her skin was still tanned and her eyes were still the colour of chocolate. But now, they seemed brighter and her clothes were less crumpled and her shoulders were straight and her smile was wider. She looked happy.
She manoeuvred Kelsey's stroller away from the swarms of people surrounding the elevators and threw her arms around me. She even smelt better, like mango smoothies on a warm summer night. Her arms were tight around me, pinning my own arms at my sides so I couldn't hug her back, but then she dropped them and stepped back. "How are you? How've you been?"