Episode 1: Pizza Delivery Nightmare
Pizza delivery girl's worst nightmare? Pulling up to an address only to have her boyfriend answer the door in just a towel and for the girl he's with to scream, "Babe, what is taking you so long?"
Picture this, a nightmare that didn't end when you handed over the large pepperoni pizza and declared, "$14.80," while your boyfriend whispered, "I can explain." The girl he was with tossed a twenty at you, wrapped her arm around him and whined, "Baaabe, hurry up."
Except, Miss blonde and leggy was no girl. She was all woman and she was hiding her boobs with the shirt you'd bought him for his birthday! Yeah, all woman with at least twenty years on you both.
Of course, the nightmare continued, why would it end when they slammed the door in your face? You turned slowly, a crumpled twenty dollar bill clutched to your chest. The chest in which your heart raced because you turned and realized on the other side of the road your worst fucking enemy had seen the whole thing. Shiloh wished someone had woken her from her nightmare of a reality, but no, no one did and on the other side of the road he had witnessed it all. Pierce fucking Dickson.
She didn’t even know he lived off campus.
Having pictured Shiloh's dilemma in vivid color, you could understand why Pizza delivery girl wobbled back to her work car, you know, the one obviously covered in vibrant decorative cheese pizza wrapping and a neon yellow sign saying "Hot Box" on the top. She hopped in and repeatedly slammed her head against the steering wheel screaming, "Wake Up!"
"Wake Up, Shiloh!" Girl, what the hell? Did you really not sleep last night?" Ciara demanded from her friend. Stretching and rubbing her eyes, Shiloh Simmons replied, "Not a wink." She shuttered her eyes again.
Ciara slammed her textbooks against the table forcing Shiloh to lift her head with a groan, "Nap time is over. You shouldn’t be napping at all!" That earned her several "shhhs" from the other students in the campus library. Shiloh raised her head fully, unsuccessfully trying to straighten the page she'd crushed in her sleep. Page marks marred her cheeks. The blonde in front of her tucked strands of her bob behind her ear as she sat. She narrowed her icy blue eyes on nearby students and spoke without a whisper, "Don't tell me you're letting that asshole keep you up. It's been a week, obviously he's still trying."
Ciara stretched her long legs under the table.
Shiloh rolled her eyes. She could not care less about her ex's attempts to reconcile with her. "Please, I blocked him. Need I remind you he has no right to be trying? He was the one who texted me saying we were not 'working out'." Noah Henning had been her boyfriend for almost two years. Shiloh wasn't going to replay the time spent together because he'd likely spent most of it sticking his dick in women their mothers' age. Shiloh glanced around the library, catching sight of the clock hanging from the wall above the doors; she realized it was nine o'clock. She came to the library after her shift and a quick shower, she'd been there since three in the morning. She wasn’t sure when she fell alsleep, but the dent she planned on putting into her studying was more like a light scrape. "I took on more shifts. No one wants to work nights and you know..."
Shiloh didn't need to finish her statement because Ciara finished it for her, "Yeah, I know." Her friend of nearly two years sighed, "You need the money. Ugh! Between Noah and your dad, I don’t know which annoying man's ass I want to kick first."
Presented with option a and b, Shiloh picked option c, the guy who held the secret to one of, if not, the most embarrassing moment of her entire life. Said guy walked through the double doors. Shiloh's eyes followed as he walked in, surrounded, as per usual. Acting oh so over the crowd, but he was constantly being followed. His eyes caught hers. A mocking smile crept across his lips. Two fingers poised at his lips. He positioned them to mimic the hands motion when sipping from a teacup. Shiloh's eyes narrowed and she hissed, "You could start with Pierce Dickson."
"Huh?" Ciara cocked her head to follow Shiloh's line of sight. "Oh. I still don't get why you hate him. I've never seen you two interact."
Yeah, Shiloh thought. That was because when Shiloh had met Pierce, it was her very first day at the University of Maryland. She didn’t know Ciara then. She didn’t know anyone, but as officially as day two she hated someone with every fiber of her entire being. And for the last two years that hatred had grown, blossomed even, into a healthy well fed emotion. Shiloh gave it attention, nurtured it like a newborn baby.
At six feet three, Pierce was all towering blocks of lean muscle, long dirty blonde hair, smirks, hoodies and leather jackets. He was the poster picture of a bad boy. If this was the 90s, he'd be the guy every dad told their daughter to stay away from. Ridiculous. Shiloh could go on and on about how ridiculous it all was. Everyone should hate the arrogant ass. Instead, everyone was enamored with his, "I'm a misunderstood ambivert" vibe. Shiloh wasn't enamored. She was enraged and she had good reason to be.
Let's set the scene, skies were blue, not a cloud in sight. The campus was glowing under the rays of the Lord's sun and everything was buzzing and rushing including Shiloh's blood. This was it. Although Shiloh's mother, Lo-Ann, had been shaking since about a month before, they'd driven up there in her aunt's old pick up truck because this was Shiloh's way out. Her only way out.
The pair of five feet two tall ladies started unpacking almost immediately and they were doing fine. Okay, they were struggling. So, when the heavy boxes of her texts were plucked from her and her mother's hands, Shiloh was grateful.
The giant of a man smiled at them showing off straight white teeth with slightly longer canines. He was surrounded by the sunlight like an angel. He had his hair in a man bun, low tapered sides contrasting long lengths on the top, a black piercing in his ear and his cologne drugging her. He introduced himself as Pierce Dickson. He told them he majored in business and engineering. He was in his second year there.
Pierce helped them with every single item. He gave them a tour of the campus and paid for their food. He’d hugged her mother back awkwardly before she left. Shiloh fell in love with the man, immediately. He was hot, sweet, kind and so tall. Just how she liked them.
The text from her mother was like a green flag to her mind.
He's such a sweet boy. I hope you two become great friends, with a wink emoji.
Okay, her hopes were up. They'd be friends first then maybe more, more like she’d be losing her virginity level more. She was nineteen going on twenty and she was picturing baby names instead of going to sleep.
The next day, when Shiloh saw him standing with a group of friends she walked over there, adjusting her satchel and pushing out her A cups. "Hey, Pierce." Her heart was racing. She bit her lip and he looked down at her like he'd never seen her before. She'd figured he'd forgotten her name. That hurt, but alright, it was a pretty unusual name so she reminded him, "It's Shiloh. From yesterday."
The group erupted into laughter. Someone chuckled, "Still forgetting your fucks' names, I see." They all slapped him on the back.
Shiloh was taken aback, "What?" She protested, "We did not have sex!"
One of the guys turned to her, he licked his lips, "Trying to join the line, shorty. You can join his line or you can join mine." The laugh in his voice made her skin prickle. She was on the verge of tears. This was cruel and Pierce hadn't said anything. Kind, sweet Pierce was missing. Gone. He gave her a bored, maybe even indifferent stare. The guy reached out to touch her. She was too shocked to step back. In time, Pierce caught the guy's hand and he leaned down, getting closer to her height. He gave her a cruel smirk, "Just buzz off, Teacup."
Shiloh left. Of course, she left. She couldn't have stood there trying to convince Pierce they knew each other, especially when they were laughing at her. He was laughing at her.
Every since that very day. She hated him.
"Shiloh! Seriously, you have got to stop zoning out on me." Ciara grumbled, "You didn’t even answer me."
"Forget it." Shiloh slammed her books closed and stood, "I never want to talk about it." She gathered her stuff.
Ciara rolled her eyes, "Okay, whatever, but you're still meeting us at the diner right?"
Shiloh winced knowing she had forgotten all about that agreement. She bailed once already last week after obvious events. She couldn't bail again. Ciara would never let her. The girl had a way with getting her way. So, Shiloh forced an enthusiastic smile and ensured her voice held cheer when she tossed the "Of course, I'll be there," over her shoulder.
