Settling in

Mike POV 

After my interaction with Jewel. I never saw her back, she stayed the whole time inside the bunker bed, exactly where I left her. 

I could hear in the distance my aunt and my uncle talking. I know it is not nice to listen to others' conversations, but they were not being shy about it. 

"Good Lord, Scott really did a number today…" my aunt said and my uncle nodded. Then she continued "Our girl loves him, but he is definitely in the friend zone. What he did will just hurt her. I can see why she is upset!" Aunt Rachel leaned and rested her head on my uncle's shoulder. 

"Yeah, Last school year I was rooting for the kid. He is great and he balances our firecracker, but showing his feelings when she is leaving and leaving her like that, was not a good move." Uncle said and then he continued, "You know she is strong…" 

"But you know that behind that cool, laid-back, strong facade; our daughter is sensible and she hurts easily." My aunt Rachel interrupted, "You know that even sometimes I think Joy is stronger than her…" she finished. 

I decided to stop listening to their conversation realizing that she was vulnerable and I went there to make her feel worse about the whole thing. 

She is younger than me and as far as I could tell quite inexperienced, and there I was being an ass to her. I regretted my actions, but it was too late to do anything about it, so I decided to pull out my bots and zone out in my music. 

We landed and there was only one SUV waiting for us at the landing strip. Then I realized that they unloaded Jewels luggage, and my uncle, aunt and Joy all had a little one night carry on, leaving theirs and Joy's luggage inside their plane. They have an early departure tomorrow. 

We were about to jump inside the SUV when I noticed that Jewel was composed, her hair was tied in a messy bun, she sported a poker face and what caught my attention was that she was wearing sunglasses. 

Without saying a word she walked past me, not even sparing a glance, and jumped on the SUV and settled herself near a window. 

By the time we settled inside the SUV, I realized that I was sitting right next to her. She never addressed me, and she even was uncomfortable with my closeness. 

She took her phone out and when she opened I could see different  unread messages. Several from Joshua, which I guess she was responding to, while I saw many from Scott unread. 

She quickly opened Josh's messages and answered him. "Got it babe, I just need time. TTYL" she typed and closed her phone without sparing a minute on Scotts messages. 

Viv and Joy were talking with Aunt Rachel, while our uncle sent some emails over his phone. He is always working, but you can never tell when he is around his family. 

We stopped across the street from my apartment building, I assumed they were dropping me off, and then they would be leaving to help Jewel settle. 

"So babe, do you like the area?" My aunt asked Jewel and Jewel nodded. 

"Yes mom, thanks for helping me arrange my accomodations. I can't wait to see it." Jewel said and I was confused. Is she settling right across the street? 

"Well then, go and check it out. Your uncle Tony worked on it, so you bet it is going to be awesome." My aunt said, She walked toward me and wrapped her arm around me.  

"I hope you don't mind, but we decided to settle her close to you. She will be living alone for the first time and your uncle and I hoped that you could keep an eye on her…" she gave me a smile and I couldn't help but agree with her. 

"Sure aunty, I am just across the street. She can call me whatever she needs." I said and noticed that Viv, Joy and Jewel were gone from sight. I guess they were excited to see the place. 

"Uncle, thanks for the lift. Can you send Viv to my place when she is done with the girls? I need to settle and get ready for tomorrow." I gave a lame excuse to run from there. I just promised my aunty to take care of Jewel, while earlier I called her a pebble in my shoe. 

"Sure Mike… I will send her to your place, but have her ready tomorrow at 6am, we have an early schedule." My uncle patted my back and I nodded. 

I have my own apartment, it is a bachelor pad right in the middle of an exclusive area near campus. I guess our parents talked and uncle Jase decided to give Jewel her own place. 

I guess my plan of staying as far away from her is no longer in action. Maybe tomorrow when they leave I can take her out and show her around, and hopefully apologize to her. 

Jewel POV 

After pouring all my emotions out, I decided to text my knucklehead of a brother. He knows my feelings for Mike and for Scott and I knew that somehow he would help me clear my head. 

When I explained what happened he was surprised at Scotts actions, but he was pissed at Mike. 

He helped me to ease my anger, and to settle with the fact that Mike overstepped and insulted me without justification. He said that the best move would be to ignore him, and stay as far away from him as possible. 

Josh said that the faster I made friends, the better it would be. So starting tomorrow I am a girl on a mission. l will prove everyone that I am strong and independent, and that I don't f*****g need someone to babysit me. 

My apartment was everything and more. Uncle Tony is the best architect around and he did a superb job with my flat. It was a penthouse, with an open plan. A little foyer at the entrance that opened up to a living room, dining room and kitchen with a massive window and balcony overviewing the city. 

My room was cozy with an ensuite and a walk-in closet. It also had a guest room, laundry room and a studio. My parents settled at the guest room, leaving me and Joy to bunk together in my room. 

After 3 hours and a couple of pizzas, dad walked Viv to Mike's place. And I was ready to sleep, I was drained and the next couple of days would be huge for me. I will be attending orientation and registering on extra curricular activities. It is time to make new friends. 

At 6 in the morning my parents and Jewel were ready to leave. I decided to say goodbye to them at my place, instead of going down and just like that I was on my own. 

I decided to go back to bed to catch some more sleep before going for my morning run. I love to run, it clears my head and now that I am on a new city, it will help me to see the place a little. 

It took me 30 minutes to realize that I won't be sleeping more. So I changed into my sports gear and walked down the street. My GPS gave me the location of a nice park just two blocks away from my apartment. 

The park was beautiful and I started jogging at a steady pace. My music on and for a moment I was free. Free from all my fears, my mind is blank about my feelings. Just in that moment it was me, and my breathing, no Scott, no Mike, no uncertainty. It was cathartic and liberating. 

After my usual 10k I was sweaty but I felt refreshed. I decided it was time to go back to my place. 

There were other people running around the park and when I stopped to tie my shoe. A tall, very good looking girl stopped next to me. 

"Hey, are you new in town?" She asked and I nodded. "You are going to love it here." She said and extending her hand she continued "my name is Camila, Camila Livingston…" she was friendly and confident. She had a rocking body and I could tell that she was a jogger, just like me. 

I stretched my hand and shook her hand back "Nice to meet you, Jewel Cox." I introduced myself and then asked her "Do you live nearby?" Maybe with time, we can be friends. 

"No and yes…" she said taking a sip of her water. Then she laughed, "Officially, I still live with my parents, but not-officially, I spend more time at my fiance's place which is nearby." She smiled and I nodded. 

"It was nice to meet you Camila, I have to head back." I said trying to be friendly, but not too comfortable around a complete stranger. 

She smiled, "See you around Jewel." And with that I turned around and walked toward my place. 

I opened up the pantry and realized that it was fully stocked. I saw an envelope laying around the kitchen bar and I opened up. "Now you are all settled. We love you. Mom and dad." The note read and inside the envelope was a set of car keys. Are they for real? Did they buy a car for me to go around?.  You got to love them! This kind of surprise had mom's signature written all over it. 

I fixed a quick breakfast and got in the tub relaxing for a while. After going around about what to do with Scott, I decided that hiding would not get anything settled, so I opened up my cell phone. 

I had several messages from Scotty. "Jewel-Boo sorry if I upset you " - "Please when you feel like calling me…I will be waiting" - "I miss you…" were some of his messages. 

I quickly texted "Hey Scotty-Doo… just settling in. The city is amazing. I wish my best friend could see it. Miss you too" I read my message a couple of times ensuring that it would not come across as something more than just friendship between us and hit the send button. 

I closed my eyes in the tub expecting to get a message from Scott when the notification sound caught my attention. I took my phone and it was not a message from Scott. 

Mike's message read: "Hey, how are you doing? I was wondering if you would want to have breakfast with me and get to know the area." 

I was not in the mood to see him. He was a complete asshole to me and unfortunately, I am a kind person, but I struggle in the forgiveness department. 

"Already had breakfast, my mom left me grocery settled and I have my GPS to take me places. Thanks a lot… I don't want to bother you." I typed and read my message a couple of times, and knowing it sounded bitter as hell I pressed the send button. 

After not getting any message back from Scotty and knowing that I was pushing Mike's buttons. I decided to turn the notifications on my phone off. I took my ear-pods and played some music, avoiding the world outside these walls.