Excerpt: APOLLO

Morita drove them back to the flat in his battered old camper van, and then drove off himself, leaving Jarred to stay with them for night, for all too apparent reasons. Laying in bed, listening to music through headphones to try to block out the sounds next door in Lydia's room, Arie stared at the ceiling. She kept turning over thoughts about the events of the evening. She couldn't believe how Morita had acted. She rolled over and stared at the wall, but not matter how hard she tried to tell herself that it wasn't any of her business how he treated his girlfriend, nor should she care much for his opinion of her, she couldn't get it out of her head. She got up out of bed again, and began to unpack her suitcase of clothes, that was still laying on the floor. She couldn't believe that she had met someone like that, who could get away with being so sure of themselves that they would act however they wanted, totally disregarding others around them. Folding the clothes delicately and putting them into the drawers in her cupboard she vowed to stop thinking about him completely, and do whatever she could to not let him get to her. After all, by association of Jarred, she was going to have to spend more time around him, so it would be better for her if she could just remove herself emotionally from the situation. Closing a drawer firmly, she nodded, mentally closing the dilemma in her head.

She then went and laid back in bed, trying to sleep, knowing that she had to get up for an early class the next day.
Despite her resolution, she couldn't stop thinking of his smile.