Fan Fiction ❯ Eve's Garden ❯ Chapter 1

Theirs was a romance that storybooks and sappy made-for-TV movies would have referred to as a "whirlwind love affair," but Eve couldn't have imagined it any other way. Surely it wasn't love at first sight by any stretch of the imagination. Or at least, Eve didn't think it was.

When she met Michael Richardson, she had been mending a bruised ego and a broken heart after a two year stint as the on-again-off-again girlfriend of a self-loathing Catholic man with a knight-in-shining-armor complex; he loved to rescue damsels in distress, even if they weren't her. Their relationship had been pleasant enough for a time, but after a few too many "little white lies," including the one involving a woman in the past that spent way too much time in the present, her disillusionment met its end and she decided that she'd had enough of men for a while. She had resolved to kick up her heels, have some fun, and enamored herself of a life with as few responsibilities as a girl in her position could hope for.

She was nineteen, successfully employed as a retail manager, freelanced evenings as the editor of a local entertainment rag and attended City College part-time. That didn't leave too much time for a social life, which to Eve meant it didn't leave too much time to go looking for a broken heart. She drove, more often pushed, a white, beat up junker with ten years and one hundred thousand miles too many on it, and lived quietly in a decent part of town with a tangerine cat to wake up next to.

There was nothing so very remarkable about her life, save for it being so very unremarkable.

It was the day after tax day, April had just come to a head, and Eve decided it was high time to be getting on with getting on.

Spring break meant a reprieve from her studies and a few days off from work, so she set about making the most of it by dropping in on a friend she hadn't seen in a while.

Diane Shoemaker was pleasant looking, with stereotypical California girl looks- blond hair, blue eyes and a medium build. But Diane's unassuming appearance belied a rather flamboyant personality. She was loud, brash, and brazen. She always spoke her mind and never minced words. Her lack of etiquette and tact had gotten her into her fair share of trouble now and then, and had cost her a friend and gained her an enemy on more than one occasion. And that was exactly what Eve liked about her. Eve often took others too much into account, often forsaking her own feelings and wants for the comfort of others. Diane would be just the person to help Eve find her wild side, just the person to help her unwind after the emotional turmoil she'd so recently found herself in. And if a little of Diane's spontaneity and verve rubbed off on her, so much the better.

After throwing on a baseball cap, t-shirt, and pair of jeans, Eve tucked a stray wisp of honey colored hair behind her ear and left for Diane's. A push start got her jalopy sputtering on its way and within five minutes she was knocking on the door of her friend's new apartment.

Diane had been attending college out of state the previous semester, and being back less than six months, had already moved in with the latest in her string of beaus. As things turned out, her recent conquest proved too nice for her taste and within a month they had amicably decided to continue the cohabitation in separate rooms. The arrangement worked well though, from what Diane had told Eve, since she had remained good friends with her ex and he had needed a roommate besides.

It was Diane's roommate who answered the door.