Aria never thought of herself as much of a small town girl. Ever since she was little she always dreamed of living in a big city. She lived in; you guessed it, a small town in the middle of the US. All throughout the college process, she picked college’s city after city until she finally found Parsons in New York City. She waited her turn to graduate and get out of this town she so helplessly needed to get out of. Finally, the moment came when she moved into her dorm. Her dad carried in boxes and her mom smoked outside. (The usual for both of them) They said their friendly goodbyes and left her. And as Aria looked out her window, she saw the massive bustling city.

One year later, Aria was starting her second year of school. She worked at a little café downtown as a waitress and took the subway right after her last class to get there. It was a hassle but she thought that the little money was still worth it. One morning she was running really late for class. The reason? Her boyfriend. He had stayed over the night before and they had forgotten to set the alarm..again. She rummaged through her closet for something to wear while Adam lay in bed. He was trying to smooth talk her into skipping class and spending the day with him but Aria was not having it. Schoolwork came before Adam. And she developed this promise to herself very early on and she was sticking to it. Running out the door with a cup of coffee Adam kisses her on the cheek. Aria gets to class with no time to spare. After class she takes a subway to Café Crème where she works. She loves working there, though, from the looks of it today is going to be a very busy day. The line to get in is out the door when she arrives. After slaving over customer after customer with smile after smile she just wants to get home. She decides to walk home and clear her head a bit. While walking up 8th avenue she gets a text from Adam to meet her at his apartment. She doesn’t want to but of course she feels guilty for having left him in the morning so she heads downtown.

Aria arrives at his building and treks up the stairs to floor 6. She thought about all the times she had ran up and down those stairs. Once when she got home from visiting her family and ran up those stairs and jumped into his arms, missing him so much. Other times she would slowly walk away from the door, down those long 6 floors, crying because she had said something wrong and set off his temper. But here she is, at his door again:

“Aria! Hey.” Adam says as he kisses her cheek. Aria shyly brushes him away as she brushes away those past memories from her brain. As they move into the apartment she sees the old records he collects, the bed she’s slept in and the balcony she’s eaten breakfast on. Adam sits her down on the couch and without any warning starts kissing her. Aria, in the moment, kisses him back and they share those moments together. When they start moving from the couch to the bed she realizes Adam wants her to stay the night. Again, she can’t. She has a huge project due.

“Adam, no.” she says among her breaths.
“Its fine, come on.”
“I have so much.. due. This project, if finished, could land me a huge internship!” she says hoping Adam will understand.
Adam keeps on at it as he moves his hand down around her waist. But Aria pulls his arm off of her and sits up.
“Aria, babe, you can’t keep doing this on me. Project this, homework that, class this. Where is the time for me? Are you kidding me?”
“I know. Adam I know. But this is really important to me.”
“And I’m not important? I’m not important. I love you, Aria.” Adam says as he kisses her forehead.
“”Fine. I will stay over for a little but I’m going back to my apartment before nighttime. I need to stay up and get this project done.” Aria says giving in a little.
And Adam says “I love you” as he gently kisses her soft lips. Aria can’t help but love him back and melt into his arms.


Aria slowly opens her eyes and automatically looks to her left where the clock is. It says 10:33 AM. She turns to her right. There’s Adam laying down still sleeping. He’s so beautiful. Wait, but its 10:33. It is 10:33. 2 hours late for her first class. It must be over now. She has to go to talk, no beg, to her professor about handing in her project! Aria jumps out of bed and starts pulling her clothes on.

“Babe, what’re you doing?” Adam says as he wakes up from the rush.
“Adam. You didn’t wake me up. You knew I needed to go into school early this morning! How could you do this?” she says in a huff.
“Aria, we both lost track of time. You didn’t have to stay over but you did. It doesn’t always have to be school. What about me?” he says with a smile, very convincingly.
“No Adam. I am going to go beg my teacher now. I might fail out of this class. Does that concern you in the slightest?”
“Aria, I care about you and I care about your future. And I love you.”
“I love you too, Adam. I just can’t. I can’t do this. I made a promise to myself a while back and you’re not going to be the reason I break it.” Aria says as she slams the apartment door.


Aria sits down on the bottom steps of the appt. building. The sun is out and the city is bustling. Everyone has something to do and some place to be. Except her. In fact, she had a decision to make. To run to her professor or run back to her boyfriend. She had something to do and some place to be but where?