Peter POV

Sometimes I think about Sophie. Her smile, her giggle, the smell of her strawberry kids shampoo. I know it's pathetic to dwell on the small things, it's just crazy. I haven’t gone through a phase of grief or whatever you're supposed to do when someone close to you dies. I can’t find the emotion. 

Rose and I really should have planned better. We have been doing everything we can to save money, but gas is like a lot of money. And we have stopped staying at actual motels at night, and started eating less. Little things to minimize our money use. We have travelled approximately 1,900 miles so far. We were arriving in Chicago, home of Nick Miller from New Girl. I looked over at my passenger seat where Rose sat. She was slumped over and asleep, obviously exhausted. I myself was exhausted but she had the last driving shift, so I am happy she is resting up. But I am going to wake her up anyway. 

“Rose, wake up dude,” I poke her face until she starts to blink. I find this technique works most often, so it is my go-to. 

“What? What is going on?!” She jumps up and looks around, her eyes darting all over the car. 

“We’re in Ms. Chicago!” I say loudly, trying to increase her alertness. 

“Why are you being so dang loud?” She glares at me

“Sorry,” I say, trying to keep my amusement from showing. “Wanna walk around?”

“Sure, we should find a bathroom though,” Rose responds, her voice still a bit croaky. We found bathrooms, did all our bathroom stuff like wash our face and brush our teeth. When we get out of the bathroom, we start to walk down the streets. The buildings tower over us. The scent of food from restaurants makes my tummy grumble. I haven't eaten in 9 hours. 

“Shall we have a snack madam?” I ask. I know we don't have much to waste, but I figure we can go to a store and get little dollar snack treats.

“Only if they are at the finest quality a dollar can spare!” She says with a proper esc accent. We both laughed, though it was not that funny. I suppose that is just how things are with us. Anything can become the most hilarious thing. Her laughter keeps going even as mine dies down. I love Rose’s laugh. It is so warm and pure. It's genuine, and happy, it reminds me of when the sun shines a little when it's raining. The feeling of the rays hitting your skin next to the rain drops. And when it finishes raining a rainbow illuminates the sky, all the colors stretching across the grey clouds. Just like Rose. 

We find a dollar tree up the street, and buy a bunch of nasty snacks. We buy little bags of chips, two water bottles, and some extra treats like nuts and candy. We spent a total of 16$, meaning we have about 105$ left. It may seem like alot, but we have to manage to set up a life in New York. Which, if you didn’t know, is expensive. 

But I know we can do it. Whatever the world brings, if Rose is here we can take it on. 

Rose POV

Chicago is cool. I haven’t heard much of it, but I do know its where our man Nick Miller came from. Which I think is awesome, he’s like my favorite character. Peter and I watched New Girl together for the first time last year, and its just a thing we both love. 

The clouds graze overhead, little puffs here and there. We end up in a park, laying in the grass watching them move. I pop a M&M in my mouth and turn over to face Peter. 

“This is real,” I say, the outer layer of the candy melting in my mouth. 

“Yeah?” He turns over to look at me. “Are you sucking your M&M again?” 

“As if!” I gasp, chuckling a bit. “We should change our names, you know so we leave our old selves behind.”

“Okay. What should mine be?” Peter asks. And honestly I don’t know.

“What is your middle name?” 

“Thomas.”

“Thats it! Hello, Thomas.” I hold out my hand for him to shake.

“Hello…”

“Alice.”

“Alice.” He shakes my hand, and I can’t shake the feeling of accomplishment. We made it all the way to Chicago. Thats insane, yet we are doing it. I roll over back on my back, and he does the same. I pop more M&M’s in my mouth and think. I am Alice now. 17 year old Alice. The trees are like a canopy, framing this perfect gaze to the blue sky. And from above it would be framing Peter and I, laying in the grass. A picture perfect moment. 

I look down and realize that my hand is still intertwined with Peters, and it gives me a sense of reassurance. Peter and Rose against the world, or rather Thomas and Alice against the world. 

When the sun starts to set we hit the road again. 12 hours left until we hit the big city. I take on driving duty, while Peter sits in the passenger and sleeps. I plug in my phone and play the first playlist on my phone. I blocked my family from calling me. I guess I think of them and get sad, but also they were just a virus. I constantly got treated like a slave, and I'm sorry but I am human. I am not even sure they did love me. I probably sound like a spoiled brat, but this spoiled brat has endured too much trauma for food and water. 

One thing I never understood was the food thing. They would buy all this nice food, name brand, healthy, tasty, and I wasn’t allowed to have it. Like excuse me? I am supposed to have brown rice for breakfast lunch and dinner? It was so weird. Especially because they only got brown rice for me to eat. So I got a job, I started to mow lawns and do things for money at my neighbors and stuff. I bought some food, and then I would get in trouble. I don’t really understand it. But I will not have to deal with it any longer. It's bull. Realistically I will be broke the first couple months of New York, but I will get a job. And Peter will get a job. And we will make money. And it will work out. 

I know it will work out. Peter is here. Next to me. And he is one of the smartest people I know. He will get us out of any puzzle. That's what I love about him. He is this magical force that can save anyone from anything. And when he cares about people he is always there. It is incredible. I can’t imagine doing any of this without him, hell I would probably be dead by now. He is the best person in my life. He's caring, he's brave, he's happy. He is so wonderful and I am so happy I met him. It's us. 

Peters POV:

When I opened my eyes, it was still a bit dark in the car, but the sun was coming up. A Taylor Swift song was playing, and Rose was singing softly along. I stayed in my position and just looked at Rose. She had a small slender nose. Her eyes were a dark brown, her eyebrows were raised as she was actively trying to stay awake. She reached down into the cupholder and grabbed a paper cup with a dark liquid inside. Coffee. She must have stopped at a rest stop and bought it while I was asleep. She was in a sweater and jeans, as she was yesterday. Her long wavy hair fell on her shoulders. She made eye contact with me and smiled.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” So I grabbed my portable camera and took a picture. She laughed, her beautiful laugh. I don’t know why I feel this way, maybe I am just tired. 

“What time is it?” I groan, my voice is dry and croaky. I pick up her coffee and take a swig.

“It’s 5:4- HEY!” She grabs the cup from my hand. “Get your paws off.” I smiled at her and looked ahead. The sky had pinks on the edge, orange was filling the base. The sun was starting to come up, its tiny rays covering the distance. It was comforting, a new day. It was joyous. 

“How far?” I ask.

“Two hours, and you're driving!” She pulls over and gets out of the car. She sits on a rock, staring out on the field next to the road. I walk over next to her, the wind blows our hair. To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra starts to play. Rose stands up and holds out her hand. I look up at her and take it, locking eyes. A tiny smile crosses her face as she runs out to the Pennsylvania feld. I follow, smiling. We stop in the middle, and she starts to twirl and dance. I follow, spinning in her hands. Her long brown hair moves gracefully in the wind, her deep brown eyes catch mine. Grins on both of our faces, the birds fly overhead chirping and gliding. The sun rays shine on us like spotlights. I place my hands on her waist, and she places her around my neck. We sway back forth, eyes locked. I feel goosebumps crawl up my body, though I am not cold. We stay like that until she rests her head on my chest. I freeze up, and set my head on top of hers, her shampoo wafting in my nose. Though it isn’t unpleasant, in fact it smells of strawberries. I try to think of something to say but my mind goes blank. She looks down and clears her throat. 

“Um, let's get back?” She asks, the sun is fully up now. 

“Sure!” And we sprint back to the car.

The next two hours I drive, and it feels a bit awkward if I am being honest. I want to talk to Rose about what happened in the field, but she hasn’t spoken once, except for asking where our gum is. So I figured I shouldn’t push. But then, far down the road, I see it. 

I see the shiny buildings, the cars, the people. I see New York City. Excitement bubbles in my stomach. I glance over to Rose, she's leaned forward. Her golden brown eyes light up with excitement, her mouth opens in shock. I make a note to myself to remember these little things, the bubble in my belly, the reflection of the buildings, the smile on her face. These are things that keep me going. These are things I must remember. 

We roll up to a run down motel that we found online. People sit on the sidewalk in front, the cars run loud on the road. I grab my backpack and our money and walk in. At the front desk is a little old lady, her long dark hair pulled into multiple braids. She wore a floral yellow shirt which contrasted her dark skin. She flashed us a sweet smile. 

“Why hello, sugars!” She exclaims as if she knows us. 

“Hello! 20$ a night?” I ask, my tone a bit more down from exhaustion. 

“Yes sir. But that's only for a single bed. Would you go higher for 2?” She looks up, her eyes darting from Rose to me. I look at Rose with my eyebrows raised.

“One is fine, please.” Rose speaks up.

“Ho ho, okay little lady.” the lady says and grabs two keys. She walks us to the rooms, they are in the middle of the main hallway. “You kids don't disrupt my customers.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I smile at her and open the door. Inside is a bed, a small bathroom, and a tiny table. Functional, not fancy, but functional. 

“I just said one bed because we only have so much money,” Rose says. Her back is facing me, she is staring out the window. She only says after a few beats: “We should change ourselves.”

“How so?” 

“I'm gonna cut my hair. You should dye yours.” Rose starts to rummage through the drawers of tables and such. “Aha!” She pulls out scissors and snips them. 

“You sure?” 

“Yeah, it’ll look cute!” And she leaves for the bathroom. 

I walk down the street to a nearby store. I walk through the aisles looking for hair dye, and I finally find it. I skim all the colors, but I decide I want to go brown. I look for the cheapest box, and go ring it up. I decide when I leave that I will go walk around a bit. Our motel is more on the outside of all the excitement, so I decided not to go all up in that business today. But I stroll along the neighborhood. These aren’t fancy houses. In fact some may say these are trash. But they seem to be functional for the families living here. I see moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas. They are in chairs, on the steps, sitting in the grass, just talking. Laughing. The little children run around, they scream, they giggle, they smile. Everyone gathers in their areas enjoying themselves, enjoying each other. That is a sense of family. 

It starts to get darker as I walk back. I am really excited for this next chapter of my life. I think I will do well. Because even those people who don't have the greatest things mmanage to be happy. And I already feel happy. 

When I get back the room feels empty. 

“Rose?” I called. 

“It’s Alice, now” She jumps out of the bathroom, making me jump a bit. Her hair is cut above the shoulders. Her brown hair sticks out, like its pulling away from her head. Like a fairy haircut. And it looks really good on her. 

“Wow! Look at you!” 

“Awesome, right?!” she smiles, I can tell she really loves it. I pull out my hair dye.

“Look at what I got!” I say, waving it around a bit. 

“Ooh! This is so exciting! Let's dye your hair right now!” And she grabs my arm and yanks it into the bathroom. “You are going to look smokin’ after this!”

“Hey! I think I am pretty smokin’ as is!” I saw and she pulled a chair over and started to take the stuff out of the box.

“Yeah, okay” She snorts. I shake my head.

“Let's just get this over with,” I say and then I turn on some music through Roses phone. She mixes the things in bottles and tubes and stuff, I am not very sure about any of it. But she just does her thing, and I sit back. I see her bob her head back and forth through the mirror, singing along with whatever rock song is playing. She applies it on my head and I shiver from the immediate coldness on my scalp. 

“Big baby.” I hear her whisper. In response I slap her arm. She cries out, “Hey!”

“I am not a baby,” I respond. I see a small smile crawl on her face. Then Cornelia Street by Taylor Swift starts to play, she bursts out singing. I sing too, though my voice is a bit crackly. She uses my hair dye bottle as a microphone, while using her hands to apply the brown goop to my hair. It kinda resembles poop. After about 5 minutes she takes her hands off my head. 

“Now we wait.” 

“How long?” 

“Er, 15 minutes?”

“Okay.” I walk over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it. I pick up the remote and flick on the TV. It's a little box TV, which is cute. It’s similar to the one I had at home. I skip through the channels, trying to find a show that might hold my attention  for 15 minutes. I end up finding this weird soap opera, the only thing that isn’t an infomercial. But apparently I clicked on the wrong episode. Some ladies' husbands got blown up but it was her daughter who was her husband's secret lover even though she had a boyfriend. And the boyfriends sister was the main lady's long lost daughter. Why are all these people connected?

“Do you understand what is going on in this show?” I ask and turn around to look at Rose, who is resting on the pillows against the wall. 

“No clue,” She says, staring at the little screen. “Why are they all related?”

“That's what I was wondering! Like are they all just committing incest or soemthing?” I point at the TV, trying to connect the dots in the air. 

“This is so weird. I'm happy our lives aren’t complicated like that.” She looks down at her nails, examining them for some reason. 

“Dude,” I turn around and look at her like I have just seen someone fall on their face. “We just ran away to New York! What do you mean our lives aren’t complicated?” 

“Okay, yeah. But like its not like our parents are siblings and we are having sex or something!” Rose looks up from her nails. I feel antsy with what she just said. That was weird. Does she think about us having sex? Why did she say that?

“Yeah, I guess.” That's what I had to say? ‘Yeah, I guess’ ? Smooth Peter. We fall into a silence and continue to watch the show. Then I hear an alarm start to ring. 

“Rinse!” Rose says loudly. 

“I’m sorry?” A confused look crosses my face. 

“Go shower? Like wash it off? What do people usually do when they dye their hair?” Rose said, slowing her words down. 

“Oh! Okay! What am I supposed to do? Do I wash my hair?” 

“No rinse the excess dye out of your hair and then use the conditioner in the box.” I nod my head and walk off to the bathroom. There were 3 brown towels folded above the toilet. Thank god, I didn’t want to stain anything. I get in the shower and let the warm water wash over me, not even bothering to close my eyes. 

Rose POV:

I have been getting a weird vibe from Peter recently. Why did I say that sex thing? That was so weird! He probably thinks I'm creepy now. I hear the water run, which is obnoxiously loud. I pick up a book next to me, one of those tourist booklets things. I need to figure out a job. Tomorrow I go job hunting. 

I shuffle through the booklet looking at nearby diners and such, places where I could do the job. I see this spot nearby, apparently a couple blocks away. Dotties Diner. That will be my first stop tomorrow. I look up to see what's happening on the TV. Now the husband has come back to life and is running away with the daughter. 

“I love you georgiana!” The man is holding the girl's arms, forcing her to look at him.

“But what will mommy say? This is too much, Brett.” The girl has a little southern belle accent, but she doesn’t look sad. 

“This show is bull.” I continue to flip through the booklet, then I hear the water turn off. Peter comes out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. I haven’t seen him shirtless since we were 14, and he looks exactly the same. Skinny but no muscle at all, defined collarbones, I try to stifle my laugh, but some of it slips out. 

“What?” He looks up, almost glaring like he knows what I’m laughing about.

“Nothing.” I smile and bat my lashes teasingly. I notice his dark hair, its laying in all different directions on his head. 

“Wow! Look at that!” I walk over to him and run my hand through his hair, shaking it out. “Looks good!”

“Thanks,” he smiles and walks back to the bathroom, “I am gonna change.”

“Okay!”  I start to get my shoes on, I want to go exploring. Peter came back out wearing a plain white shirt and blue jeans. His hair was a bit damp, but you could tell it had been dried by a towel. 

“Get on your shoes!” I say.

“Why?” 

“We are going exploring!” I smile and start to head out the door. I hear Peter also puts on his shoes and follows. We ran out to the car laughing, the sun was down by now. Trees were shaded by the darkness. Stars were revealing themselves one by one, though they had to fight with the lights of the city. We got in the car and I rolled down the sunroof, letting the summer air in the car. The breeze caught my hair and blew it in every direction. We drove down the street, towards the array of different colors shining. The buildings glisten like christmas trees. We stopped and parked our car in one of the few possible parking spaces.

When we get out we are met by a rush of people, I immediately jump to Peters arm, clutching tight. He starts to walk through the crowd, being my guide. I continue to hold onto his arm, refusing to let go in any sense. I look up around us, the buildings seem to be leaning towards us from this view. The people seem to be ones of purpose, yellow cars drive through the streets. We continue walking until we get to a place filled with a million people in a group. The billboards shine around us, theaters are everywhere. We are in Time Square.

“Holy crap!” I have to shout so Peter will hear me.

“I know!” He shouts back. I look at him and smile, and he returns the expression. We see dancers, performers, artists. Everyone expresses themselves indefinitely. My brown hair flies around my face, the cool wind brushes on my face. Music is blasting all around us, people shouting at other people, the scent of far away food fills my nose. My belly rumbles in response. But I ignore the feelings and start weaving through a group of people in Times Square.

Suddenly music starts to blare out of someone's stereo, and the people around us start to line up in formation. I twirl around and look at all the people, and they start to dance. I notice my hand is empty, and Peter is gone. I feel my breath start to quicken, so I stop. I close my eyes, and take a deep breath. The world falls silent for one second, and then I open my eyes. The people are still dancing, the music still vibrates in my ears. But I don't hear it, everything seems to slow down, I start to glide. I weave through the bodies, avoiding their sharp elbows, their kicks. Then out of the corner of my eye, I see familiar brown hair. And my face starts to light up, I start to feel hope wash back into my body, but it all goes away. He's talking and laughing with someone. They’re shorter than him, they have long blonde hair, and a dazzling smile. He holds out his hand and she takes it, and they walk out of the crowd.

I follow them, flowing through their path of leave. The slip between buildings into an alley, across the square. I don’t know why I do this, I feel inevitably lured to follow. My footsteps grow heavy as I walk across the square, my chest feels fuzzy. Then I feel a body collide with mine, my eyes start to focus. My brain recollects, I feel clear. I look up at the person standing in front of me and I am met with glowing brown eyes. 

“I am so sorry…” I start, nearly stumbling over my words.

“No issue here, cherie,” Her words seem buttery and smooth, a light french accent. Her brown skin illuminates by the building's lighting, her hair is curly and bouncy, springing with every head movement. I continue to stare at her, in awe of her beauty. 

“I am Marie, what is your name?” She asks, talking a bit loudly due to the noise around us. 

“I am Alice!” I respond. I look down at her hands which are adorned with rings of all sorts, characters and stones, chunky and tiny. “I like your rings!” 

“Thank you! I got them from New Orleans on my trip.” She responds back. “You look tense! Alice, do you want to see a really great place?” I glanced at the alley I was going to follow Peter in and shrugged. He will be fine. 

“Sure!” I nod and she grabs my hand, guiding me through the crowds. A current of electricity seems to flow through me from my hand, spreading down to my feet. We walk fast, her long legs carrying us faster than I would have gone alone. We get spit out of the chunk of people, finally reaching space. We walk down the street, crossing and curving. A smile starts to glide on my face as a warm breeze goes by. We turn onto one small street that seems to be a silent pocket away from the city life. I see trash float on the sidewalks, the streetlights glow on the pavement. I see a bar on the corner, ‘Bucky’s’. Marie starts to dance over to it, opening the door for me. I walked inside and heard a gentle jazz tune play, piano and saxophone playing in harmony. 

“Welcome to Bucky’s, cherie,” Marie smiled, her white teeth shining bright under the colored lights. 

“This place is so cool!” I say, taking in everything around me. It is styled like a 1920’s jazz bar, big chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, decals all over the walls, a big stage with a band playing. We walk over to the bar and she calls the bartender over. 

“Two Shirley Temples please, Barney love,” she smiles sweetly at him and he nods.

“What have you been up to Marie?” His voice is coarse and loud but not uncomfortable.

“Oh nothing much, just out on the town until I met Alice here,” she wrapped her arm around me, sending chills down my spine. 

“I am Barney,” The man across the counter reached out his hand, his skin tone just a tad darker than Maries. I shake his hand and smile.

“Alice.” 

“You new around here, Alice?” He asks while preparing the drink. 

“Yeah, my best friend and I just moved here actually,” I responded. 

“Best friend?” Marie looks at me quizzically. I realize I hadn’t mentioned Peter once. I remind myself his new name is Thomas. 

“Yeah, Thomas. He was at the square with me tonight but he ran off with some blonde girl, so I don’t know where he's at now. Barney sets down the drinks and goes to help some other customers. 

“How come you and Thomas are here?” She asks and takes a sip of my drink. 

“We actually ran away here. Portland, where we used to live, we felt trapped. And we always do everything together, so we ran away together too. We have been best friends since the end of 8th grade. And he is just my person. He's funny and he always knows what to say. There is rarely a moment when I am with him and I don’t smile.” I rambled on and saw Marie raise her eyebrows. I ate my cherry off the top of my drink. “What?”

“You like this Thomas,” She said with a smirk. 

“What? I could never.” I say, taken back by the statement. 

“Is he attractive?” She asked. 

“I mean, I guess conventionally. He has pretty eyes, fluffy hair, and a really cute smile. But I could never think about him like that.”

“Oh but you already do, no?” She laughs a little, I can tell she is wildly amused. 

“I mean, I have been feeling a little awkward around him lately. Like today he walked out of the shower in just a towel and it was so awkward. And on the drive here, we had this moment where I thought he was going to kiss me… But he has been running off with other girls!” I say defeated. I don’t want it to be true, but it just might. I take a deep swig of the Shirley Temple, the alcohol burning my throat. I raised my eyebrows at her. 

“They make Shirley Temples special here,” she smiles. “It sounds like he might have an interest in you, huh cherie?”

“I don’t know. I mean I love him, but I just can’t. Can we talk about something else? Why are you here?” I say rubbing my head. 

“Ah, changing the subject, I see. Well I am travelling the world.”

“What does that entail?” I ask.

“I have been floating around, city to city, state to state, country to country. I have been doing this for the past two years. I grew up right outside of Lille, France. I moved to England when I was 8. Then when I turned 16 I moved out and started to travel.”

“That is so cool, where have you been?” 

“Ah, lots of places. California, Florida, Maine, Oregon, Utah, Hawaii,and Alaska. I am heading to Italy next.”

“And you are how old?” 

“I am 18 now, plenty more time to fulfill seeing the whole world. I will experience the life of others, meet the ones around me. Same as I am you, Alice.” She twirls her straw in her drink, the ice moving and making music as she does. The idea of traveling seems so comforting, the new people the new sights. 

“When do you leave next?” I ask. 

“Cherie, I only got her a few weeks ago. I only hop to another if there is a reason for me to go. You must make connections before you leave.” 

“Connections how?”

“I establish my relationships, so I have people to call home, say I return. Barney here is my home in New York, and so is Sinclair up there on the stage. This whole bar knows each other, we are family.”

“She's right,” Barney walks over and starts to line glasses in the cabinet. “We all rely on each other, we all connect.” 

“That is really nice. Do you think I could ever be a part of this family?” I take the last drink from my glass and hand it to Barney. 

“Child, you already are.” He smiles and pours me another one. I smile, a feeling of warmness and comfort fills my stomach, and I know it isn’t the alcohol. 

Peters POV:

I look across the crowd and see Rose smiling, and it sends butterflies down my spine. I shake my head, trying to knock myself out of it. I glance all around us, the noise, the life, the colors. It is incredible, as if I am the only one here and it is my world. Then my trance is interrupted when I hear a female voice shout in my ear.

“Hi!” Her greeting is sloppy and slowed. 

“Um, hello!” I greet back. She has long blonde hair that is pin straight. Her eyes are a seemingly dazzling blue under the gleam of  the party. 

“I am Daisy! Who are you?” She asks. 

“My name is Thomas, nice to meet you Daisy!” I have to be a little loud due to the noise around us. 

“I want to get to know you, want to go somewhere quieter?” She asks. I look around trying to find Rose, but I can’t see her anywhere. She would probably scold me for not being nice to this girl, so I agree.

“Sure.” She takes my hand and guides me through the crowd, giggling the whole way. She pulls me into a small sliver between buildings. Our bodies are uncomfortably close to each other. 

“So basically the reason I came over and talked to you was actually that my friends and I thought you were really cute,” She shifts uneasily so I can tell she feels nervous. However I still stand in shock. 

“Oh, um, wow. Well-uh, thank you. You're beautiful yourself.” I say, a fake smile crossing my face. She smiles.

“Really?!” She jumps up and kisses me sloppily. I immediately jumped back. 

“Woah, hey! We don’t know each other!” I say, simultaneously wiping my face. 

“Well, I am Daisy, and you are Thomas. We do know each other!” She comes near me again and I run out of the alley. 

“Uh, no. That's not how this works. Nice talking to you! Bye!” I run back to the square, looking for Rose, but I can’t find her. I walk around, searching for her. I apologize to many people as I bump into them, calling out her name. I walk down the streets around time square, and cannot find her. I feel the panic rise in my throat. I shouldn’t have gone with that girl. I should have stayed next to her. What if she has been kidnapped? What if she got killed? 

I find myself wandering back to the car. I crawl inside and sit in the front seat, just sitting there. I try calling her phone and it goes straight to voicemail. 

“Great,” I sigh. I lay my seat back and lock the doors. I close my eyes, and fall asleep. 

The sun is pouring through the window onto my face. I hear an abrupt knock on the window. My eyes blink rapidly as I wake up, there is Rose’s face in the window. I immediately get up and jump out of the car. 

“Where the hell were you?” I shout when I get out of the car. 

“Thomas, this is Marie. I crashed at her place last night.” She raises her eyebrows and nods towards the woman next to her. I stare back at Rose and see a blush cross her cheeks. The woman reaches out her hand.

“Hello, Thomas. I am Marie.” I shake her hand and start to focus on her. She really is breathtakingly beautiful, her perfect complexion, her chocolatey brown eyes, her curly hair draping around her face. 

“Um, hello Marie.” I say awkwardly. 

“Come back and rest at my home, it is just a few blocks from here,” She smiles at me with perfect white teeth. 

“I think I am good, actually we need to get home.” I say and motion for Rose at the door. She shook her head.

“Come on, Thomas. You fell asleep in a car!” She says. She obviously wanted to go with Marie. 

“Fine,” I said and followed them back up the street. I saw Rose slip her hand between Maries, and I felt a pang of jealousy. Why was she with Marie? She is pretty, but she just met her! I want to go back to the hotel, not to the house of her one night stand!

“You okay?” I hear Rose whisper. She is walking next to me now. 

“Where did you go?” I ask sharply.

“Why do you care? Did you have fun with your little friend?” she snaps. 

“ I care because you disappeared? What if you got killed? And what friend?” 

“Your little blonde one that whisked you away from the party like you're some sort of princess?” She laughed menacingly. I glared at her. 

“Nothing happened with Daisy,” I grumbled. 

“Oh she has a name now?” 

“Yes and actually we kissed, I think I may call her later.” I started to walk ahead. I heard Rose huff and she went back to Marie, leaving me in her dust. We arrived at a grey building with white trim on it, an apartment building. 

“Welcome to mon maison,” Marie says as she opens the door. Revealed is a special apartment, decorated with antiques and paintings in an elegant form. Colors pop out against the white walls. 

“As you can see, Thomas, I travel a lot. These are different collections from the many places I have been. If you would be open to staying here I would be honored,” She walks around her living room and looks at me. I see Rose standing to the side staring at me, the corners of her mouth turned up in excitement. 

“I wouldn’t want to intrude, Marie,” I say, though it is hard to decline. 

“There would be no intrusion at all. In fact when I go travelling some more, I will need one to care for my home.” 

“I mean, okay. If you insist,” I smile at Rose and she smiles back. 

“Fantastic!” Marie clapped her hands together. “Well I need to run some errands, so you should grab your things from your hotel room and bring them here!” 

“Thank you, Marie,” Rose says and gives her a hug. 

“Not an issue, au revoir!” And she walked out of the apartment. Rose and I sit there for a minute taking in the place. It's incredibly big for somewhere in New York. There is an unspoken tension, I can tell she feels upset, but I am too. I try to break the tension and make conversation. 

“So, you and Marie?” I ask. 

“What do you mean?” She still doesn't face me. 

“Are you guys an item?” I try to be nonchalant. 

“No. We just hung out last night. She is incredibly admirable.”

“Oh okay. Well I'm gonna go get our stuff from the hotel.” I say grabbing my keys and heading for the door. 

“Okay, I am going to go try to get a job. See you in a bit.” She waves and walks out of the room. I go outside and walk back to the car, which is surprisingly still there and not stolen. I get in and drive out to where the hotel is. I turn on the radio and roll down the window, the breeze rolls in and hits my face. Thoughts swarm in my head. I know Rose is my best friend, but why do I feel so hurt by everything? It's not like I am PMSing. I feel so conflicted. And hurt. I want to go back to Marie's house and just take a nap. Maybe I will have an answer then. 

I arrive at the motel and I am greeted by the same old lady again. She smiles at me and I smile back. I grab the keycard out of my pocket and open the door. Inside I see our ags and a few things strewn around the room. I grab our clothes and shove them in the bag. I go into the bathroom to check for any products that would be ours and grab them as well. When everything is packed I decide to strip the bed and fold everything to make it easier on the cleaning crew. When the room is all cleaned up I walk out, grabbing the 20 bucks I owe the lady at the front. 

“Here to pay for checkout.” I say when I reach the counter. 

“Did you enjoy the stay, sugar?” She asks while typing things into her computer. 

“I did thank you. You have a lovely place here.” I respond. 

“Why thank you! You're all set. You be good out there!” She calls the last one as I start to leave the building. 

“Thanks!” I wave and get back in the car. The drive from there to the city is 5 minutes with no traffic, but it's New York, so it's really 20 minutes. It's quite calming actually , to have this time to think to myself. I feel like I can just be alone with myself. It feels for a moment like none of this is real, all of it could be a daydream of some sort. But I know it’s not. Nothing is fake about life. And I must own it in the only way possible. So I continue to drive until I get back to Marie's house. 

Coincidentally, right in front of Marie’s house is a parking spot, the size for my car. I pull in and walk into the house with our bags, setting Rose’s in her room and picking out a room for myself. I find one with grey paint that hasn’t been decorated yet, and I plop down in there. I lay down on the full size bed, covered in a white comforter, and I rest my eyes. Then I feel myself start to detach from my body, start to float into my dream. My body relieves into full rest mode, until I am in a deep slumber. 

When I awake I see that it has turned dark outside, the lights of the city shine brightly. I get up and walk around the apartment, looking at all the things Marie has around the place. I hear footsteps from the other room and stop, unaware of who is here. Rose appears around the corner, wearing a big sweater and shorts now. 

“Hi sleepyhead.” She walked by and ruffled my hair. 

“I didn’t know you were home?” I say to her, “Weren't you searching for a job?” 

“Silly it’s like 11. I already had my interview.” 

“Where is Marie?” I ask.

“I have no idea. She never came back.”

“Oh.”  We sit on the couch for a few bits, the silence haunting us. 

“Want to see something cool?” Rose perks up.

“Uh-sure.” I grab her hand and follow her. She leads me up stairs that are at the back of the apartment. We go up multiple flights, winding me out of breath. “How close are we?” 

“We are 3 flights away. Come on!” And we keep going. We reach a door after 3 flights, a metal door. Rose opens it and walks out, and I follow. Surrounding us is the night sky and the lights of the buildings. The whole city lies before us. The sounds of cars echo beneath us, stars and airplanes shine above us. Everything stands out in this moment, it is all magical. I look over at Rose. She looks undeniably beautiful, the excitement gleams in her eyes. Her hair floats around her face, like a frame on a painting. I look away before she sees me staring at her. 

“I lied today.” I say.

“Oh yeah? What about?” She responds. 

“Daisy and I didn’t do anything. Like she kissed me, but I pushed her off and ran away.”
“Why did you lie?” She turns to face me, the wind blows across both of our faces, the light warmth tickles my nose. 

“I thought you and Marie, you know, hooked up. And I was hurt so I wanted you to feel the same.” My head is still facing the city rather than her, it's much easier to avoid the anger this way. 

“Why would you be hurt, Peter?” She says, I can see a smirk on her lips from the corner of my eye. 

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“Yeah you do. Either way isn’t it your business about what I chose to do with Marie. You're my best friend, not my mom.” She turns back towards the buildings, now I shift to face her. 

“Rose, don't play that game with me.” 

“What game?” She says and turns towards me. We are now face to face for the first time in this whole conversation. 

“You know why I was hurt. I know why I was hurt. And you know why you were upset when I said Daisy and I kissed.”

“Was I? I don't recall.” She puts her finger to her head and pretends to think. 

“God, Rose! I care about you and I know you care about me too!” My abruptness startles her for a minute. She sits there, I can tell she is trying to think of something snarky to say. Before she gets the chance, I lean forward and kiss her. And she kisses back. The beautiful New York backdrop melts away, it is just me and her. And I feel safe. 

Rose POV: 

Peter abruptly leans in and kisses me, and I melt into it. I feel at home, I feel comfortable. When we pull away it feels like the whole world got brighter. The lights, the stars, I can feel my cheeks go red. I giggle and instantly want to punch myself for giggling. 

“Well that was something.” I say to cut the silence. 

“Yeah,” He blushes. “Sorry, I just didn’t want you to say something snarky again. 

“Well,” I turn back to the city away from him, and he does the same. Both of us were leaning on the wall of the building. “If it counts for anything, I do care about you too.”

“I knew it,” He laughs.

“Don’t you get cocky now!” I say and push him a little bit. And we just sit there. And I feel alright, because he's here like he always has been. Who knows what will happen in the future, but if it is like it is right now, I am excited for it. No more running away.