Declan Hankinston is on a mission to find a new prom date amidst the pain of his first heartbreak. Encouraged by his cousin Aubrey, he ventures into the world of gay online dating and signs up for Grindr to seek a companion. Little does he know, Aub...
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It's 8:34 PM. We're trying to get off the train, but everyone is piling up, and moving has come to a halt. Just outside the windows of the train, there are people literally hopping over each other, trying to navigate their way through the crowds. Dads and Moms yell at their kids to walk while they lazily lurch around, still half asleep.
Mom still has her lavender neck pillow on, and Dad looks like he is in paradise. He loves the city, I think, even more, than he loves Mom and me. There were two good years when he was here weekly for business trips. He would bring back day-old New York-style pizza for me and a bunch of I Love New York t-shirts. I've collected about 18 over the span of two years. I don't wear them, though, because I think they're kind of tacky, but to each their own.
"Head to the hotel, and then we'll go out for dinner?" Mom smiles over her neck pillow as the line starts moving, and she leads the way.
"Sounds like a good plan!" Dad says. "Dec, I got you a connecting room, so you'll have a room all to yourself."
I nod.
The Grand Central Terminal lobby is as large as I remember. The ceilings are arched and high, and orange-pink tinge peek through the large frosted windows from the sun-setting sky. I've always felt too big for Cain Hill, but New York City never fails to make me feel like a little speck of dust.
"Mind if I take thirty minutes before we go to dinner?" I ask when we finally exit the station.
"Let me guess." Mom turns her head over her shoulder, but her line of sight barely passes through the ridiculous neck pillow she refuses to take off until we are out of the station. Train station, subway station, airport station, whatever the heck transit station we're in, she has that thing on all the way up until we're right out the door. Then and only then will she take her neck pillow off and let her hair down.
The sky is barely visible now, and the sunset hides behind the skyscrapers. So when Mom lets her hair down, the sun isn't shining through strands of her hair, but she still looks stunning standing in front of the city lights. "Shower?" She adds.
I snap my fingers and point at her. "You know me so well." I let out with a smile.
We get to the hotel rooms, and I rinse off quickly. Mom apparently already made a reservation at her favourite restaurant, Temple Court. I would've asked her how she got the reservation so fast, but I know for a fact that she made the reservation well before we got here.
Large chandeliers hang over each dining section, giving the room a soft yellow tint. Lamps are placed on every table to satisfy the lighting, and the city lights outside provide colour to the stained glass windows.
