Light of my Life

Breakfast

LAUREN

My phone ringing in my ear woke me up. I opened my right eye slightly, reading the numbers on my clock. They shone cherry red, displaying "6:13" too brightly for comfort. I shifted under my heavy covers, and shadow of heat from where I slept the night before. The phone stopped making noise, leaving a smooth, comforting silence. I began to breath heavily, drifting off. Then it rang again.

I groaned and slipped my hand out into the cold, fresh morning air in the dorm, feeling my way around my side table to try and find my phone. I clutched it in my hands, bringing it to my ear and accepting the call.

"What," I muttered groggily. Alex's voice responded slowly. He tripped over words, and yawned in between sentences. He had been up all night at the hospital with the band.

"Keegan is going to be fine. He broke his arm and extremely fractured his wrist. Apparently he hit his head when he fell to. It's all swollen, but no concussion or brain damage. They didn't find any internal bleeding either."

"Thank goodness," I sat up slowly, stretching my arm up to the ceiling. A yawn escaped my lips. "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright, it's just been a long night. I got three hours of sleep, that's good. Taylor's pissed though, we have to stay a whole extra week now because he has to be hospitalized. It threw off our whole tour schedule."

I yawned again. "I'm sorry, that must suck."

"Well now I get a whole extra week to be with you. We should meet at Madison Square Park, get breakfast and watch the sunrise."

"That sounds romantic," I smiled and pulled the covers off of my lower half, stretching out my back. "I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes?"

"Sounds good, see you then."

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I waved at him from the park bench, a ratty blue blanket wrapped tightly around my shoulders. Alex waved back, walking past the other people around the park who were off to work and relaxing like we were about to. He held a bag of McDonald's at his side. His navy blue baseball hat hung low over his eyes, and a pair of sunglasses covering a strip of his face.

"Hey!" He smiled sleepily and sat down next to me.

"Hi, do you want to share a blanket?"

He didn't respond, just took half of it away and wrapped it around his shoulders. It wasn't necessarily cold out, being late February, it was just morning, and we were both tired. Him more than me. He handed me the McDonald's bag.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted. I got us both egg mcmuffins, hash browns, and coffee."

"Next time, no coffee," I suggested and unwrapped the warm, greasy food. 

"Noted," he nodded, and set my intended cup on the ground in front of us. We ate in silence for a bit, watching the bustling people around us. Then he spoke up.

"Eventually I'm going to have to leave New York." He spoke like he was just now coming to this realization. I sighed.

"I know."

"What are we going to do."

"I don't know."

People continued to walk by, delirious to our situation, our life stories. New York was strange like that. I had found when I first moved here that the city was selfish. No one thought about anyone else. No one bothered with anyone else. We were all just naive little spirits, travelling through life and only caring about ourselves, what we wanted, and how we would get it.

I leaned onto Alex's shoulder, and he draped his arm around me, finishing his food and throwing the crinkled up yellow wrapper into the bag. His back pressed against the blanket and the bench. I intertwined our fingers, and they rested together on our legs.

I stared up at the sky and the sun that was slowly rising up into it. The pink clouds were slowly melting white. The slight frost melted off of the dead grass, leaving dew. It was normal for snow to melt away at this time of year, and with the sun beginning to beat down, it was getting warmer.

My cares drifted softly away, and I lay on the brink of falling asleep. The world around me buzzed, and Alex sweetly held my hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb subconsciously. I figured he was in his own little world as well, thinking. It was nice. It was calm.

Alex shifted a little, letting go of my hand to check his watch. I slowly opened my eyes, staring at him. He groaned under his breath and quickly stood up, helping me stand up after.

"I'm going to be late for a radio interview the band's doing to explain what happened to Keegan. I totally forgot about it until just now. Come on, I'll walk you back to your dorm and then get a taxi back to the radio station. I'm so sorry-"

"No," I smiled and shook my head. "I can walk myself back, you're late."

"I'm going to be, I'm not yet. And it's my pleasure," he insisted. I gave in, rolling up the blanket and stuffing it under my arm. We strolled out of the park. Alex threw away the McDonald's bag and I poured out my cup of coffee before throwing it in a trash can as we were leaving.

We walked together down noisy Fifth Avenue, and eventually all of the way back to Weinstein Dorm Hall. Alex continued to walk with me.

"I can go the rest of the way on my own," I teased. He shrugged, one hand in his pocket, the other holding mine.

"I know, but I want to."

I smiled shyly at his chivalry and we both walked up to my dorm door, and I slid my key in and opened it, turning around to face Alex, my back to the dorm room doorway. "Thanks for thinking that up, it was nice and hey, free breakfast."

"For you anyway," he grinned. Then he wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, kissing me. His lips tasted like espresso. We stood frozen for several eternal seconds, and then someone cleared their throat in the dorm behind me.

I turned around. My eyes widened at the sight, and my heart stopped. I leaned back into Alex in surprise. The face grinned at me smugly, his eyebrows raised, and I uttered the name I never thought would leave my lips again.

"Miles?"

His face glowed at my recognition. "Hey, Lolly Pop."