A Thousand Words | ✓

Chapter Sixteen: A Thousand Days in New York

Dedicated to Leila, my best friend in New York who helped me a lot with this chapter and understanding more about the NYC setting. I'm so glad to have reconntected with her after our fallout all those years ago. I love the cover of this song to the side so give it a listen! Ignore weird mistakes and typos, hope you enjoy :) x

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Chapter Sixteen: A Thousand Days in New York

Having the ringtone of my phone become my alarm clock on an early saturday morning is a thousand times worse than all the noise coming from the city outside. There's a reason I turn my phone off during the night, and dammit, this is the exact reason why. Nothing pisses me off more than waking up from a damn amazing sleep because it woke me up.

My eyes remain shut as I practically slammed my hand around my bedside table to find my phone, fumbling with the side buttons until the call went silent. For a moment, the sounds of car honking and bird chirping lulled me back to sleep. Until that sweet moment was interrupted by another incoming call and the vibration of my phone in my hand.

Growling, I rolled onto my back and pressed the answer button harshly. "What?" Mixed with my irritation and the huskiness from sleep, my voice sounded like a vicious bark.

A feminine voice came through the line. "Um . . ."

My eyes opened and I pulled the phone from my ear to look at the caller ID. Jessica. I groaned and slapped a hand to my forehead, dragging it down as I released a sigh. "Sorry, Jess," I muttered, closing my eyes again.

After a quick moment of silence, Jessica began to giggle lightly. "Well that was quite a greeting. You're not a morning person, are you?" she teased.

"No, I'm not. Why the hell would I like to be woken up at such an ungodly hour?"

"It's nine in the morning, Reece."

"Sleep is a beautiful thing, sunshine. And anyways, isn't it a little too early for a booty call?"

Jessica scoffed, and I smiled, no longer feeling tired. "You're disgusting," she said. "Get out of bed, you lazy idiot. You're missing precious hours of daylight."

Sighing deeply so she can hear, I pulled myself into a sitting position. "Whatever. But why the call? I just saw you yesterday, you know. Didn't think you'd miss me so fast."

"Oh, stop." I can vividly imagine her rolling her eyes right now. Then her tone took a turn for the hopeful. "I was wondering if you were busy today?"

"I'm free," I answered, giving her my full attention. "Why?"

"Do you want to hang out today?" she asked softly. "I need to take some scenery shots of New York for photography and I don't want to run around the city all by myself. Thought it might be fun if you came along."

"Just you and me?" I asked, a smile tugging at my lips.