The Knock

New York, NY

Rose POV:

   Everything about those four years of my life constantly comes back in flashbacks and dreams. The memories are surging through my mind: the applications, the SATs, the AP tests, and, of course, the endless drama. I miss them. I miss the consistency. I miss the safety I felt. We knew we would have to split up one day, but it never dwelled on us how fast it would happen. Now we're here, rebuilding our lives from the bottom up, at the center of the Big Apple.

***

    I walked into our penthouse to find Ruth sitting on our pearly white couch with a glass of red wine in her hand. As you could probably assume by this parlous act, Ruth was the risk-taker out of the three of us. None of us were legally allowed to drink yet, but that never stopped her from indulging in some light drinking.
    I asked Ruth about April's whereabouts, but before she could even say something about a "hair emergency," I had thrown my backpack on the ground, lifting an extremely heavy weight off my back, and sat down next to her. As usual, I started venting my problems away, starting from the minute I woke up that morning.

***

    After talking for hours, I heard the door slam shut; Ruth and I snapped back to reality. I glanced at the oversized clock on the wall opposite of me. It read ten o'clock. I looked over at the intruder coming into our apartment. April was sluggishly moving towards the couch, dropping her purse and taking off her shoes one by one, throwing them on the floor. She walked up to the couch and plopped down. We sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but exhaustion soon filled the empty space and we all decided to call it a night.
    I lay on the pillowed piled on top of my bed for hours, trying everything I could to rid myself of my amnesia. I couldn't get the thoughts of him to stop flowing through my mind. By him, I mean Mark, one of my friends from university. I could feel some chemistry between us, but I wasn't sure and couldn't stop contemplating it. Could it be something? Or is he just a typical college boy only looking for an "easy" hookup? I couldn't remember when I had fallen asleep, but the dream I had will never leave my mind. I dreamt of him: his dreamy, brown eyes and flowy, dark. His voice kept replaying like a broken record. Something about the way the corners of his mouth twisted up when he smiled always made my stomach flutter and my heart race.

***

Ruth was part two out of three. Her outgoing personality mixed well with my quiet demeanor and April's loudness. Her man drama was another story though. She'd been stuck deciding between her high school crush, John, and her high school lover, Teddy. Somehow, they both had moved to NYC, which some people would call a coincidence. They both love her unconditionally, as anyone could probably tell with the weekly gifts at our door, or the spontaneous dates, but if you ask me, I feel like John's better for her. Since before I knew them, Ruth had been in love with Teddy, but all he'd ever done was play with her feelings. John, on the other hand, was perfect for her. I just wish she could find a way to open up to him.
As for April, there's not much to tell. She'd been living her life on the down-low since we graduated and moved to the city. Her daily classes and evening shifts at the hair salon kept her pretty busy and out of the house until late at night. Despite these long hours, she found herself in a little love triangle between her, Blake and Alex. Alex loved her effortlessly, but she could never find the love to return. Blake, one of her client's boyfriends, was the only one on her mind.