Temporary Love

Fifteen: Big Apple

Ally

"Good morning," Alana greeted as she walked into my room, eyeing my disheveled and pitiful self.

I woke up feeling confused. Incomplete. I had so many unanswered questions lingering in my head. He never called me back last night. I waited. I restarted my phone just to make sure it was working properly. Pathetic.

Did he hear Alana ask about Nick yesterday? Maybe this was a sign. I really should figure things out with Nick first instead of wasting my time and energy with someone I barely knew. The last thing I wanted was to lose myself, again. There was no one to blame but myself.

"What's wrong?" Alana asked as she slid her body next to mine. Her feet grazed my toasty legs under the blanket and the iciness of her skin sent shivers of shock up to my spine.

"Ah!" I yelped from the unwanted contact.

Alana giggled. "You're so warm. I really miss this," she said hugging me, then proceeded to slide her icy fingers under my shirt.

"You are such a jerk!" I cried out, then we burst out in laughter.

"I miss you too."

We lay in bed as she finally shared details of her life in New York, which mostly consisted of her affairs with the couch in her small apartment in East Village or the library, buried in piles of books and research papers. But the sparks in her eyes revealed more than just the boring study sessions.

"Can you just get to the juicy part. I don't want to hear about this boring stuff as much as you love to talk about them," I demanded.

Her eyes twinkled. Happiness, excitement, and youth was painted all over her face as her smile widened. I knew there was something different about her. I just thought it was the fact that we haven't seen each other for a while. I never realized it was because of this.

"You know me. I've never let anyone or anything distract me from my studies. But there's this guy. His name is Austin. He is so hot. He is the God of distraction," Alana drooled over her love interest. Even the way that she said his name came with such desire and pleasure. "It's funny because I hated him at first. I loathed him. He's such a know it all. He's so smart. It's annoying and intimidating at the same time. He always challenged me in class and I always thought it was because he hated me, too -- the girl who always had something to say. But I guess it was his way of getting my attention, and he did just that."

They just started hanging out for a few weeks now, hence the fresh scent of infatuations coming from her when she talked about him. She looked happy. And, I was happy that she was happy.

"Anyway, I came here to give you this," she said handing me a card in a sealed yellow envelope.

"What's this for?" I asked, eyeing her with disapproval. She knew how much it made me uncomfortable receiving anything, especially gifts.

"Just open it!" she demanded. As I was carefully unsealing the envelope, her smile broadened and tiny dimples played at the corner of her mouth. She showed more enthusiasm for what was inside the envelope than I did. Frankly, my nervousness overpowered the excitement a normal person felt when receiving a present.

The front of the card had a red apple with the New York skyline printed on it. I squinted my eyes at her. When I opened the card, a folded piece of paper fell onto my lap. Alana let out a tiny squeal of excitement. I stared at a ticket to New York with my name printed on it. My eyeballs felt like they were about to pop out of my eye socket. I wanted to give her a response she anticipated, but I didn't know if I was more happy or nervous.