A deep sigh escapes my lips when I look at the time. 09:32 it reads. Fourteen hours left in the city before I leave for good.
I don't want to leave, I love living in the city of New York. It's a vibrant and exciting city, I have lived here since the day I was born and now I am leaving it with a heavy heart. My heart aches to go but I am doing the right thing, I think... No, I am! I have always wanted to go to the Ruskin School of Art in England, I have dreamed of this moment forever and now I am a fourteen hours away from starting a new chapter in my life. It is a bittersweet moment, I am excited to start a brand new life in another country but I also sad to be leaving my family and the place I have spent twenty-one years of my life in.
My eyes travel around my old room, it is bare and quite eerie to look at. All my clothes are packed into my suitcases, I let my parents sell most of my belongings that I couldn't bring with me to England. I am bringing the bare minimum with me so I can start afresh.
My phone goes off and I check it, I see my friends are making their way to the coffee shop already. As it is my last day in the city of New York, I want nothing more to do than spend it with my friends remembering the best things about living here. It'll be tough to say goodbye to everyone, but I'll be back.
I quickly respond back that I am on my way before leaving my bedroom one last time. I take one last look at it, tears coming to my eyes when I realise this is it, that today is the day I am going but I wipe away the tears and leave. My parents are already awake and eating breakfast, they turn to me when I enter the living room.
"You ready darling?" My father asks, his eyes slowly lifting up from the newspaper he reads.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I tell with a sad smile on my lips. Both my parents smile sadly back to me, while they try to put on a brave face they are worried to see their only daughter going abroad for three years alone in another country. I'm trying not to think of that, going abroad by myself to a country I have only visited a few times before. It's scary, but I am up for the challenge that lies ahead of me.
"Where are you off to?" My mother wonders as she watches me.
I turn to look at her while I slip into my shoes. "Austin messaged me, everyone is on their way to meet up at the coffee shop for breakfast so I'm going to go say goodbye to them all." I tell standing up once I finished tying my laces.
"OK, remember, your flight is at midnight so be home for eight o'clock at the latest." My mother calls out to me. I call back to them I know before I leave my house.
I ride the subway to the coffee shop my friends and I always go to. It is hard to believe this is my last day in New York, I wish I had more time to say goodbye and enjoy my last day by doing everything I want, but fourteen hours is enough to get everything in order before I travel.
I make it to the coffee shop with a smile on my face, I am excited to see everyone but the lingering sadness of not being able to see them again for a long time is in the back of my thoughts. I enter the shop and spot my group of friends in our usual spot; my eyes seem to linger of a dark haired male I have never seen before. He sits in between Austin and Lily, his hazel eyes focused on the blue sky outside. He is pretty handsome, the way the sunlight hits his face highlights all the right features of him making him stand out as the handsomest male in the shop.
Austin spots me as I near the group. "Reid, get over here!" He calls out to me.
I take my eyes off the dark haired male and onto Austin, I let my smile grow as I near everyone. "Hey guys." I say when I get to the table. Everyone smiles back and greets me, but I know they are making their sadness about me leaving just like I am.
"OK, you have approximately fourteen hours left in the city of New York and we are taking up two hours of that time whether you like it or not." Austin informs with a respected head nod at the end. I chuckle and nod my head at him, agreeing to spend two hours with my friends and the mysterious dark haired male who sits in front of me.
"So, what have you guys got planned for me?" I wonder leaning back in my chair. I find the hazel eyes of the unknown male on me, I give in to a shiver that wrecks my body under his gaze. Who is he? And why did my body just do that?
"Um, see, we really didn't have a plan. We just we could hang out with you, nothing special." Lily shrugs her shoulders. I chuckle at her confession, I would expect none the less from them.
"Oh, also, we brought our friend with us if you don't mind. Mathew, meet Reid. Reid, meet Mathew." Austin tells pointing between me and the dark haired male named Mathew. I turn to him, my eyes roaming across his facial features. He is handsome, there is no denying that, he is one of the handsomest males I have ever met.
"Nice to meet you." Mathew says with a slight incline of his head, a smile prominent on his lips.
I return the smile. "Nice to meet you too."
"Too bad you only have fourteen hours left here, you'd enjoy having Mathew around as a friend. He's a funny lad." Austin chuckles wrapping an arm over Mathew's shoulders, he brings him into his side while Mathew smiles at me.
"Thanks for that buddy." Mathew says patting Austin's head. I chuckle at Austin's reaction, Mathew turns to me and winks with a cheeky grin on his lips. Weirdly, my stomach flutters at his actions towards me. I try to figure out why my body just did that but I am brought into a conversation with Emiko, and I soon forget my body's reaction to the wink Mathew sent my way.
Everyone gets into conversations around me, I try and focus on the conversation that I am having but my eyes seem to keep moving towards Mathew in front of me. Every time I do, I catch him staring at me and he doesn't seem bothered when I show him that I have caught him staring. Instead, he will always flash me a white pearly grin. Each time I turn away from him, my brow creases as I try to work out why he is doing this. I have only just met him and he is acting like we have been friends for a long time, maybe he is just a friendly person and I am overthinking things like I usually do.
It's thirty minutes later and some of my friends have already left, most of them heading to their university classes for the day. It was hard to say goodbye to them but I promised I'd be back for Christmas, and that I would always stay in contact with them whenever I get to England.
The only ones left now is Austin, Lily, Emiko, and Mathew. Mathew, well, he now is sat beside me, he bought me a coffee saying it was on him to buy me one seeing as he infiltrated my final few hours with my friends. It's weird though, I have only known Mathew for no less than forty minutes and already I feel like I have known him for most of my life. I am so comfortable around him, so able to talk about things I want to and he'll listen to what I have to say. I like this Mathew already.
"So, answer me this, Reid." Mathew starts, his body is turned towards me with his hazel eyes staring in mine. "Do you believe in love?"
"No." I reply instantly with a shake of my head. I don't need to think twice about the question because I don't, love doesn't exist. Anyone who tries to tell me differently aren't thinking straight, it just doesn't exist. Love isn't real, it's a made up feeling that humans created to make themselves feel good towards people. I have never experienced it, so until I do feel it or even if I never do feel it, love isn't real and that will always be my opinion on that topic.
"Why not?" Mathew asks, his eyebrow cocked towards me.
I shrug and answer his question. "Love is a figment of our imagination, it doesn't exist, it never has. It is a feeling created by humans, we are forced to love and be loved by people because society tells us to do this when it doesn't exist."
"Good point, but haven't you ever felt something like love towards anyone?" Mathew asks and I shake my head in my answer. "Not even your parents"
"No, I don't love my parents. I admire my parents, there is a difference." I tell giving Mathew a pointed look with a smile on my face.
Mathew chuckles at me, a glint of light passing through his eyes as he stares at me. "Fair enough." He says, giving his shoulder a lift.
"Do you?" I ask instantly. I don't know why but I want to know if Mathew believes in love, for some reason I feel I already know the answer to that before Mathew even responds to me.
"Do I what?" Mathew asks, his brow creasing again as he stares at me.
"Do you believe in love?" I say almost moving closer to him as I wait for his answer.
"Of course I do, love is a beautiful feeling." Mathew tells me, a different sort of smile forms on his lips that brightens his face even brighter than it already is. He must have someone important in his life to warrant that expression and answer, it isn't surprising when he is very handsome.
"Why?" I ask, trying to understand why he believes in love.
Mathew let's a smile curl onto his lips as he answers my question. "Because love is the most powerful feeling that a human can experience, we do so much due to the power of love. While I have never felt it, I believe in it whole heartedly and cannot wait to love someone more than I love living."
"Wow, we have two different views on love." I chuckle to Mathew, he nods his head in agreement.
"We do." Mathew says almost scooting closer to me in his chair. Our knees touch and I look up to him, a weird feeling spreads through my body at the simple brush of his knees against mine. What was that?
"Why don't you believe in love? Have you never experienced it? Haven't you had someone special in your life that made you believe in it?" Mathew asks softly, his eyes growing a little softer as he looks at me. I don't want pity from people for never finding love or believing it in because I never had a special someone to experience it. I am only twenty-one years old, I have time left to find a special person but I know I will never believe in love even if I date someone.
"No, I don't have a boyfriend and that isn't a reason to why I don't believe in love." I answer Mathew with a shoulder shrug. "It just isn't a feeling that I associate with because it's a fake feeling, that's just my opinion."
Mathew watches me with his hazel eyes, his lips slightly puckered as he stares at me. He stays quiet for a bit; his eyes are still focused on me as he says nothing. Then I see what looks like a light bulb go off in his mind, I watch him carefully now.
"How long do you have left in the city?" Mathew asks me. I know I haven't known him for long, but I can tell he has an idea and I'm not sure if I will like it or not.
I check my phone and see the time. "Less than fourteen hours left." I inform him. My heart jolts slightly as I see the clock slowly ticking down to the time when I have to get on a plane to cross the Atlantic, even though it is fourteen hours away I cant help but realise it is sooner than I thought.
"That's enough time." Mathew nods his head and stands up. It's my time to look at him in confusion, my brow creasing as I wonder what he means by what he said.
"What are you talking about?" I ask looking up into his hazel eyes.
Mathew smiles down at me and holds out his hand. "Within the fourteen hours you have left in the city of New York, I am going to prove to you that love exists and isn't what you believe it to be."
"I don't see how you can do that." I reply back to him; not truly understand why he is doing this. We have only just met and I will never see this Mathew ever again, when I leave around midnight tonight will be the last time I will ever see Mathew in my life.
"Because you have never let yourself give in to the love around you, I am going to show you how to let yourself give in to the emotion of love that you believe is a human created feeling." Mathew tells lifting his shoulder. It's my turn to stare at Mathew, my eyes looking in to each of Mathew's hazel eyes. He is serious, he wants to do this to prove a point to me and if he can try and prove this to me, I can prove to him that love doesn't exist.
"OK, try and prove to me love exist." I nod my head in agreement to Mathew. I don't have anything better to do with the hours I have left in the city, so why not spend it with some random guy who I have only just met.
Mathew smiles and takes my hand into his, he pulls me up and I stand in front of him. He looks down at me, a smirk growing on his lips. "Good." He says, his minty breath blowing against my face.
I clear my throat and take a step back from him. "You have less than fourteen hours to prove love exists before I leave New York for good."
A/N: Hey guys! What do you think of my new book? I have watched a couple of movies with this sort of idea, so I thought why not make it into a book of my own! I hope you guys enjoy this book, I am excited to write this as I love Barzy and love the idea.
I apologise for mistakes and that.
See you with my next update!
-Lauryn.