The air was windy and cold but it did not stop me, as I continued to shuffle down the cold streets of New York City. As a relatively new resident of New York City, I noted the weather. 'It seems like we only have rain or ice…' I noted as I continued to make my way down the street as I sighed with a chiling breath emanating from my mouth.
I stopped for a moment. Ceasing my journey down the snowy pavement, to take a glance towards the once busy Times Square that existed ahead of me. It was a popular symbol of both American and New York culture which I had gotten long adjusted to passing every single day.
However, passing through this popular intersection and seeing it this void was chilling to the bones. It was as if the street was haunted by death itself. I sighed before I glanced at a man's shirt, it read "Don't overthink, live life instead." I smiled to myself as I continued on to the store.
As I continued onto the way, my hands felt extraordinarily chilly as the winds of the city bash against me. It was stronger than anything that I had anticipated but I shouldered through it before arriving at the store. The store with the white mermaid icon over a dark green background. Starbucks.
The front door chimed as I walked in and she rushed from the backrooms and into the front corner which she then hopped. "Hey Richie! You're finally here!" She greeted me as I walked up to her and gave a friendly smile. I shivered slightly as the frost from earlier would bare its way into my fingers. She held her hand out and continued to smile. She was now waiting for me to complete my side of our secret gesture.
A gesture between manager and employee as well as friends. I took her hand and shook it firmly before turning my glance back up and meeting her eyes. She began to talk. "Gee… Your hand is really cold. You should have gotten a jacket. After all, it's going to become increasingly colder with all this climate change stuff…" She paused as her face turned somewhat stingy from having to mention climate change. "I'll have to refuse. Jackets are seriously expensive and will hamper my budget significantly. I'm not exactly in the best place, economically after all I've got all the student loans from going to Harvard. I'll think about it then, when I've got my loans tied up."
I refuted her suggestion and she nodded in response before leaning closer to me. "Well, you're my friend and my employee, so how about I invest some of my own money? Because I don't want to see you become a snowman, so I'll pay for it." I scratched my head as she stared at me with an intense smile and passionate gaze from her flickering dark blue eyes. "Since you are being this pushy about the jacket stuff, I'll get it."
She smiled before jumping back over the front desk. I stared at her blankly and she turned back towards me. "You should really stop that…" I commented as she smiled. "Don't sweat about it. I won't fuck up." She defiantly said and I began to walk to the front counter but the doorbell rang. I came to an abrupt stop and glanced at the man in question.
"I'm back!" He cried out as he threw his hands into the air and yawned. "Oh hey there Richie, and hey there Jill." He walked into the cafe and threw himself onto a chair before taking his phone out of his jeans and laying it onto the table. "Welcome back." The two of us greeted with the exact same words, prompting me to glance at her as she smiled smugly. I didn't expect to say the exact same thing as her at the exact same time.
Jed furrowed his eyebrows before glancing at the two of us. "Are the two of you some kind of hidden twins, that were separated from birth but kept some kind of psychic connection to one another. Because the tendency for the two of you guys to say exactly the same thing is really making me ask that question."
I chuckled as I walked further into the counter and into the backroom. "You should definitely watch how much anime you are watching…" I commented as I chuckled. "Maybe I'd be like him, if a certain someone suggested me actually good anime, instead of whatever was popular." Jill said as she glanced at me with a slight smile forming the convex of her lips. We all chuckled before starting up the day.
–
I sighed as I knew that the last minute of the work day was about to roll around. "There's just one more minute, so please don't die on me." Jill complained as she glanced at me. "Right. Right. I'll just brew a cappuccino for myself after this." I commented as I served the last drink of the day. I handed it off to Jill and she turned to me and Jed.
"Looks like we survived another day of work." Jill said as she wiped her sweat. "Yeah, but thankfully there weren't as many customers coming here. Otherwise we would be a lot more exhausted than we would be right now." Jed commented. "Yeah… Seems like that strong weather front had seriously cut our traffic by a third." Jill commented with a slightly sour look on her face.
"And there's the fact that the new mayor can't even keep crime down!" Jed complained as he crossed his hands together. "Yeah. It was really unfortunate that Adams would turn out this way. I thought he would be like a Giulani type after all he was running as a moderate democrat from the nineties that was super tough on crime. But it seems like he's another lying politician…" Jill sighed as she stared out the window.
"Yeah… That's really unfortunate." I commented with very few words to say. "Heck even De Blasio out of all people had a hell of a lot of better crime policy than Adams!" Jed passionately lamented the existence of the politician scum. "If you're so passionate about draining these swamp politicians, how about you run yourself? I'd certainly vote for my friend." Jill suggested as her eyes shot towards Jed.
"Not in a million years! I won't even touch the current political mess if I had a forty meter pole!" "Well that's unfortunate. Looks like I am forever going to be the undecided voter that both parties can't even turn out." She commented as she shot me a glance. "Right… I have to get your cappuccino." She quickly blended the cappuccino and left the store to Jed.
"Sorry." She bowed over to me. I didn't know what this was about and began to activate my fight or flight response due to the awkward situation. "Uh… What was this for." I said as I looked off into the distance. "It seemed like you were being estranged by our political discussion." She commented as a slight blush appeared on her face.
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"It's no deal and besides I'm not exactly the type of friend to burn friendships over politics." She smiled. "It looks like you are a really good friend." She said as she walked to my side and grazed against my left hand. "May I?"
"O-O-Of course!" I said as I felt her soft hands crawl into mine. I glanced at her and she had the happiest expression that I'd ever seen on her face. Happier than the time that she was promoted to our cafe's manager in front of us all. She was like a big sister to me and I knew I could not let her go. I held her hand tightly. "Shall we go off now?"
"Alright." We headed down the cold pavement and made our way into a clothing store. As we walked through the scanners, I noticed a staff member of the particular store giving us an unsavvy look. I felt slightly distraught by her cold sinister eyes… "Hey. There's nothing to worry about." Jill reminded me as she continued to guide me to the men's clothing section.
She grabbed a puffy dark blue jacket and presented it to me. "Is this good?" She asked… "Earth to Richie. Are you there?" She appeared in front of me and I stumbled slightly. I wasn't expecting herp to be there out of all places. "I'm here! I'm here!" I replied as I returned to my consciousness. "Do you want this jacket?" She asked.
"It looks good, but I'd like something darker and with the same puffiness." She nodded as she presented to me a near black jacket that bordered the line between dark blue and black. "Is this what you want?" She asked as she stared into my eyes.
"This is what I want." She smiled and we made our way back to the entrance of the store to pay for the goods. "That will be one hundred seven two dollars including tax." Jill handed the lady her credit card and eventually we walked out into the cold streets of New York City. It was a long day and I was getting drowsy.
I let out a yawn and Jill smiled as she took off her mask. "Today was really long wasn't it?" I stared into her light blue eyes and found myself immersed into her. "It was definitely long, but I'm wondering…" I paused as a blush came over my face and I fell to my knees and onto the pavement, looking up at her as I did so. "Would you like to be my girlfriend?"
She showed me the happiest smile that was humanly possible as a crimson blush appeared over her face. "Richard. I love you as well." She took my hands and lifted me off the ground before bringing me closer. I stared right into her dark black hair and her expression. Her expression was unlike anything that I had seen before. It was passionate yet… Ecstatic to say the least. She threw herself onto me and the two of us would passionately merge our essences.
The blush on her face was as red as blood.
God. God. God. I don't think I need anything more. I am as happy as a man can ever be. I was no longer blind and roving the world like a blind bat. I had ambition, purpose and most importantly, her. I stared at her before smiling just like she did.
"DDDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" A crackhead appears behind her and runs towards her with a knife in his hand. I couldn't let her be killed. Especially now! Without any hesitation, I took my dumbest yet wisest decision in my life. Taking the knife wound in the chest as I felt increasingly cold.
Right…
This loneliness was all that I ever knew growing up.
My parents expected so much out of me, yet they never raised me.
"Richard! Don't die on me! I love you!"
Azure streams of tears rushed down her face. Tinnitus quickly came around as I lost the color in my eyes. Her wailing cries would be the last thing I would hear before my flame would flicker into the dark.
This was my death.
'I love you Jill.'