After booking a hotel not far from Austen’s building, I call my boss, Brett.
“Hey, Jordan. Is everything okay?”
“Hey, uh… yeah, I think so. Something personal has come up though, and unfortunately, I need next week off. I’ll talk to the others about taking on my clients, and I’ll cancel with whoever can’t be moved.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. Of course, take the week. Don’t worry about your schedule, Jordan. I’ll manage it. You never call out, so this must be important. If there is anything I can do, please let me know.”
“Thank you,” I say. “Seriously, thanks.”
“Hey, it’s no problem.”
I end the call, feeling relieved. My boss is a cool guy and I’ve never had any issues with him, but he is pretty stern and I hadn’t anticipated him being so sympathetic. It means a lot that he trusts me enough to not question me or give me a hard time about this. Though, to be fair, he still does owe me a favor for taking on Alex in the first place.
It’s late, and I’d rather not drive through the night. So I pack my bag, throw whatever food I can that won’t be ruined into the freezer, and toss the rest. I take out the garbage and make sure all the windows are locked.
Then I force myself to go to sleep, and when morning comes, for the first time in a long time, I feel hope.
The drive is smooth, only hitting some traffic once I get into New York. Figures. I’ve never been to New York before, and it’s crazier than it looks, and I’m not even in the deepest part of the city yet.
I navigate to my hotel, excited as all hell over being here. I should reach out to the guys and see when they plan on coming. I want to experience everything while I’m here. I hadn’t realized how much that small town was doing to me…
Parking my truck in the parking garage the hotel uses, I hop out and grab my bags, making sure to lock the doors. She’s new. Brand new, actually. Got her right off the lot. My old one finally shit the bed on me and I didn’t have much of a choice. I thought of finding another fixer upper but what’s the point? Spending all my spare time fixing something that will just break again is pointless.
I head into the hotel, check in, get my key, and head up to my room.
It’s on the fifteenth floor, and the first thing I do is go to the window to look out at the city.
“Holy shit,” I mutter, a grin splitting my face.
This is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I’ve never been so high off the ground before and I feel like I can see everything, even though there are buildings here that are ten times higher. Imagine what I could see from there?
I snap a photo and send it to the group chat.
Andre
The fuck! You’re there already?
Hudson
What the hell, man?
Trey
You suck!
I take a photo from a different angle and send that to the chat, followed by the middle finger emoji.
They all respond, giving me shit for being here when they’re stuck working or doing whatever adult stuff they’re doing. The only person who doesn’t answer me is the one I want—Alex.
Maybe he’s busy. At practice or a game or something. I don’t know his schedule, but I do know he can’t have his phone with him all the time
It’s late now, and I’m tired. I spent most of the day traveling. I’m starving, and as badly as I want to explore this city, I’ll enjoy it more if I wait until tomorrow. So I order myself room service that is so overpriced it makes me laugh. But it’s delivered quickly and it tastes pretty damn good. I eat, shower, then lay in the king-sized bed and flip through the channels to find something to watch.
Before I know it, I’m being woken up by bright light streaming over my face. It’s a little after seven, but that’s good enough for me to get my day started.
I get dressed and head downstairs, not sure where I’m going, only that I want food. As I walk, I browse the internet for different things to do, wanting to do everything but knowing I don’t have enough time.
I do have a full week though. A full week of nothing but me on vacation in New York City and a million things to do. The only thing that would make this better is experiencing it with Alex, but… I’ll get to see him on the other side of this. My prize for getting through the week is him.
