Page 67 of I’m Dreaming of a New York Christmas

Anneka:

xxxx

Anneka:

HE’S A CARTOONIST?!

Flora:

GOOD NIGHT, ANNEKA.

I flipped my phone face-down on the coffee table as Ethan – dressed in cosy nightwear – emerged from the bathroom. This time it was his turn to rub his hair with a towel. I couldn’t help notice that, when his hair was wet and weighed down with water, it was almost the same length as mine.

‘I’m gonna have a chamomile tea,’ he said, slinging the towel over his shoulder and filling up a stove-top kettle that he’d taken down from a shelf. ‘Want anything?’

‘Yeah, I’ll have the same, thanks.’

He ignited the stove and placed some loose tea leaves in some kind of transparent tea-straining contraption. Talk about over-complicated.

‘So, it’s true you don’t use electric kettles over here?’

‘They never caught on, no. Neither did Japanese heated toilet seats.’

‘Ha. It’s funny – I always assumed New York would feel all shiny and modern and futuristic. But, if anything, it’s like it’s stuck in a time-warp.’

‘Keep talking,’ Ethan said, sitting on the desk chair opposite me and resting his feet – which were sporting an identical pair of cosy socks to my own – on the coffee table.

‘The subway system, for example. It’s so basic – no offence. But in London the Tube stations are just tons cleaner and have staff and functional technology and actual signage.’

‘Yeah, the MTA is broke, it sucks.’

‘And the hotel I’m staying in…’

He cocked his head to one side. ‘I thought you said you were staying in an Airbnb?’

Shit, careful.

‘Oh, yeah, that’s what I meant. Anyway, the building is so old-school. It’s like nothing about the interior décor has changed in six decades or something.’

‘Yep, that just about sums it up. It’s all about profit. Like, so many landlords in this city are making so much money from rent – even though their tenants are living in crumbling buildings. There’s no way I could afford to live in this place if I weren’t subletting – which is pretty much illegal, by the way. Being single in this city is a total bummer when you’re an introvert.’

‘Hard relate. Living alone would be my dream.’

‘Do you live with your sister?’

‘God, no. We’d murder each other.’

‘Ha, a friend, then?’

‘Not really – she owns the place and I’m her lodger. The flat we share is about the same size as this apartment, only with four tiny rooms instead of one big one.’

‘Woah, snug!’

‘It is. I’ve only been there a short while.’

‘Sounds like our situations are pretty similar.’

‘Yeah. Weird.’