Chapter One – It is All Over
The weather was crazy. Someone up there had to have mixed up the cards in their calendar because 93 degrees in New York on an early June evening was not what anyone would consider normal. The city radiated heat like an oven and Ashley cursed under her breath, feeling her shirt stick to her sweaty back as she walked the short distance to get to her apartment for the usual Sunday evening get-together with her three best friends. At least she was the one choosing the movie this Sunday.
Thinking about that five years ago, the whole idea sounded crazy, and Ashley would be the first one to be more than 100% sure that under no circumstances Harry, Zeke, Blake and herself would be able to live under the same roof for more than ten hours. But she was wrong. They were living together for three years now.
Of course, they were constantly fighting over stupid things such as Harry getting mad about everyones mess and starting that same old speech about "how much he hates to live with us and that tomorrow he will start to look for a new place to live", usually those fights started because Blake decided to do some crazy desert and ended up turning the kitchen into a pigsty. Of course, they had other fights, some serious like the time Zeke brought one of his many girlfriends to spend one Sunday with them and Blake and Ash simply went crazy, telling the girl about the time they got way too tipsy and accidentally - well, not exactly accidentally, ended up giving Zeke a blowjob. That was a crazy night, Ashley thought smiling to herself. But the stupid fights were the ones that made it pretty clear that their friendship was real, like when Ash and Blake liked the same guy at the club or when Harry and Zeke were being sexists cunts. But if there was one fight that they seemed to have every single week was who would choose the movie for their Sunday get-together. The only day of the week that they all could be together and chill without worrying about college and their jobs. And since they lived in New York after all, it was nice to have this time to just stay together, specially with this weather.
Ashley walked in the shoebox apartment, thanking a God that she never actually believed that as much as Harry was way too concerned about the bills, even the ones he only paid ¼ of it, he hated hot weather as much as she did. Unlike Blake that was already whining about going to catch a tan, and Zeke whose biggest concerned was go to the beach and see if he could find any chick to enjoy the summer break.
"I am home," Ash said, closing the door behind her and cleaning her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand, "It is way too hot out there, I can't believe it is only the beginning, we still have three months of this living hell."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Great, not only we will take more showers but we will also have the AC on all day."
"It could be worse," Blake, who was in the kitchen trying to make what looked like a smoothie said, making Ash and Harry roll their eyes.
"I wish I could be as positive as you B, but you know how I hate this weather."
Blake laughed and hugged her sweaty, blonde friend who only groaned and pushed her away, "I know Ash, but listen at least we can eat lots of ice cream, and we should go to the beach somewhere catch a tan! You could use a little color!"
"Hey, what do you mean with –"
"You are white as fuck, Ash." Zeke said, walking in the room, "No offense honey, but you could definitely use some color."
"Whatever Zeke, maybe I like to be pale. And ten years from now my skin will still be flawless while yours will be all full of wrinkles and stains."
Zake laughed, laying on the couch wearing nothing but his underwear, "Well, you do like to get laid so, if you want to get some in this summer, you should put on your swim suit and go with Blake catch that tan!"
"Yes!" Blake said, smiling and hugging Ashley again, well at least she thought about that before looking into the blonde's face.
"Zeke, it is freaking hot out there. The last thing I want is to get laid."
"Guys, guys," Harry called, "I really hate to intrude but we are missing the important part of this whole weather crises."
Zeke rolled his eyes, "The AC will be on all day, yes. But I guess I know the perfect way to make our water bill even better." he laughed, "We should start to shower together."
"No way." Harry said.
"You gotta be kidding me." Ashley said.
"Shower party!" Blake said, laughing and finishing her smoothie. "Okay but that was delicious."
Harry looked at her, "You are cleaning this mess."
"I know, you silly. God Harry, three years living together and you are still the same pain in the ass. My God..."
"Anyways," Ashley said, "I am going to shower and then we will watch my movie."
Zeke arched his brow, "Your movie? It is my Sunday."
Ashley laughed, "It is the first week of June, June is my birthday month, it is my Sunday."
"Who created those rules?" Zeke rolled his eyes, and groaned when Blake jumped next to him in the couch and ignored Harry's face as she once again forgot her mess in the kitchen.
Ash smiled, "We all agreed Zeke. I had to watch all those awful movies in January, even the one about that freaking doll, now all you have to do is sit down and watch some awesome movie that I will choose, as as always."
Harry looked at Ash, the two being friends for more than 10 years, knowing how the moody blonde was already pissed about the weather and about many other things, he just smiled, "Ash, please don't pick another black and white movie."
"Please, nothing with Audrey Humphrey or whatever else like that."
"Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn!" The blonde screamed in disbelief, "Blake likes those movies, right?"
The tiny brunette smiled a little bit, "I do Ash, I really do. I just really don't feel like watching a movie today. It is a beautiful day outside, it is summer break, and you are about to turn 21 in a few weeks, I think we should start to celebrate."
"Really?" Ashley asked.
Zeke stood up and made the blonde girl sit next to her blonde best friend who smiled and took a deep breath, knowing that once the two brunettes had a crazy idea, no matter how hard they tried they would always end up doing it anyways, "I think, we should go have a picnic!"
"Yes!" Blake said, jumping out of the couch and dancing, "We should go and stay there, talk about life and we can even do sandwiches! Please, A! Go take a shower and put on one of those cute little dresses that I love, and let's go to Central Park, we can even have ice cream. Come on!"
Harry and Ashley watched as the youngest of the group jumped and danced all over the tiny living room, Juilliard was luck as fuck to have a dancer like that going to their school, "Fine, fine just stop jumping. You are making me tired."
Zeke and Blake high-fived and Harry just waited while the two brunettes went to the kitchen to make some sandwiches and the moody girl went to take a shower. It was going to be a long and hot day.
Finding the perfect spot in the Central Park was such a hard task, Ash thought. That was the thing about New York, it was so big and so awesome that everywhere seemed perfect. But, as soon as they spotted somewhere that not only was the perfect spot to get a tan, according to Blake, but it also had the perfect shadow so Ashley could read.
Ashley was about to turn 21 in a couple of months and she could barely believe that life turned out to be such a big mess but also, a beautiful mess. Once they finished high school, Blake knew that she wanted to become a dancer, and no one could deny that, the brunette was so full of energy that just the thought of having to be in a class for mor five plus years, sounded ridiculous. Blake applied to Juilliard and as soon as she got her acceptance letter, she was packing her things and was almost ready to move to the city that never sleeps. Almost.
Speaking of never sleeping, Blake knew that as much as New York sounded amazing, it wouldn't be complete without her best friend. And as soon as she told Ashley she got in, next thing she can remember doing is helping the blonde girl apply to NYU for English and Creative Writing. It was a piece of cake, since Ash had great recommendations from her teacher and she could definitely write the best stories. Two months later the two girls were leaving all their problems behind, catching their plane and moving to their favorite city.
As for Harry, he decided to spend one more year at their hometown. Two simple reasons, 1. he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do, 2. he had a girlfriend. But, after a weekend in New York with his two best girl-friends and after realizing his 3 years younger girlfriend was actually cheating on him, Harry moved to New York without even warning them first. Of course, it was a nice surprise and they did the possible and the impossible to help the blonde boy get into college and get over his ex. The ex part was easy, all they had to do was drink a lot of whine and take Harry out one or two times, and as soon as he saw that New York also meant New Chicks, he was better than ever. The college part was a bit harder, though. The boy had no clue about what he wanted to do. But after binge-watching 36 hours of Discovery Geographic, Harry found his new passion: Nature, well, and meerkats. He applied to Pace and months later he was catching two subways every morning and following his new dreams.
Zeke was another history...The boy went to do an exchange program to Germany, and spent a whole year away. Of course that meanwhile he was pretty scared to come back and face that everyone would be already pretty much with their lives settled and he would be just well, beginning. But, once he found out that Harry, his best friend, moved in with Ash and Blake, his two best friends as well, he knew what he had to do. After one year finding himself, drinking a lot of beer and meeting a lot of German girls, Zeke landed in JFK and after stepping outside of the building their best friends were living, he knew he would be more than fine. He spent a whole year working at Starbucks and then he made it to Pace as well, going to Law school and now determined to fight for justice. And to party a lot. He was still Zeke after all.
As soon as Blake realized that the apartment was way too small for four young adults, they moved to a bigger place. Something still small but nicer, where they at least had two Queen size beds and two bathroom – since Ashley made clear that she wouldn't share her bathroom with the boys.
Ashley smiled, looking over her book to see Blake laying on the towel over the grass catching her tan, while Zeke and Harry were playing some stupid game. Yes, their life was a pretty big beautiful mess. But looking at this scenario, the aspirant writer couldn't help but feel as she achieved all of her goals in life. She was happy. At least around those dorks.
Blake stood up and took out her sunglasses, "What is in your mind, honey?"
"Life is kinda crazy, B." Ash said, smiling.
Harry came closer and sat down grabbing something to eat, "So crazy, but I guess it is good."
"You guess?", Zeke sounded almost offended, "We are living in New freaking York. Who would thought, years ago when we met in the 8th grade that we would become best friends and we would live together?"
"I did!" Blake said, joining Harry eating the sandwiches, "In fact, I knew we would be living together here someday as soon as we got drunk the first time in A's house when her parents were away, and we shared our dreams." She smiled looking at her friends, now sitting closer and looking curious at the crazy little brunette, "Ash said she wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw, Harry said he wanted to make a difference, and Zeke said he wanted to take things serious and find real love. Well, I wanted to be famous back there, and I still want to be famous now. And on a Broadway stage maybe soon! Our dreams never got smaller, we just managed to get them closer and I guess I know why this happened."
Ash smiled, hugging her friend, "Why?"
"Because we found out something that day that we didn't quite knew back then, but now is pretty much clear," Blake said, smiling, "That our lives would turn out really crazy so we would need a lot of drinks and we would like it even better to drink around our best friends."
Harry laughed, "Blake, you always know how to fuck a sweet moment."
They laughed, "But seriously," Zeke said, "I guess we found out that we would need each other to achieve our goals, and look at us now? Pretty good, hun?"
Ashley looked at her friends and couldn't help but feel in peace, "I guess I can say that we are pretty awesome."
They stayed in silence for a long time, enjoying each others company and the hot, not so awful, summer day. Blake was right after all, it could've been worse.
"I have a feeling that this will be the best summer ever," Blake said, smiling as she sounded as hopeful and excited as ever.
And maybe Blake was about to be right again, as they turned around to see who was blocking the sun and a familiar and not so liked face showed up.
"Isaac?" The friends asked together.
It was going to an interesting summer.