Running my spoon greedily along the bottom of the container, I scooped out the remaining bite of the delicious substance. If I have one weakness, it is ice cream and tacos. Ok fine, that's two, but I'm an artist. I can be numerically challenged. Also, pizza.

I sat back against the wooden bench. Riley was late and I was still starving. I tossed the pint into the trash bin and amazingly it went in. I surprised even myself.

I stretched my legs out on the park bench and simply admired Washington Square Park. It was a beautiful day. Riley and I meet here whenever we can, which sadly, was not often enough.

Riley went to NYU while I was finishing up my degree at Parson's. We were only seven blocks apart, but between papers, senior projects, and just being busy in general, our lunches in the park were becoming few and far between.

"Sorry I'm late!" Riley came running up with our food and drinks perfectly balanced in her arms. People used to think I would grow up to be the graceful one. Oh how wrong they were.

"My professor wanted to talk to me after class." She said handing me my rice noodles while I moved my legs to give her room.

"Everything ok?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. Definitely." she waved me off and sat down. "Just wanted an update on my research paper."

She stopped digging through the food sack to give me a look. "You ate ice cream before I got here, didn't you?" Can't hide anything from her. "Yep!" I declared proudly.

She rolled her eyes, smiling. "Two days." she laughed. "A new record." I had attempted to give up junk food. Worst two days of my life. Glad it's over. Ice cream is never worth sacrificing. She leaned forward to wipe some off of my cheek. I decided to change the subject.

"I got it." I whispered.

"Got what?" she asked, then widened her eyes as she realized. "The MOMA internship?" I nodded.

You should have seen the pigeons fly as she screamed in delight. If there wasn't a mountain of food in between us, I believe she would have tackled me too. She got up and came around to hug me anyway.

"Maya, that's incredible!" she exclaimed.

"Thank you!" I squeezed her tight. She smelled like violets.

"Josh works there now. You'll probably see him every once in a while." She said matter-of-factly as she went to move back to her side of the bench.

"He told me that at the show last night." That stopped her in her tracks. She spun around "He did?"

"He came up to congratulate me on the painting and to make sure I knew that I was accepted into the program. It was really nice of him." I left out the part about his final comment.

"Wait. He came up to you?" she asked finally able to sit down.

I gave her the look.

"No Riley. It wasn't like that." There were noodles hanging out of my mouth as I spoke. I could not have cared less.

She didn't look entirely convinced but decided to drop it anyway. Good. That time of my life was embarrassing. I shuddered thinking about how I used to be around him. Riley had been uneasy about my crush on Josh at first, but as time went on, she became a huge advocate for it. I think I broke her heart when I informed her that I was over him.

"You know what this means." Riley piped up. "We need to go shopping!"

"Ugh. No." I groaned.

"Oh come on!" she whined. "You have like what four outfits?" That's a pretty accurate estimate actually. I avoid shopping at all costs. "You need professional clothing. You have a big girl job now."

I frowned picturing myself in a business suit. "It doesn't have to be a suit." she added like we could still read each other's mind. Oh wait! We could. "There are plenty of other choices. Some even you might like. "

I hesitated, but upon seeing the excitement in her face, I relented. "Fine."

She squealed then shoved our empty Chinese food cartons in the trash before grabbing my arm and dragging me toward a cab. It all happened in less than a second.

What had I gotten myself into.

I looked like a flamingo.

"Riley! You can not be serious!"

I looked to see her hunched over laughing. I looked back at the mirror and frowned. It was a look strikingly similar to Grumpy Cat.

"Ok. Ok. I'm sorry." she said coming over to help me. With a bit of contortionism, we were able to pull the offensive feathered dress off of me. I stomped on it with my bare feet for good measure.

"It looked so good on the hanger!" she piped up.

Uh. No it didn't. But I said nothing.

"Here. Try this." I took it. I was done fighting her. It would not have helped my case anyhow.

The pencil skirt she handed to me was a pretty pale blue color. Next, she handed me a sweater to go with it. I slipped them both on and faced the dreaded mirror once more. Trying on clothes is the worst.

However, the girl in the mirror looked kind of pretty. I think. I couldn't really see her.

"Relax your face."

I stopped squinting my eyes and squishing my face at Riley's command. Oh yeah. This is much better.

"See, it's not so bad." said Riley. I smiled and turned from side to side. I actually liked it.

I also looked like an adult. It was completely terrifying.

"Ok. I like it."

"Really?!" Such disbelief in her voice.

"Yes. Really."

"Yea!" she clapped her hands and then ran out of the dressing room. Probably to get me more.

I sank into the dressing room chair with a groan.

In the end, I acquired three new skirts, two sweaters, four shirts, two pairs of dress pants, and a new pair of shoes.

Never. Shopping. Again.

"Do you forgive me now?" asked Riley.

I stabbed the last of the macaroni we were sharing in the most dramatic function I could muster. Then I smiled at her.

"Of course." She bought me macaroni. You can't stay mad at someone who buys you macaroni.

"Good" she replied. We slipped into a comfortable silence after that.

These were my favorite moments. Just sitting in a little cafe with my best friend. Too bad they never last.

"How long do you have?" I asked.

"Not long" she answered, frowning. "I need to get a few more pages in on my paper."

I nodded. Stupid homework. It always gets in the way. I wasn't one to talk though. I had plenty of photos to process and a sculpture to finish.

Riley smiled at me sadly, reading my thoughts again. She placed enough money on the table to cover us, and we were off.

Riley walked me home. She stopped to hug me when we reached the front doors to my building.

"Good luck tomorrow, Maya."

Oh. Right. The internship.

Butterflies erupted in my stomach all over again. It's interesting how you can be so excited and so absolutely terrified about something at the exact same time.

She grabbed both of my shoulders and made me look her in the eye. "You're going to be magnificent."

I nodded, still not quite believing in myself, but wanting to. I didn't quite trust myself to speak. She released me with a smile. Next thing I know, she had slipped on her jacket and was walking down the street. I watched her retreating figure for a second and then went to unlock the door.

Apparently Riley wasn't finished yet though. "Everything is going to change for you, Maya Hart, in beautiful, extraordinary ways. This is your time. I just know it."

I moved to wave at her, but she already had her back to me again and was going around the corner.

I sighed. Everything was going to be fine. Just fine. Yet for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that this internship would be the biggest test of my life. It was such a peculiar feeling.

Suddenly, I remembered. Photo processing. That's what I needed to be working on. Photo processing.

I hurried inside and shut the door. All thoughts of tomorrow left my head for now.

A/N Hello! Such a lovely response for the first chapter. Thank you to all who have followed/favorited/reviewed and everyone just simply reading this story.

I've decided that I want to know all of you. So leave a review or send me a message just to say hi. Have questions? Requests? Feedback? Hate my writing? I want to know!

The story is going to start picking up next chapter. Hope to get it to you soon. Sorry this one was shorter. - Hanna