25: Aching World
Turning on your heel, you headed in the opposite direction and towards another set of escalators thinking that he might have went up a floor to satisfy his curiosity. You took your place behind a large group of people and headed up to the packed third floor. Once upstairs, you squeezed past as many people as you could, your eyes darting in every direction. Looking straight ahead at an aisle of books, you thought you saw his 'I BINGO' hat bobbing between the crowd of other customers. You smiled in triumph, pushing your way through to catch up to him. Once you reached the end of the aisle, you had lost track of him. You turned in another circle to get a glimpse of where he went. After a minute or so, you gave up, assuming he probably went back downstairs. You walked back to the edge of the floor beside the escalators, leaning against the railing as you looked down at the many faces below you. Sighing, you leaned your cheek against the palm of your hand. There's no way I could live in a city like this for my entire life.Too many people and too many faces…but I love visiting so far!
"I want it! Daddy, please!" whined a little boy behind you in the Lego section.
"Well, you have to decide between the Dino-Land or the battleship. You can't get both. Now come back an aisle, we have to help your sister." You rolled your eyes as the boy began to cry loudly. Oh, the joy of kids.
"Daddy! Come back! I can't reach it-AGHH!" You heard a few boxes fall as the boy began to cry even louder. Feeling a little bad for him, you turned around to help him. But as soon as you spun around, you already saw someone reaching up and grabbing the box for the kid. It was Patrick.
"Here ya go," he said, handing the box to the boy. "Dino-Land used to be my favorite too."
The boy wiped away a tear on his face, nodding to Patrick. "Thanks mister." You smiled to yourself as you watched. For some reason, seeing this side of him made him seem more adorable to you. Patrick nodded at the kid as he looked up slowly, noticing you staring at him. He stepped out of the aisle and walked towards you. His hands dug deep into his jean pockets. "Well hello there, ma'am."
"Hello, sir," you said, your palms on the railing as you leaned against it. "I see you've done your heroic deed of the day."
He walked up beside you, leaning forward on the railing so he could peer down. You turned yourself around to do the same. "I can't stand to hear a kid cry."
"I guess you can say you're a superhero," you said, smiling.
He laughed. "Yeah, well, whatever. It's not that big of a deal."
"You did his dad a favor too," you said. "He seemed aggravated enough. If I were him I wouldn't have gotten him anything for crying like that."
"Yeah. But all kids cry. That's kind of a given."
"That's the one thing about kids that drive me nuts though. They lack too much common sense," you said.
He nodded. "Yeah, but that's the good thing about kids. They're so innocent and don't have a care in the world." He turned his head, staring at you for a few seconds.
You looked back at him, noticing his gaze. "What?"
He grinned slowly, looking away. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking.."
"About what?"
He stared at you again for a moment, deep in thought. He opened his mouth to say something. "Guys! Get your asses down here. We're going out to eat!" Dirty interrupted, yelling up the escalator from where he and the rest of the group were standing.
Patrick sighed heavily, grabbing your hand. "Alright, alright, we're coming."
* * *
You headed down a crowded sidewalk, the group in front of you and Patrick by your side. Your eyes wandered around at the many unusual sights of New York City.
"You're going to like this restaurant," Patrick said, watching you look around.
"What's it called?"
"It's called L'Absinthe. French, if you didn't notice."
You stared at him, a bit surprised. "We're going to a French restaurant?"
"I'm guessing you've never been to one?" he asked.
You shook your head. "The closest thing I got to was the food days in our French class at school."
"Well you'll love it. It's my favorite place in Manhattan."
You continued walking for a few more minutes until you reached a large sign beside the street that read "L'Absinthe" in large, fancy black letters. Courtney turned around, smiling madly.
"Holy shit, we're eating French!" she said, grabbing your hand.
She pulled you up with her, Patrick behind you, as you all piled into the petite building. Once inside, you took in the view of the most gorgeous restaurant you'd ever been in. The carpet was a soft blue color, the walls a dark marble, and the ceiling was high and lined with small, crystal chandeliers. Courtney squeezed your hand in excitement.
"We'd never get this in Mercer."
You smiled, turning around at Patrick and biting your lip in approval. He returned the smile, nodding.
"May I help you?"
Looking back, you saw a tall man who was dressed in a black suit with a stack of menus in his hands.
"Yes, we have a reservation for a party of ten," Pete tried saying in a terrible French accent.
"Name?" the man asked, obviously not amused. You noticed that he had a slight French accent also.
"Wentz."
He looked down at a list on the stand in front of him, running his finger along it. "Ah, oui. This way."
You followed him to the back of the restaurant, pushing past tables full of glaring people, as you made it to a room with one large, rectangular table that had an elaborate white tablecloth covered with sparkling silverware and clear, detailed glasses full of water.
"Have a seat, and we'll be with you in a short moment," he said, handing out the menus.
You took a seat on the plush, black chair near the center. Courtney sat on one side of you, Pete on her other side. "Told you you'd like it," Patrick whispered in your ear as he sat down on the other side of you.
You reached out, grabbing the glass that was set in front of you. "And good thing they have water because I'm dying," you said, sipping the cool liquid.
You watched as Andy took a seat right across from you, looking down at the table. Sam was heading toward the other end of the table and you knew he wanted her to sit next to him. It was easy to tell he liked her; he was always staring at her. You kicked him hard on the shin, making him jump in his seat.
"What the hell?"
You glared at him from behind your cup, making your eyes dart suggestively over at Sam. He gave you a confused look and you rolled your eyes at him, setting your glass down.
"Sam, sit next to Andy," you said, pointing at the empty seat. She turned around quickly, looking at you for a moment, then headed over to the seat. As she sat down, Andy looked away from her and continued staring down at the table.
"God this place is great," Sam said absentmindedly, pulling her chair up closer to the table.
You kicked Andy again and he made a distorted face at you. You darted your eyes at Sam again, trying to get him to talk to her. He sighed heavily, giving in. "Um, yeah, it's great." He looked at you, dying to figure out what to say to her. You picked up your menu, nodding at it. He nodded back at you, picking up his menu. "What d'you think you'll get?" he asked her, flipping through the lists of food.
"Maybe if I knew how the hell to pronounce this stuff," she said, looking down at her menu.
He smiled slightly. "I'll help you.."
Patrick looked down at you, knowing exactly what you were doing. You grinned at him in satisfaction as Andy and Sam continued their bullshit conversation.
* * *
Later that night, you and Patrick left early to get to the hotel. Everyone else stayed afterwards for a bit, enjoying the French wine and Dirty's drunk story of how he tried vacuuming up some cream puffs, making the bag in it explode and almost getting kicked out of the hotel. In other words, you both were ready to go back.
The sun was already set, the chilly air beginning its nightly cruise around the city.
"You're bad," Patrick said jokingly, shoving his hands in his pockets as the two of you walked along.
"I'm bad?" you asked. "How am I bad?"
"You, missy, are trying to get your friends to fall for each other."
You looked at him, puzzled. "Whatever are you talking about?"
"First Courtney and Pete, and now Andy and Sam."
"Courtney and Pete got at each other on their own. I had no part in that," you said. "And besides, I can tell that Andy likes Sam. It's pretty evident."
"How is it evident?" he asked, kicking a rock with his feet as he walked.
"Well," you started, "he always stares at her."
"So?" Patrick said. "I always stared at you before and you never noticed."
You punched him on the arm playfully. "Yes I did, shut up."
"No you didn't," he said. "I've been staring at you since the first moment I saw you with Joe, piggy socks and all."
You laughed. "Those piggy socks were pretty damn sexy, huh?"
"Ohhh yeah," he said sarcastically. "Big turn on. Animals on girl's feet that resemble me."
You punched him again, only less playfully. "Shut up! You're not a pig, Patrick. You're not and you know it, so watch your mouth before I kick your ass." He stopped walking for a second, smiling to himself. Noticing this, you stopped too, looking at him curiously. "What?" you asked. He continued smiling, not saying anything. "What?" you asked again, taking a step closer to him and staring in his eyes.
"I was just thinking again," he said.
"About what?"
He sighed, looking back at you. "I was thinking about Pete and Courtney's baby."
You smiled, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't say anything else, you shook your head slowly. "And?"
"I have a feeling this kid is going to do more for me than it'll ever know."
You stared at him, completely confused by what he said. "What do you mean?"
He sighed again, letting his thoughts float away. "I just want you to know that I'd do anything for you."
You nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I know."
"No," he said. "I'm serious. I'd do anything for you."
Conversations with the wind.
Your smiled faded as you stared at him. His eyes were piercing down at you, glowing a bright blue from the reflections of the streetlights. The look on his face told you that he was hanging on the edge for your words. He leaned down slowly, his lips grazing against yours. His kiss was warm against the cold city air that swirled with his breath as it brushed against your pink cheeks. You smiled against his touch, a strange feeling of excitement boiling in your stomach that made your feelings uncontrollable. He pulled away slowly, his eyes not leaving you. People rushed by subconsciously all around you, and for one moment you felt like you were in your own world.
Put your hand between my aching head
and an aching world.
We'll make them so jealous.
We'll make them so jealous.