the last time

welcome to new york

prologue

May

She opens the door to her new apartment in New York City and her heart drops a little. It's just temporary, Aurora, she tells herself. The prices in New York are crazy high so she took what she can get. She had been saving for nearly two years to finally build up the courage and leave her small town back in Chicago and pursue her career as an actress. She had been in college but dropped out after her first year because she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life just yet.

She found this apartment a while back in Inwood, Manhattan and it seemed to be the cheapest option but she knew it would still take a toll on her savings. Her rent alone was $1,750 a month so she planned to apply anywhere and everywhere until she caught her big break. Her best friend, Lexi lived in Manhattan too and helped Aurora find a place. Originally Lexi had offered Aurora her spare bedroom at her apartment but Aurora didn't want to intrude. Lexi has just married her high school sweetheart a couple weeks ago and she didn't want to interrupt their honeymoon phase. Plus, she was desperate to prove to her parents that this wasn't a mistake and she knew what she was doing with her life.

She sits in the middle of her small living room floor and looks at all the boxes she has to unpack. Lexi and her husband, Jason, had done her the favor of putting all her boxes inside her apartment which have been stored at their place after weeks of sending over her stuff. They offered to set everything up for her so it can be ready by the time she flew in but Aurora wanted to set things up her own way. Jason helped set up the bed and a couple of pieces of furniture but her apartment was still rather empty. Aurora starts to make a list in her head of where everything is going to go and what she still needs. First thing tomorrow morning, she's going job hunting.  She has enough right now to not work for at least four months but she'd rather not risk it. The faster she gets a job, the faster she can focus on booking movie and tv show roles.

Panic starts to set in as she imagines not finding a good job and having to move back home. That is the last thing she wants. Her father was already giving her so much shit for moving away and she did not want to prove him right. Despite him being in her life since she was born, she couldn't help but dislike him. He was mean and sometimes abusive, and he was old school. He had an old mindset which would often lead to arguments then the silent treatment. She grew tired of arguing over the small things and how ignorant he was so two and a half years ago, she decided she would pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an actress. It took her six months to become serious about it and start saving up, then a year to tell her parents her plan. Her mom didn't say much, as usual, but her dad went insane.

There was yelling, crying, and eventually the silent treatment. This time, the silent treatment went on for longer than usual. Two whole months of both of them ignoring the other and avoiding each other. When her dad would walk into a room, she would walk out, visa versa. Eventually, her mom got tired of them and forced them into conversation. It didn't go too well but at least they were talking.

"I don't care what you think. I'm moving to New York and becoming an actress." Aurora had told him. Her dad scoffed then went on a tangent about how she was living a kid's dream and had no real life ambition. Of course, she wanted to cry then and there but she refused to let him win so she held back her tears and put on her best poker face. After her dad grew tired of telling her everything she has done wrong in her life and basically calling her a disappointment, she went to her room and called her older brother Alex.

Alex moved away as soon as he turned eighteen, going to school in Boston to pursue his career as a lawyer. He's on his final year of law school at Harvard and is already working at an amazing law firm in Boston. He says he's a glorified paper pusher but Aurora knows her big brother is going to be an amazing lawyer. He's their parent's golden child. Her father boasts about him all the time, always telling her she should've been more like him. What her father doesn't know is that Alex is hiding a major secret from him and if he were to find out, he'd disown him immediately. Alex is gay and has been out to his mom, sister, and friends for as long as he can remember but they all agreed that his father shouldn't know.

This is why Aurora dislikes him, she thinks. If her father were more accepting, Alex never would have left home at 18 and leave her alone to deal with their father. She was 15 at the time he left home but she missed so much throughout the years. She had been close with Alex when he lived at home, and they talked pretty much every day when he left but she wished she was able to hug him and go out to lunch with him or even have his opinion when out shopping. He was all she had, beside Lexi but four years later, she left Aurora too when Jason got a job offer he couldn't turn down. Now Aurora was 24 and Alex was 27 and they both missed so much of each other's lives. They were able to travel together for a month a couple years ago, when she dropped out of college and she had asked Alex then why he didn't just come out to their father? She didn't think it was fair for Alex to hide who he was just because their father couldn't seem to get his head out of his ass. Alex just shrugged and said, "Everyone who knows now is all I need. I don't need him telling me that I'm going to burn in hell and that it's unnatural. I spent years feeling wrong for being me and I don't need him to drag me back down that rabbit hole." 

Aurora didn't understand it then and still doesn't now and sometimes she wishes Alex would rip off the bandaid. She didn't like avoiding questions about Alex's love life and she didn't like that they had to go out of their way to make their father feel comfortable.

She sighs away the memory and gets up from her floor and grabs the first box and begins to unpack. I don't have to deal with him anymore, Aurora thinks. It's just me and New York now.

*******
Welcome to the beginning. Please enjoy. I hope you love Chris Evans and Harry Styles as much as I do.