Nightmare on Broadway (California Dreaming Sequel)

Chapter Eighteen

I'm so sorry guys for not uploading this story regularly, but you have my word that it will be finished... eventually :) Hope you enjoy the new chapter! Lily xx

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   The sky was a flat, muted grey colour, suffocating the city with clouds. I was certain that it would snow soon, as the weeks before Christmas became increasingly less, as the temperature dropped and I had started packing up my things to go back to California, to visit my family. Most of the city was illuminated with clusters of fairy lights, and there seemed to be this new feeling of community around our apartment, in SoHo. 

  “Baby it’s cold outside, I’ve got to go away,” Edward sang, skipping down the street and swinging around a lamppost, chuckling happily, the air misting as his warm breath condensed, floating up into the stratosphere. 

   “Why are you so excited?” I laughed, catching up to him and linking my arm through his, fitting my hand snugly into my coat pocket. He was grinning, looking up to the sky with some kind of childish naïvety, as if he had a secret that no one else in the world was aware of. 

   “Because this is it,” he smiled down at me, flicking some of my dark hair off my shoulder, “this city and this night and us.” He stopped then, his smile faded and he just shrugged. “You might not understand.”  

   “I understand,” I retorted.

   We walked along the street for a little while, our matching Chelsea boots catching on the cracks in the sidewalk, causing a hollow click to sound against the concrete. Delancey street was almost deserted; it was drawing closer to Christmas and most of the New Yorkers had migrated out of the city to stay with family. I kind of missed the bustling, all the people with places to go, rushing along the wide boulevards with that same New York purpose. 

   “I thought that session went really well,” I commented, as we approached my apartment building. 

   “You think? I thought my voice was a little hoarse,” Edward frowned, opening the front door for me so I could slip inside in front of him. My first week or so in the city, the entrance to the building had stunk of stale beer and urine, but I’d got used to it ever since then. 

   “No, I liked it,” I admitted, “it added another dimension to the songs.” 

   “I’m worried the label won’t like the demo,” Ed confessed, “that they’ll compare us to other bands, The Editors, Bon Iver, We Are Augustines, Howler.” 

   “But that’s what I love so much about you guys,” I began to smile. “You aren’t like all of those other bands, sure, there are similarities, but you put your own twist on it. It’s the guitar riffs, and your voice, they’re haunting.” We started up the back staircase, the elevator had been broken for months, and I had to remind Edward not to touch the banisters, because he did that every time he came over. 

   “Do you really think we can do it?” He asked unsurely. 

   “Hell yeah!” I giggled, “I mean, it will be hard, but you have me, what could go wrong?” I teased him and Edward just rolled his eyes wearily. “Race you!” I yelled suddenly, before legging it up the remaining flight of stairs and down the corridor. 

   “Hey!” Ed screamed after me, sounding extremely out of breath. 

   “Loser,” I said straightly, once he finally reached my front door. 

   “Hey,” he pointed his index finger at me accusingly, “you know I’m no good at physical activity.” 

   “In what way is that my problem?” I cocked my head to one side and Edward just narrowed his eyes scathingly, causing me to break my facade and begin to laugh gleefully. “Come on,” I beamed at him, rummaging through my purse for my keys before opening up the door.