The Gray Zone

CHAPTER 37

/Alexis' POV/

It wasn't until the morning of the 26th that Jesse texted me back again, saying that yesterday had been pretty rough for him but he didn't want to get into detail. For me, Christmas had been great. Not only the presents were really nice, it was just the city, the air, the coolness, basically everything felt so right up here. But all this family gathering and talking had drained me a lot so after watching cartoons with Victoria and Jason for a while I asked mom if I could walk around town a bit and since I knew the streets she agreed. I put on my long, black coat with a matching scarf and left my Doc Marten's untied before I opened the door and began my way towards- well yeah where did I want to head to, actually? 

I looked to my right. Skinner Park, not really what you would call an adventure. So I decided to just walk towards downtown. The people that were on the street were all almost running, their collars popped up because of the freezing wind. Between all of them, I almost felt like a tourist and stopped everywhere to take pictures and to take the city in. After about fifteen minutes, I was just entering the financial district where, after one day of peace, everything was moving again, I got a call. "Good Morning, my Love." I purred. Everything felt so good and nice in this moment and I could sense his grin when I heard his voice. 

"Hey, Babe. How ya doing, one day after Christmas?" 

I answered. "Oh, everything's going fine. I'm walking around town by myself and was pretty stoked about that but now that I've heard your voice I also wanted to let you know that I love you really much."

He cracked another laugh and I calculated the time in California. 11 AM, he probably just woke up. Aw. "This city really seems to do something to you. You speak so enthusiastically, Alex." 

I stopped at a red light and looked down the road. Soon, I'd be at Lake Michigan. "You should be here, too." I said in response. "It's so wonderful."

 We talked for a bit more before he said he'd have to help Zeeko planning his party and I had finally arrived at the Grant Park, which was always reminded me of the gardens of the renaissance in Europe. I passed the Institute of Art and walked to the broad way next to the water. It was even windier than the rest of the city, but because of the blue sky and shining sun I had a phenomenal view over Lake Michigan. 

But my hands felt like they'd fall off because of the coolness so after a couple of minutes I went to the Starbucks at the end of the park and ordered a big Latte. In the coziness of the big armchair I was sitting in I watched the people passing by. I exhaled. No one knew me here I thought but right in that second a tall, black girl stopped in front of the glass and looked at me in shock. It was Sylvia, one of my former best friends. The next second, she was already on her way to the entrance and quickly ran up to me. 

"Alexis!!! Oh my god!" I got up and hugged her with a smile. That was really weird, out of all of the 2.7 Million people in this city, she had spotted me. "What are you doing here?" Sylvia asked me with big eyes. "I thought you'd be in California." 

"I was, but we came up here to meet the rest of the family for Christmas." 

"Ah, that's great!" 

"Do you wanna have a seat?" I asked politely as I noticed we were still standing in front of my little table. She nodded and sat down in the armchair next to me. I wanted to be so excited too, really, but I could not stop thinking why we were doing this. I mean, she could have texted me whenever she wanted. I could have texted her. But we didn't and I think that says a lot about our former friendship. 

"So how have ya been?" The girl asked and got out of her dark blue jacket. I smiled slightly and tried to look her in the eyes. 

"Ah you know... Cali is pretty cool, but I'm very happy to be back in Chicago for a few days. But other than that... I'm doing ok. School's fine, I have made a couple of friends, my family and I are all healthy..." I chatted and she made a couple of Mhh noises. "And how are you, Syl? What's the whole crew been up to?"