Take Me To The River

Prelude

The night was young and the air filled with excitement that I was
just quivering from. That night, as I stood in Times Square I was appalled by the never changing ambiance of the city. The city that never sleeps. I wondered where the city could take me next. I never imagined that it would take me to new heights, new level highs, to a place of mystery and seduction. I never imagined that it would challenge my principals and me. I never imagined that I would find myself falling, head first, for the appeals of danger and secrecy.

Accompanied by my best friend from high school, Joel, I wandered aimlessly. I was enjoying the warm, summer breeze and basking in the positive energy of New York City. However, Joel was getting restless and really wanted to party. "I've never been to a real party." he complained but I had an idea of what we might do. I knew someone in the area, actually, I was into him at the time. By him, I mean Manny and there was something about him in particular that I can't fully indulge in. It's that particular something which kept me interested and captivated. I knew he liked me too, call it a girl's intuition. I know when someone's into me or not. Anyway, I text him and see what he's doing.

"I'm hitting this rave in a few, come with me, beautiful?" he asked. I let this sink in and a coy smile was forming on my face. I knew that he would see me at the rave because I knew, I needed to see him. "Why not?" I reply still smiling like an idiot at my phone. I tell Joel about the rave and he is beyond excited. Dude didn't even wait for me as he proceeds to run toward the train station. "We're going uptown? What line? We can take the 1 or the 3." claims an overenthusiastic Joel.

As we were heading towards Vinny's, Manny texts me again, "Does he really have to come with you?" he asks. I wanted Joel around for sure. Who's to say I wasn't gonna get played that night? Joel says I need to stop thinking like that. I always think somebody wants to play me. I reply, "Yeah, I already told him he could come. It'll be okay, he's like my brother; plus he's trying to meet some other females." I continue, "Btw, what stop?" He replies, "168, text me when your in the area." I reply, "You got itt"

We take the train uptown, when we get there Joel complains that he's literally going to shit himself. We have to stop somewhere, but where? We then march to the closest Mcdonald's and they're open. Problem is, the bathroom is closed. We both get frustrated as I curse under my breath. We pace back and forth, Joel in distress. Finally it occurs to me that were next to a hospital, behind us is the New York Presbyterian.

We went in there and he took care of his business. Soon, I text Manny to meet me. When he notices me he walks up embracing me, "Hey beautiful," He says with such a warmth. We followed him back to scoop the rest of the team.

Manny got a call. "What? There's no rave? Wtf. Where are you? Aight man. Hit my line if anything." He looks bothered and let us know the rave was a bust, we had to make some new plans officially. He mentioned a friend of his who lived in Upper Manhattan also and assigned to him were the drinks. I also texted my friend Alasia to see if she was busy, " 'Sup girl what you doing?"

"Nothing . Bored out my mind, wassup?" She replied.

This was perfect I thought, Alasia is always up for a good time and now that she's bored there is no way she'll say no to some company. So I replied with, "I'm in your area, is it cool if me and some friends come over? We can drink and jus kick it."

"YESSS, you're always welcomed." she replied.

Feeling good about the fact that I found something for us to do I share details with the boys. Joel and I hyped to finally get the night going. Making our way to back to Alasia's, I get a phone call. I glanced at my phone and it's her, so I immediately answer, "Hey girl, you better not be calling to cancel last minute."

She says, "What me? No, never that."

"Oh okay," I say with a smile and Joel is laughing at me in the background like "Is she cute?" I continue, "We're on our way."

Manny, Joel and I continue walking, as Manny starts "I wanted to know if my boy can troop with us? He wanna chill " he asks. "This the Vinny I told you about. We gotta go get the drinks at his place," Manny told me lots about Vinny. Among all those things, he told me that Vinny had a real brother name Rell that he didn't speak to. Funny, we actually ran into the Rell on the way. Long story short, Manny had filled the void for Rell. When they met both parties learned that you didn't have to share blood to be brothers. They had acquired a tight bond growing up together. They survived in this jungle but survived together and I respected that. So I say, "Of course you can bring him."

"Cool, lets go and then we will all head to your friends together," he instructed me.