Sunshine City (Petekey)

IV.

~

I woke up to the sound of blaring car horns.

I opened my eyes and blinked, sleepily. Pete looked over and chuckled, gently.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," he beamed. "Did you sleep well? I was pretty bored, and I went through my albums about three times," he gave me a fake pout.

"Oh, well I'm so sorry," I replied, rolling my eyes, playfully. "I didn't know trying to get some sleep for our day in the Big Apple was a sin," I added.

"It's not. Leaving me bored; however, is," he grinned. "Anyway, we're here," he added. I suddenly wanted to punch myself in the face for not realizing where I was. We truly were in the city, now. Several lanes were full of traffic, and lots of blaring horns. Skyscrapers reached for the sky in the distance, and I grinned, happily.

"It's beautiful," I breathed. "Wow..."

Growing up in rural New Jersey, we'd had no idea of what a city truly was. Now, we were both in awe of the beautiful, New York skyline.

"Look!" I exclaimed, pointing with my finger. "There's the Statue of Liberty!" I was beside myself with excitement. I'd dreamed of this for so long and it was finally come true.

"Wow... Look at that Manhattan skyline " Pete murmured, letting out an appreciative whistle. "Isn't it just the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen?"

I nodded, too excited to talk.

We drove through the endless amounts of traffic till we finally reached Central Park. Pete finally found a parking space and I dragged him out of the car.

"Let's go!" I laughed, pulling him with me. We went past hundreds of other people and I had no idea where we were going but I really didn't care. All I cared about was being in a new place I'd only dreamed about, and having my best friend beside me to share it with.

"Mikey!" Pete gasped, pulling me to a stop. "Look at the flowers!" I followed his finger pointing to the thousands of flowers everywhere in the large field in front of us. He smiled and ran through them, pulling me with him. I stumbled through the flowers and eventually stopped to roll around in the grass. All the local New Yorkers probably found it odd to see two eighteen year olds stumbling around in the flowers, but I didn't care what they thought. I was enjoying myself. We stayed in the park for a few hours just enjoying ourselves and exploring.

"Mikey, look!" Pete murmured, as we walked across a large bridge overlooking the park. I looked at the bridge and saw initials carved into the wood of the bridge.

"Aw," I smiled, tracing the initials with my finger.

The writing read:

GRR+BBU, 2007

I smiled.

"The first one's name sounds like a growl," I chuckled. Pete threw his head back and laughed, and I giggled a bit.

"I wonder if they're still together," Pete murmured.

"Well, anything could've happened to them," I shrugged. "They could've broken up, or one of the, might've died from cancer or something... It's been a year. So much can happen in a year," I smiled.

"Wow, downer much, Mr. Way?" Pete smiled.

"Just being a realist, Mr. Wentz," I replied. "Bad things happen to people," I added.