Looking Towards Tomorrow

New Beginings

I shake my head to dismiss the flashback of 3 buses and 21 hours earlier. I finally head to my last bus stop. The ride is supposedly the shortest of them all: 20 minutes long.

All the while, I've felt like this enormous weight that has been lifted off my shoulders. It seems like the farther away from South Dakota I get, the lighter I feel.

Maybe it's the New York air.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm now officially an adult.

Or maybe, it's that I'm finally free.

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"Hey blondie, nice shirt. Fall Out Boy is my jam. Where'd you get it?"

The voice startles me, as I've been completely zoned out for the last 10 minutes, watching as the world zips away outside of my window.

I glance down at my bed shirt, wishing it crossed my mind to change out of it before my departure.

As I turn around, expecting the worst, I see the voice belongs to a tall dark haired girl sitting in the seat behind me. But to my surprise, she seems genuine. In addition to her flawless winged liner and black combat boots, her skin looks effortlessly tan. I assume she isn't from here either.

"Hey. I picked it up at a gig a couple years ago," I lie. The truth is that it was actually a gift from my mother. She and I had matching ones that we wore to a concert together. Taking about her still kind of stings, and I'm not about to share that with a stranger.

"Sweet. What city did you see them in? I've been to a couple gigs myself in Los Angeles, where I'm from. And let me tell ya, it was beyond wicked!"

I guess that explains her tan and her attitude.

"Cheyenne. It was the closest location by where I'm from."

We talk for a few more minutes about Fall Out Boy and our other favorite bands. It turns out we both have a very similar taste in music.

"Cool, so listen I'm actually going to this party later tonight to celebrate the 13th anniversary of their first album release. And I just so happened to be in search of a plus one. You in?

I look at her for a second, utterly puzzled as to why she would want to bring someone she just met to a social event with her.

I'm about to politely decline when I realize that I don't exactly have anything better to do, given the certain impulsiveness of my sudden departure. And she seems pretty cool, in spite of the whole "stranger" thing.

She must see me pondering because she starts, "Look I know it's sudden, but I'm sure you'd have a blast. And I mean the host, my buddy Andrew, hired a killer DJ and decked the place out. And if that's not enough-"

"Okay okay you've convinced me," I giggle at her attempt of persuasion.

"Sweet. I'll let him know to put your name on the list. Which is...?"

"Skylar. Skylar Bailey."

"Well nice to meet you Skylar. I'm Charlie."

I nod and flash her a quick smile in response. It's kinda nice to finally know someone from here.

"So just give me your number and I'll text you the deets." She tosses me an old Chipotle napkin and old pen, which I easily catch and begin to scribble down my number. By the time I'm done I realize that we've almost reached my stop.

"Here you go," I say as I hand the napkin back to her and toss the pen clumsily into my bag.

She raises her eye brows in response but doesn't say anything as the bus slows to a halt.

"This is my stop, so I guess I'll talk to you tonight ," I say.

"Yeah definitely. I'll let you know once I make it back to my place in Manhattan. So I'll catch you later then."

Manhattan? She must come from a wealthy family.

I nod excitedly nonetheless, happy to have something to look forward to after the long day I've had.

"Yeah I'll see you." As I turn to stand, double checking to make sure I didn't forget my suitcase, I hear her call back to me. "Hey Sky?"

I turn around, eyebrows raised impatiently. The bus driver had already given me quite a few dirty looks for holding everyone up.

"I really think you'll make it in New York," she smiles slyly, and I wonder if she's implying something.

"Thanks," I reply hesitantly as I give a small wave and then scurry off the bus and into the cool New York air.

Hi! I hope you enjoyed the first official chapter of Looking Towards Tomorrow. You can expect pretty frequent updates, depending on the week, so thumbs up for that. I don't want to make this too long so if you enjoyed please give it a vote to make my day!  And as always, Thanks for reading!
-just_an_echo21