Talents On the Run

The City

The hotel rooms where in a chaotic state by a quarter to nine. Vivien sat quietly in the guy’s room next to Christopher while everyone else ran around, trying to get ready in time for the clock to strike nine. Gale, Rima, and Sherri fought for the wide bathroom mirror, elbowing and flicking after every swipe their make-up brush’s made. Craig was still sound asleep in the messed up hotel bed he lay in. Pillows surrounded his face and he had one in between his arms. James stood in his bathroom, brushing his teeth furiously just as Brant did two hours early. It was no use. They needed Brant and my help.

I crept over to the guy’s room and tried to wake Craig up. Of course he started screaming at me when he finally woke up. Well first, he had a panic attack and fell out of bed. Then he started to scream. “God, Starla must you be so scary. You gave me a freaking heart attack!” I just stared at him with emotionless eyes.

“You have five minutes to get ready.” I said and walked into the girl’s room. I heard a chorus of curses before Craig began to run around, trying to get himself ready with four minutes and forty-seven seconds in counting. In the girl’s room, Brant tried to persuade Rima, Sherri, and Gail that they looked fine. Rima and Gail were flirting it up with Brant. They batted their mascara-covered eyelashes and leaned in close to Brant. Sherri let the ‘Rima and Gail’ distraction cover her while she continued to put more make up on. As it all went down, I leaned on the door way of the bathroom and watched. It was sort of funny.

“Are you sure we look fine?” Gail and Rima said at the same time once again. It was actually really creepy how they were always speaking at the same time. Sort of like they could read each other minds.

Brant was thinking about how to answer their simultaneous question when I jumped in. He obviously didn’t really think of them ‘that way’ and it was making him uncomfortable. Around the ‘specials’ as we were called, Brant was really shy and nice. Around his jock buddies . . . well, not so much. Except for Sherri and me. Brant never changed around us. 

“Come on girls like let’s go like wow the other guys.” I said sarcastically, like a valley girl. Rima and Gail gave me dirty looks then walked out of the bathroom. There wasn’t much persuasion between Sherri and me; I took her make-up bag away from her, hid it and pushed her out of the bathroom. Brant mouthed a ‘thank you’ to me as we followed the others into the door way between the two rooms. The boys sat on the beds and the girls sat on the couch. Brant and I wallowed were we stood. The alarm clock by Craig’s bed read eight fifty-eight when Mr. Lovet walked in. His dark brown hair poured over his left eye as before he ran his hand through it, making it look slicked back. His dark eyes bore into Sherri’s when he spoke.

“Don’t you all look so dressed up?” Mr. Lovet said as he made his way over to be closer. The water outside sparkled as the sun bounced off of it on the other side of the Marriot’s clean windows. Mr. Lovet was a mix of all of our talents besides dancer, plus a poet. Every day he had some new quote for us to follow and it was no exception today.  “Isn’t the water beautiful? ‘Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean.’ By Christopher Reeve.” He said to us, but at Sherri. “And with that, we will venture out into the open and the talents you posse.”

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The alluring skyline of New York soared over all heads alike as well as the remnants of early morning gloom. The general public of the great city milled around while tourists and kin of the outskirts of town marveled at the great sights it held. Of course there were the one-eyed pigeons and rodents that flew, scurried and waddled around to deal with. New York’s beauty came with indecencies. There were also the endless hotdog stands to consider. The tenders stood with their backs facing the street, eyes watching to grab any pedestrians that walked their ways. Even mine in fact. Almost exactly in my ear a short and round man called to us. Yet it was merely ten o’clock.

“Hot dogs. Get your hotdogs!” The man screamed over the roar of a thousand taxi horns, trying to get by in the city. Yes, Mr. Lovet tried to call us a taxi but none would venture over to the sidewalk we stood on.

As I looked up at the sky, I saw the gigantic skyscrapers that hovered over all heads. Office workers probably looked down at the ground from their high rise office, swivel chairs. The man continued to scream when Mr. Lovet went around the corner to call for a taxi that had whizzed by moments before.

“I don’t want a freaking hot dog!” Cried Brant and Craig at the same as two taxis pulled up to the curb. They honked for us to get in but all of us stood there confused. We clearly needed three taxis.

“We’re all going to have to squeeze in there.” Announced Mr. Lovet from the front seat of the second taxi. Vivien, Christopher, Craig, Brant, and I all piled into the second taxi while Rima, Gail, Sherri, and James piled in the other. I was pretty sure the whole act was illegal. But in spite of that, I still wiggled in at last and wound up on Brant’s lap next to a happy Vivien who was holding hands with Christopher. Boy was today going to be long.

I was so right. It was only one o’clock, three hours since we had left the hotel building and I knew I was tired. Since then, we finally managed to find another taxi. I didn’t have to sit on Brant’s lap anymore and I couldn’t help but think that Brant was sad. But not for long. Every time we got out of our taxi, some group of girls nearby would flirt with him. I felt something weird inside of me.

What was it? Only the city could tell.