New York Dreaming

Chapter 3

"AHHHHHH!" Jay lets out a girly screech.

"Sorry, sorry!" I say, re-adjusting my grip on his shoulders.

Me and Rachel are carrying him up into our dorm right now. We have to carry, yes CARRY a screaming gay into our dorm every evening, so the stairs don't turn into a fucking slide. He doesn't feel comfortable in his dorm, since his roommates are basically some professor's kid and the Potter squad. So, we moved his stuff into our room. Now we get him every night, and he gets a harassment-free zone where he can do his 3 AM yoga and skincare routine in peace.

"How much soup did you even eat?" Rachel shrieks, trying to lift his legs up so I can ascend another stair.

"Not as much as you! You had THREE bread bowls of clam chowder. Not one, not two, THREE FUCKING BOWLS! And you have the audacity to call me fat." He replies, lifting his head to look at her.

"It's not my fault I like food! It was really good. Like really good." She says, her voice softening.

"You know we can't belittle her for her food choices, Jay. She's a compulsive eater." I add.

Jay agrees, saying "The only reason she isn't as big as New York City is because she dances twenty four seven."

"LAST ONE!" I call down, hearing Rachel mewl happily. I push myself up the last stair, and Rachel follows, pushing him back up the stairs. We set him down.

"Thanks girls." He says, straightening his hair, and pulling his vest straight.

"Mhm. What would you do without us?" Rachel sighs at him, twirling her hair around her finger. She pushes open our dorm room, and runs in, flopping down on her bed with a groan. "I'm so tired....." She whines.

"Poor baby," I say to her, going over and petting her head.

I start humming, and prance over with a bounce in my step towards the full length mirror I made Rachel drag up the stairs and hang on the back of the door. I make a fist, resembling me holding a microphone, and hum into it, my hand raising as I hum the high note.

"Whatcha singin', bee?" Jay comes and stands a bit away from me.

"Guess. My favorite Amy Winehouse song." I give him a hint, pointing at him with my hand that wasn't holding a pretend microphone.

"Valerie." He says, rolling his eyes. "Your go-to shower song." He replies, going and sitting on the end of his bed facing me.

"I'm going to pretend you aren't a total stalker that listens to me in the shower since you live with me." I roll my eyes at him.

"You basically scream the words, Madi, it's not exactly hard to hear." Rachel calls out. I look over at her, only to find her in a ball on her bed.

"Yeah, whatever." I roll my eyes, and drop the pretend microphone, and run my hands through my hair in the mirror, still humming.

"Don't just hum it bee. Sing. My ears have been assaulted by the grating voices of the Potter squad all day, I need some music for my health." Jay says to me, his hand scratching his neck.

"Only if I have my favorite partner." I say, hinting over at him with a wink.

"I believe that can be arranged, Miss Anderson." He gets up and bows before going into the bathroom.

"TAKE A SHIT LATER I WANT MY DUO BUDDY." I yell into the bathroom.

"Relax I'm getting our mics." He comes back with my two hairbrushes.

"I CALL THE GREEN!" I yell again. He tosses the circular green brush at me.

"Well sometimes I go out by myself," Jay walk forward singing the first part of the song.

"And I look across the water." His arm goes out in front of me. I push it away, annoyed, and he smiles at me as he sings the next lyric:

"And I think of all the things, what you're doing, and in my head I paint a picture." Jay hit the last note, pretending to belt it out into the "mic."

"'Cause since I've come on home, when my body's been a mess," I grip my hips and shimmy a little.

"And I miss your ginger hair, and the way you like to dress." I raise my arm up and down, gesturing to my uniform.

"Won't you come on over? Stop making a fool out of me! Why don't you come on over Valerie?" We both sing into our mics, our hands going in the air.

"SHUT UPPPPP! I HAVE A HEADACHE! MUCH HURT!" Rachel screeches from her bed.

"Ugh, fine, party pooper." I bicker back with her. Jay takes my brush and walks back to put them back in the bathroom, coming back out and standing by his bed.

"I gotta change." Jay mutters as he grabs his white and gray satin pajamas and heads to the bathroom. Rachel springs up and grabs her tank top and sweats from her nightstand. We have to change quickly since we are different genders, and as a rule of thumb, Jay always gets the bathroom.

I grab my cami and my shorts and strip out of my uniform, putting my PJS on. I flop onto my bed, and sprawl out with a short "Ug."

"You two almost done?" Jay yells from the bathroom.

"Done." Rachel replies, getting under her covers.

Jay barges out of the bathroom and gets into his bed. "Night guys!" He turns his light beside him off. I get under the covers, then reach and flip my light off. The room is shrouded in darkness.

"NYC for the win. 109 days left till summer. 1098 till our dream." I hear Jay read off of the calendar he keeps on his phone.

"Wow," I say as Rachel mutters "Encouraging."