Behind The Screens

2 | Typical Day

Britten

I stood in front of Times Square, inhaling the smell of smoke and fresh bagels. I made my way over to the food stand I typically went to when I felt like having a bagel.

"Usual?" Jim asked me, already beginning to make me my bagel; blueberry bagel topped with raspberry flavored cream. "Always." I replied. He handed me the bagel and said, "I added a few blueberries on the top this time," Then he smiled at me. "You have a good day Miss B." I smiled back and said, "you too."

I was supposed to be meeting Mira at Starbucks in two minutes so I hurried across the Square to the coffee shop. Mira is my best friend because, of course, every girl needs one and I am in love with mine. She knows what she's doing sometimes-ish not really, but when I need her, she knows it all.

When I walked into Starbucks, the first thing I saw was Mira chatting one of the worker's ears off. She somehow talked the employee into getting two free drinks for the both of us.

"This is her," Mira said. "Oh hey, hello, how are ya?" I said sarcastically, trying to get her attention. "Did I ever tell you thank you?" Mira said to the worker, tracing her finger along his arm. "I'm doing fine, thanks." I said while taking a seat.

"Hey, sorry," Mira apologized, taking a sip of her coffee. "Me and Dean here were just having a... chat." I shook my head. "Anything new?" Mira asked me. "A stalk blogger." I replied and sipped a bit of my own coffee. She slid her fingers off of Dean and said, "What?!?"
I laughed. "Maybe I over exaggerated." I added. "He's just this blog called Pointless Blog that found my profile and commented under whatever he felt like." Dean got up and walked away.

"Wait, no, come back we can try again..." Mira's voice trailed off as she realized that he could care less. She rested her hand on the table and sighed. "You made me lose a good one." She said then took a swig of her coffee. I giggled. "Not your type," I said. She rolled her eyes.

"This Pointless Blog guy," Mira began. "Have you checked out his profile?" I shrugged. "Kind of," I said. "But I only saw like five posts because we went to that party, remember ?" She nodded. "Yea, is he worth it?" She asked. "I followed him back." I said. She gave me a thumbs up.

We downed the rest of our coffee then left to make our way back to my apartments. Being wealthy is such an advantage in New York City. I live in the beautiful penthouse that tops the Sunview apartments in Times Square. It's huge with five rooms, a big kitchen and living room and a theatre area. It's great- just too empty.

I unlocked the door to the penthouse and walked in with Mira. "Mom?" I called. I shut the door and set the keys on the coffee table. "Dad?" I called out again. They were here before I left. They were sleeping, but they were here. "MOM-"

"Britten," Mira interrupted. I looked over at her and saw that she was holding a piece of paper and a full looking envelope in her hand. That's never good. I grabbed the note out of her hand and began reading it.

Hey, honey. Your father and I are on our way to Milan, Italy for some business. You already know the deal. I would get into details but our flight leaves soon so we MUST get going. We left money in an envelope for you and your daily needs. Fifty thousand. We won't be back for another two months but I PROMISE we will check in on you. We love you, XOXO Mom and Dad

I balled up the note and chucked it across the room, then threw myself on the couch. "Britten..." Mira whispered. "Every day, Mira." I said. "Is it so hard to just be with your own daughter?" I sighed and buried my face in one of our soft, suede pillows and screamed.

"Britten..." Mira said. When I didn't move, she continued. "Look, I know... I know it hurts. But at the end of the day... if you don't have anyone, you have me." I didn't respond again so she kept talking. "I really don't know what to say, if you want me to be honest. This happens all of the time to you and actually... I mean... my mom is everywhere. I mean she just won't go away. I take a shower and she's standing at the curtains with her asian accent 'you use the soap Mira, use the soap'" She got a small laugh out of me and smiled, "See? I'm funny."

I came from under the pillow and walked to my room with Mira. She decided to make herself comfortable (as always) and jump into my bed, turning on the tv. I plopped down next to her and pulled out my laptop, bringing up my blog page. There were so many notifications, but I only checked the ones from Pointless Blog.

PB: If you think seeing Times Square in the morning is great, try waking up to the beach.

PB: Your blog is the reason mine is pointless.

PB: Same! I had a dream last night too. I gave up on school and beame a stripper, it was weird.

I laughed at his last comment then responded to all of them. Scrolling through his blog, I started to become more and more interested in him as I read every little paragraph and examined every picture he'd posted up to now. And since I was stalking him anyway, I decided to PM him too.

Me: Vegas.

PB: What?

Me: If you want to be a stripper, I recommend Vegas.

PB: I'll take it under consideration.

We spent a while talking back and forth over PM. We chatted about what it was like being in two different states, our likes and dislikes, how we felt about our friends, and so much more that continued to entertain me. He told me about his best friend Tyler who's a skater and a surfer, and I told him about my best friend who's always wanted to do learn how to skate and surf.

That was the first time I'd ever had an actual conversation with a blogger and, needless to say, I was enjoying it. In fact, I was enjoying it so much, that we talked every day until, one day, I'd realized that talking to him made me happy and I wanted nothing more but to be with him.

"Let's go to the festival in California." I said to Mira one day as we were walking through central park. Tunes from a saxophone floated into the air from the nearby tunnel and kids ran around, playing games with their friends. "Britten..." Mira said softly. I smiled and said, "what?"
"Have you lost your mind?"
I looked at her confused and asked what she meant. She then explained how we just started school and skipping it wouldn't make us the smartest tools in the shed and how we're seniors and our grades matter. I shrugged. "So?" I said. She groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Well whatever, you're putting you're own future in vain." Mira said. "And don't expect me to come with you."

And the next week, Mira and I were on the plane to California.