I Remember

World of Gray

She had always found the city to be disgusting. It had long been deemed a revolting place that she vowed to never, ever, step foot in again. But, of course, you can't avoid a place forever, and so it came to be that the girl found herself in what she refused to call anything but the "dark underbelly" of the state- maybe even the world; the "place where dreams come to die."

The place was everything she hated in this world, loud and messy and really not a sight for sore eyes. Why Oliver had wanted to bring her here she had no clue, all she knew was that once they got home they were going to have a serious talk about his taste in vacations.

"Hey Ginger, d'ya think we can make it to 42nd street before we have to go back to the hotel? I think it lets out into Times Square. . . Hey! Did you know there's a musical called '42nd Street'? Wouldn't it be cool if we could. . ."

And there was what might have been the biggest problem out of it all. Oliver would not stop his blabbering nonsense, and his excitement only served to irritate Ginger even more. His chatter was giving her a headache, garbage from a nearby alley was making her gag- it smelled like a dead body, and, knowing this city, very well might have been- and to add a rotten cherry on top of it all, a nearby car hit too close to the sidewalk and caused a mass of brownish snow- slush now- to become a new accessory for her coat. Perfect.

This place was making her go insane. Such a big city, and yet she felt suffocated beneath the towering gray buildings and the dull gray sky. She couldn't even tell where the towers ended and the sky began; here the space was endless and forever, and yet she couldn't breathe.

It was all too much for her, it was too much and too little and overpowering in all the wrong ways, and did she mention she couldn't breathe? Dead of winter and she was burning up, giant fur coat yet ice in her veins. She wanted to be anywhere but here, but she didn't want to leave him. It was too much and too little and making her dizzy, confusing her in every way.

"Right, Ginger?"

And with just two words, she was pulled back down to earth. And, looking into his eyes, something changed. She was still out of breath, but in a different way. Still overwhelmed, but it wasn't from the city.

And for the first time all day- all week- she hears, she senses something through the angry noises of the city she'd grown to loathe; underneath it all, soft giggling as the woman across the street makes funny faces at her baby. And she begins to think the scent of freshly baked cookies from the bakery just down the road make this place almost tolerable. And the way the snow is caught in Oliver's eyelashes and hair and the warm puffs of breath she can just barely see and definitely feels hitting her face kind of make her never want to leave.

"Uh, Ginger Ale? Are you okay?" What did he say? And exactly how long had she been staring?

"Oh- um, yeah! Yep, all good here!" She manages. And with that, he lets out a soft chuckle, and she swears by every god out there Oliver's cheeks turn just the slightest shade of pink. And Ginger can't help but think it adds the color this city had been missing all along.

"Hey, so what were you saying about that musical? It sounds like fun," she finds herself saying. "After all, we need to make the most of this trip!"

And this time, she's the one who laughs at the surprised look on his face, and he finds himself joining in, both their faces stained red now, ever so slightly, though from the cold or something else altogether it's impossible to tell.

And so they continue on, in the city where dreams come to live, as Ginger had found. Shoulders brushing, pink faces drifting between a world of gray.

A/N: Okay, so admittedly I probably got too carried away with focusing on my characters than the location itself (which was the prompt. . .) But I wanted to write about my two favorite characters of mine, and so this is the end result