The Darkest Days

25. Seventeen

Audrey loved her sister.

The chance of getting to spend the whole day of Vanessa's birthday with her made Audrey wanna give her the best memories, because after all that they've done together in the last three months, Audrey believed they were going to watch each other's dreams come true while standing side by side.

On the night of April 3rd, after yet another exhausting day when they returned to their apartment, Audrey took out two casual outing outfits and laid them on the bed.

"You're not serious, right?" Vanessa raised her eyebrow.

"As serious as Sirius Black."

"Dreya, I'm-"

Audrey threw a top on Vanessa's face.

She sighed and removed it. "As I was saying-"

"No. I'm not hearing it. We're going out, V. That's final."

"I wanna sleep!"

"Forget sleep! We're night creatures!" Audrey dramatically said and made a rock sign with her fingers.

"You, of all people, love to sleep."

"Not tonight." Audrey pulled Vanessa up. "Go, get dressed!"

....

It wasn't much, of course.

What could Audrey do in a new city with just the two of them where they've spent days just working and sleeping? It's not like they had millions of dollars lying in their pockets too.

But for Vanessa, her seventeenth birthday eve was the best one she ever had.

With her sister, exploring the City of Angels; and aware that with her, she's gonna live out her dreams. Aware that she was free of her past and building a much better future.

Audrey first took her sister to New Beverly Cinema, where they watched a romantic comedy.

"In retrospect," Audrey said during intermission, "was it a good idea to bring you here when you've had a breakup? I mean, romance isn't in your mind right now. We should've watched a murder mystery or some other action movie-"

Vanessa turned around from the counter with a big grin on her face and an even bigger popcorn pack.

"No." She said. "It's alright, I'm quite happy."

She skipped past her and Audrey chuckled. "I can see that!" She called out.

Audrey stared at the emotional ending scene as Vanessa's eyes turned moist.

"It's you, Roselle." The hero of the movie said and gently kissed the heroine. "It's always been you."

"This doesn't happen in real life, though." Audrey whispered.

"That's the point." Vanessa replied without moving her eyes away and bringing another fist full of popcorn to her mouth.

After the movie, they walked through the streets, admiring the night crowd of the city.

They talked and laughed. Befriended a guy who was riding his skateboard and bumped into them. His name was Joey; yes, his parents named him after Joey Tribbiani.

He was a localite and a hilarious person to be with. He gave them a few suggestions for places safe to visit at night and when he reached his destination, he bowed to them as a goodbye and rode away to his group of friends.

That was the last time they ever saw him.

At around 11PM, they reached a restaurant called Bob's Big Boy. There were many people inside, hoping to have a late dinner.