Starring Role

« you got to turn up the heat, you got to butter the pan. you got to make a move and don't be afraid - reach for her hand, maybe give her a kiss. she's waiting for a move to be made! »

No one has ever doubted Toby’s insanity – so neither Allison nor Lydia decide that now is an appropriate time to do so.

But Lydia does wonder whether or not Toby’s head is quite screwed on right when he drags them half way across Manhattan to meet up in Battery Park without a word of warning, in the freezing cold tundra that is Manhattan in January. Lydia wonders, in part, also, because she and Allison only have a few weeks left for winter holidays before they return to school, and Battery Park in the dead of winter (which, Lydia notes, is like receiving a fistful of frozen needles in the face) doesn’t seem like a prime location for a heart felt reunion.

But mostly, she is offset because she doesn’t know precisely why they’re headed there, and anyone who’s met her understands that Lydia Huntington does not particularly enjoy not being in the know.

“Have you got even the slightest idea what this is all about?” Lydia huffs as they make their way down to the tip of Manhattan on the subway. Lydia had elected to drive, as she’d always hated the smell and the cramped spaces of public-transportation, but Allison had insisted that she wanted to get their quickly to see what was so important, and traffic was killer on a Saturday afternoon. Lydia had impatiently agreed, settling on using a handkerchief to grip onto the filthy bar above their heads. She grimaces, whispering, “And did we really have to take the subway?” She asks, and out of the corner of her eye, she sees an old, unshaven man staring her down. She shivers, and takes a step closer to Allison, huddling against her peacoat, which isn’t so bad, because she’s warm and toasty and smells like soap.

Allison ignores the second part of her question. “If I knew, I’d tell you,” she sighs emphatically.

“Now, I’m just as thrilled as anyone to reunite with Toby Martin and see him flounce around in the fresh-fallen snow in a pair of skinny jeans on a Saturday afternoon, but honestly? Who even goes to Battery Park anymore? It’s basically on the other side of the world.”

“It’s a only half-hour away—”

“Regardless, I haven’t even been there since I was a child. Although, I see that that might make it an appropriate meeting location for Toby.”

Allison smiles, throwing her head back in laughter. “Whatever – all I know is that I just got about twelve texts, all of which included him screaming at me to head to Battery Park immediately.”

Lydia narrows her eyes. “He screamed at you through text, did he?”

"Oh, shut up,” Allison huffs. “You know what I meant.”

“Obviously,” Lydia grinned, smacking her cherry Chap Stick lips together. “But your way is less fun.”

“I hate you.”

“Love you, too.”

♛

Lydia and Allison haven’t actually seen Toby since they both arrived in New York, (of course, they arrived at roughly the same time – Lydia would like to say that it was coincidental, but may have been a slight bit of planning on her end) and the look on his face when he sees the two melts the snow beneath their feet.

Of course, when he sees the two crunching their way through the snow at the edge of the park, he has to run up and hug them. (He falls over several times, face first, into a snow bank, and Lydia and Allison may have bust a gut laughing, but he finds them all the same) He hugs them both together – though Lydia notices intently that his face lands on her hair, and are his lips pressing against it, or is she delusional? – regardless, he starts to laugh with excitement, jumping up in down in unbridled joy.