War & Serenades

1

"Cleo!" My friend Ella yelled while snapping her fingers between my face and the book I was reading.

"Oh my god, what?" I answer quickly

"You are being so boring right now. There are like a billion things to do on a summer day like this. So many places to shop and oh my god did you hear about the new restaurant by the museum?" Ella is a bossy brunette with green eyes and an attitude. She's also my closest friend and roommate.

"Ella.... It's 5:00 in the morning. Besides, I've got work to do before tomorrow. Whatever weird adventure you've planned will have to wait."

"This better not be how our whole fucking summer is going to play out because I already want to smack you and it's only the second day." She complained.

"Don't worry, today is my last day of this shit , then I won't have anymore work and we can have the New York style summer that you want, k?"

"Yeah, yeah I get it. When do you finish? We can meet up and grab dinner after if your up for it."

"I dunno really" I replied. " what time do you want to go eat?"

"7:00ish? Meet me at tavern on the green?"She asked

"Sounds good" I said as I closed my book and headed towards the door.

Alone in the elevator, I looked at myself in the mirrored walls, fixing my long, wavy blonde hair and pulling a mascara wand from my purse to coat the top lashes of my honey colored eyes.

I walked out of our building onto the busy city streets. The apartment that Ella and I share, being only one block away from Central Park, is a 3 bed on Madison ave. our place has a large living space and a great view, making it a rare and expensive find in the city. Ella, coming from a wealthy family in Connecticut and I being the editor of Access, an online fashion magazine/blog, makes the apartment affordable when the two of us split the cost of our rent.

Ella and I have been friends since high school. I had started 9th grade a year early and didn't know anyone. Ella sat down next to me to compliment my necklace, ever since then we've been the best of friends. Now she and I attend Parsons together studying fashion. She's the pushiest person I know but its hard for me to get upset with her.

I stopped at The Coffee Inn to grab my daily dose of caffeine. As I sat down, I notice the guy at the table next to mine staring at me. Trying to avoid an awkward conversation, I intensely stared at my laptop and pretended to focus on sending emails. He continued to stare at me for another 5 minutes. Luckily, his friend came in and began to talk to him and not to long after, they got up and left. He walked out the door smiling at me and I turned to my laptop as if I hadn't seen him.

*****

After almost eleven hours of work, I headed home exhausted. It felt as if it took all of my strength just to push through the revolving doors of my building. After throwing my bags on my bed and changing into sweats i cuddled up on our white couch between the colorful pillows and turned on the tv. "Boy band sensation one direction is hitting big in the big apple! Being accompanied by five seconds of summer as their opening act, both of these bands are Sure to take the city by storm!" I made a mental note of this for Ella because I know she will want to buy tickets, then I changed the channel to watch modern family. I couldn't hold my eyes open, so I gave in and slowly fell asleep.

"Cleo?" I heard someone calling my name. "Cleo!" Okay that was definitely Ella. "Yeah?" I answered, still half asleep with my eyes closed.

"We lost our reservations at Tavern on the Green." She said as the sound of her heels hitting the floor got closer.