Delicious Rose

40

Rose

Two Years Later

The car comes to a stop at the drop off point; I look behind me to the two girls in the back seats. I give them a toothy grin as my excitement begins to rise by the second. It was time, in three hours we will be off to New York City. We have been saying for years that we will do this, we finally are. About six months ago we decided we needed to stop talking about it and actually book a five-day trip.

"Have you got everything girls?" Jacob asks, turning his head and looking at us three. I give him a warm smile as I nod my head, opening the car door; I step out, wrapping my sweatshirt around me tighter. Walking to the boot of the car, Jacob is already unloading our suitcases, the girls hugging him quickly.

"Take care of yourself okay?" He slowly walks over to me, wrapping his strong arms around my waist pulling me into him. I stand on my tiptoes, leaning up and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Always." I look him in the eyes, his deep brown eyes. Trying to find anything, he's hard to read sometimes but I can see a hint of concern.

"Good and please let me know when you've landed." He lets go of my waist and quickly kisses my forehead, before he walks back over to the driver's side of his car. "I love you beautiful!" He yells at me, just loud enough for me and the girls to hear.

"Love you too!" I express with a big smile.

"Thanks for the lift!" Chloe calls over to him as we begin to walk towards the lift, he nods his head before climbing into his car.

"Let's fucking do this!" Darcy squeals as we wait for the lift to take us inside the airport. Once we drop of our suitcases and make it through security, we decide on grabbing some food at Wagamama's, we haven't eaten yet and I could do with some Japanese food.

"What times our flight? It's already one." Darcy asks sipping on her drink, I look in my bag pulling out all our flight information.

"So, our flights at two-thirty and that gets us into JFK at five-fifteen their time." I answer Darcy before I put a mouthful of chicken into my mouth.

"Are we getting a taxi to the hotel then?" Chloe asks, I nod my head. I have planned the whole thing; I would be a panicked mess if I hadn't. Taxi to the hotel will possibly cost over forty Dollars and it also counts on how bad the traffic will be.

"Can we go see Times Square tonight please?" Chloe begs.

"Obviously our hotel is like a five-minute walk from there." I answer her with a laugh. I wanted to see every inch of New York, but something about Times Square had me. I didn't know if it was the hectic city night or the vibrant colours and yellow taxis. I just need to see it.

"I want to go into M&M world." Darcy speaks up with a mouth full of ramen noodles.

"They have one in London." Chloe answers her before I could, I love M&M world, of course we would be going to the one in New York and we are going everywhere if we can. I look back at my Chicken Katsu curry, trying to think of every single idea and thing I could do in five days. I have always dreamed about moving to New York. My company has an office out there and I might even go and visit.

Tapping the screen in front of me, checking to see how long we have left on this flight. Thirty minutes until landing, Chloe is fast asleep next to me and Darcy is watching some action film on the screen in front of her. I have tried to watch a couple of films but I decided on listening to my iPod and reading my paperback, time flies so fast with a good book.

Turning up my music I close my eyes, James Arthurs 'Let me love the lonely' fills my ears and I can't help but think about Luca. This was the song I would listen to when he was around, it's been two years and I haven't heard any news. Everything has changed so much since the night he left, I moved out of London a year ago.
I couldn't risk Wayne finding me again; he was arrested and given a new prison sentence. Unfortunately, he will be out again soon, so I moved to a town with a twenty-minute commute to London. Jacob decided to come with me; we had been together nine months when I couldn't live in the city anymore. We both still work in London, the travelling isn't so bad.

We rent our own little home and its perfect, we even got a little Siamese kitten called Simon and he is the best thing in the entire world. My baby. My brother and both the girls still live in London, Chloe is engaged to Chris, one of Jacob's friends and Darcy and Lee have been a couple for one year. A complete shock to everyone, but they are so happy.

I would never have thought that I would be living with Jacob, the boy I met the same time I met Luca. He is gone though, I am happy with Jacob. He's never given me any grief or hurt me like Luca did, but I still wonder from time to time where in the world he went. It still hurts that I haven't seen him, or heard from him, he just vanished.

"So how do we do this taxi thing?" Darcy asks me as we make our way through the hot airport, I can see the sun beaming from outside as we approach the exit. Everything feels different, its bright and even the smell is new. Standing outside waiting, trying to figure out what to do next.

Not long after, we got into a little yellow taxi and began our journey towards the big city, holding onto Chloe's hand whilst Darcy sits in the front talking away with the driver. The traffic is mental and this driver is erratic and crazy, cutting people up with no indication, everyone seems to be doing it. My heart going mad and Chloe understands why. It's nearly been eight years since the accident that killed my father, I still feel a rise of panic when I get in a car.

After a long painful hour in traffic we make it to our hotel in one piece, Darcy tips him because I refuse to. His driving license should be taken off him and I even tell him that, I feel sticky and tired. We are shown our hotel room and I hate that we have to tip the man who held only one of our bags, this isn't normal for us English people. We only tip waiters and waitresses if we want too, it's not a must it's just a kind gesture if they give us good service, I feel like we are going to run out of money if we tip everyone. Maybe that's selfish, but it's what I'm used to. Our hotel room is bright and modern and I just want to shower and sleep, but I also know the girls would not allow me to do that.

I place my suitcase next to my chosen bed flopping down on my back, my body aching and all I want to do is crack it, release some tension. If I close my eyes long enough, they might just leave me to it, so I can sleep for an hour at least.

"Right let's get showered, then we can go grab some food and explore! Rose you go first." Darcy cheers, jumping on the bed with excitement. I open my eyes watching her with amusement, before standing up from the bed and heading for the bathroom.

I take a quick shower, leaving my hair dry as I washed it before we left for the airport. Wrapping the clean towel around my body I walk over to my suitcase, Chloe rushes past me to get in next whilst Darcy sits out on the balcony. I step out into the warm breeze as the night begins to fall dark, the city below already alive, people make their way towards Times Square. Seventh Avenue is only a few minutes' walk from our hotel.

She passes me a cigarette as I stand back from the balcony in my towel, the sound of cars beeping as they make their way through the buzzing city. From what I have seen already, it's impressive and we haven't even gone anywhere.

"How is everything with Jacob?" Darcy asks, I look down at her as she hugs her legs watching the street down below. I'm hesitant; I don't know what to say really. I'm happy with him, he's amazing and caring but I just don't know if I will ever find what I had again. Or I'm just being negative and I already have it, better even?

"It's good, he's so nice you know." I tell her, she nods her head slowly, her eyes turning to slits as she watches me properly.

"Do you miss him? Luca, I mean." She whispers, I'm almost thrown off by the question. I also forget how well she knows me, how much shit I went through.

"A little, but god knows where he is." I chuckle. Trying to ignore the deep ache in my chests, I'll never admit how much I miss him.

"I get it, don't feel bad." She answers me, she was always rooting for Luca and I, whilst Chloe stood her ground longer. She officially gave in and got used to our relationship until that night when it exploded. Putting out my fag, I step back inside the bedroom, Chloe's already out of the shower, rushing around in a tiny towel trying to find something to wear. Darcy runs in next whilst I scan through my suitcase, I decide on my mid-thigh black bodycon dress with my denim jacket and a pair of black vans.
I apply my makeup and style my now flat hair, giving myself bouncy waves.

"Right you girls ready or what?" Chloe comes out from the balcony, the buzz from outside electric. Darcy holding out her phone as we huddle next to her, posing on her snapchat. I can't hold my excitement in any longer; I give myself a one last look over before picking up my bag and following the girls out of the hotel room.