Sway

Carlos

The next day I woke up around noon. Phineous wasn't laying beside me like he had been when we fell asleep last night, instead there was a sheet of paper with his scribbled hand writing on it.

It said:

'Went to the Pierre Art Gallery to prepare for my show tonight, it starts at 5. You better be here!

Also, don't spend all of Sunday in the house eating up my leftovers!'

I crumpled the note and rolled over onto my back. The loft was whisper quiet and it made me start to think. Mainly about that woman from yesterday, Allison. I remember everything that happened after we left the record label, I was pissed because Phineous had taken her card. He kept calling me insane for not listening to her about the job opportunity. It made me mad because, he of all people knew that I couldn't accept a job here in New York... or anywhere for that matter. I still had a shit ton of schooling to finish and my parents would never agree to it.

I wanted to scream, badly. So I turned on my stomach and gripped the pillow to my face, letting out one of those 'I hate everything' screams. It felt good but, not good enough. I figured I should just listen to Phineous's advice and find something to do today, something outside of the loft. If I stayed cooped up, I'd just spend the entire day thinking about how Phineous was still holding onto Allison's business card and he wasn't letting it go. Which literally meant, he wasn't letting the situation go. I knew my best friend and he knew me. He knew what an opportunity to work at a record label could do for me... for my future.

Deciding that I no longer wanted to think about any of that, I stood to my feet and traveled into the bathroom. At least a nice shower would help to clear my head, then I could get dressed up and possibly go see The Tempest — a broadway play in the city. After that, I could grab some food and then head over to Phineous's art show at 5.

With a solid plan in place, I hopped into the shower and let the water rush down my body. I closed my eyes and hummed the sound of my track, it was pretty damn good and I wouldn't be shocked if the record label sold it to an artist before the end of the month. Benny would've been ecstatic about that, if only Allison wouldn't have walked in and caught me putting it together. I bet he hated me now.

I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Wrapped a towel around myself and headed back into the bedroom to find something to wear. Since it was May, the weather was fairly nice, somewhere in the low 70s. I decided to put on some high waisted shorts with a rose patterned polo. Then I went back into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, before putting on some makeup and curling my hair.

I already felt ten times better as I slipped on my Converse and made sure I had my wallet and phone. Then I left the loft and immediately realized that I'd need to catch a cab or order an Uber, if I wanted to make it to the broadway show on time.

Considering I was never good at hailing cabs, I opened the Uber app on my phone and put in my request. Apparently it would take 6 minutes for 'Carlos' to get to me, which was weird considering how many Uber's were in NY. Despite being a little frustrated, I leaned against the brick of the apartment building, keeping my eyes peeled for a white Honda Civic.

There was so much going on around me and it seemed like no one really even saw me. They were all much too distracted by their own priorities, by the pings on their phones or the notifications on their smart watch. It sucked to think that this was where the world was headed, to a place where people cared more about 'things' than humans. I guess I was just different, I wasn't lucky enough to wake up in New York City every day. So when I got to visit, I wanted to see as much as possible.

"Hey! Hey you!" The sound of a woman yelling at the top of her lungs caught my attention, "Girl on the brick wall! Did you order an Uber ride?!"

I didn't have time to analyze how her voice was carrying over all the other sounds from the city because, I was 90% sure that she was talking to me. I mean, there was no other 'girl on the brick wall'."