My Friend Loki: Strange Magic

Chapter 15

The last part of the tour was seeing - and going under - three bridges: Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Williamsburg. By the time the ship turned to go on its return route, the city was now under the cover of night.

It was what I had been waiting for all day - and was not disappointed.

The skyline of the city, all lit up in the darkness was stunning. With this lovely backdrop, I couldn't resist taking a few snaps with my phone - along with a selfie of Loki and myself.

Although the tour had taken roughly two hours, it seemed time just flew - and I wasn't ready for this cruise to be on its the last leg of the journey.

"Promise me we will do this again," Loki said wistfully, "because right now, I'm very tempted to cause some mischief and have this vessel experience technical difficulties... so we can stay out here longer."

"You always say the sweetest things," I said, looking at him fondly, "and I'm almost tempted to let you do it," I chuckled. "But I promise you that we will. Next summer?"

Loki took my hand and kissed the back of it, "it's a date."

****

Although both of us were mentally kicking and screaming as we disembarked the ship, after a few minutes of walking down 42nd Street, our thoughts were sufficiently diverted.

We had reached the area of Times Square.

From what we observed, just from afar, it was an extremely busy area. The street was teeming with people, most of them in a rush. The iconic billboards, which immediately grabbed our attention, were bigger than I could have ever imaged - and so bright, each of them lighting up several blocks! Also, on each of those blocks, stood very tall buildings that had more than earned their title of 'skyscrapers'.

I stopped walking, and so did Loki. We just stood there, transfixed, taking in this dazzling destination.

"Oh, I like this," Loki said, turning to look at me with an excited smile.

"Of course you would," I smiled back, pointing down the street, "we're close to the theatre district."

"Then that's worth a look," Loki said, incredibly eager and taking my hand.

"Wait," I said, "with all these people rushing about, I think it's safe for you to be... you again."

"I almost forgot about that," Loki said, with a chuckle. He turned to face a wall behind us, then after a moment turned back around to face me, "better?"

I had sure missed that handsome face, and the dark hair that framed his features.

"Much," I replied, smiling at him sweetly.

****

Meandering the streets, and enjoying our surroundings, we couldn't help but talk - and laugh a little - about the titles we saw on the billboards for the shows that were currently running. One, in particular, caught our attention...

"Pretty Woman!" Loki exclaimed, "they made a musical about that?"

"It is a popular movie," I said, "so I'm actually not surprised." A thought came to me, "being the Drama Major you are, wouldn't it be wonderful to someday see your name in lights on one of these billboards?"

"You mean like this?" he waved his hand and suddenly his name was on one of them, replacing one of the cast.

I opened my mouth, about to tell him to take it down before anyone noticed, but then I took an extra second to look at it.

His name did look wonderful up there.

"If you were in one of these productions, after the show, I'd wait in a mass lineup by the stage door for you," I said.