Anthony Ramos x Reader

Thirteen

"I cant believe it," I whispered between tears. "I've been dreaming about this moment since I was thirteen."
Anthony giggled slightly and pulled me closer to his chest. "Congrats, baby. I'm happy for you."

I pulled away from our hug, the letter still clutched to my chest. "I-I have to go," I said, my voice suddenly normal volume. "I have to move to New York."
"I know," He said, curling my hair behind my ear and smiling through his freckles. "We will figure all that out later. For now," He glanced up at the clock. "Breakfast."
"Oh shit," I laughed and tossed the letter onto the messed up blue, ocean themed bed. "Yeah. Are we late?"
"We will be," Anthony said, almost dragging me out the door. 

We rushed into the cafe and glanced around. Sure enough, Lin was already at a table with Daveed, Daveed on his phone and Lin giving up the 'you're in trouble' look while tapping his watch. I opened my phone and looked at the time. 10:02, are you kidding me?
We walked across the tile floor reminding me of my kitchen back home to the cute little cafe table. Two drinks were on the empty half of the table, completely untouched. There wasn't even a straw in them yet. I pulled out the beach washed blue wooden chair and sat on the cushioned seat.

"You're late," Lin said, jokingly as I pulled my seat closer to the edge of the table. "I even had to get your drinks for you." He motioned towards the untouched drinks. I flashed him a thankful smile as I slid plastic cup of iced coffee over to me and slammed the plastic straw against the table. The red plastic broke through the thin white paper and i pulled it the rest of the way out, sticking it in my drink and taking a sip.

"By two minutes," Anthony said sarcastically. "120 seconds, it probably took you longer than that to get out of bed this morning." Anthony reached up to his head with a black hair tie on the edge of his fingers. He pulled all of his dark, curly hair into a bunch and slid the black hair tie around the base of his ponytail, curling it around a few times and turning his curly ponytail into a messy yet clean bun.

"He has a point," Daveed laughed, sipping on the brim of his white glass mug. His hair was just as curly as Anthony's but his hair was always down and cut comfortably at a shoulder length. It was always bouncy and fresh looking.

Lin had his long, dark, not-so-curly, hair wrapped tightly in a clean bun in the middle of the back of his head. He always wore it up if he could help it- that way it wasn't getting in the way and becoming messy. His facial hair was so clean edged, just like Lin. Lin was always fresh looking.

Anthony sipped on his drink and adjusted the leg of his chair against the wooden floor.  "So breakfast," he said, gripping the blue lined menu in his hands. "What are we thinking?"
I looked around the cafe as I bounced my leg anxiously. This was obviously nautical themed, everything was blue and looked like it had been weathered or beach washed. There was decorative fish netting around some of the wall menus and posters, and most of the candles and bar stools were wrapped in nautical rope. I picked up the fork in the napkin that sat in front of me. Even the fork had a little anchor at the bottom of the silver handle. The cafe was entirely beached and nautical themed- and it kind of made me want to buy a surf board.

"Hey y/n," Lin said, noticing me drift off in my thoughts as I stared at the fork still in my hand. "Is it just me, or are your staring at a fork?"
"Huh, what?" I blinked my eyes a few times as I snapped back into reality. "What's going on?"
"Are your okay?" Daveed asked, laughing.
Before I could answer, Anthony pulled me over to him. "Is it about school?" He whispered lightly, making sure the other two couldn't hear him.
"Yeah," I said loudly and clearly. "I should tell them now, probably."
"Tell us what?" Lin and Daveed said in almost unison. Their focus on anything else seemed to fade away as they looked patiently from the other side of the table.

"I got a letter this morning from my dream school," I said, quietly as if I was afraid of anyone else hearing. I didn't need to say anything else, I could tell by the excitement on their faces that they already knew. "I've been accepted and I'm going to have to move back to New York." I added with finality. 

Daveed seemed puzzled by the thought, but Lin smiled in approval. "I'm so proud of you," He said with genuine pride which surprised me. "I knew that you'd have to go for some reason, and I'm glad this is the reason."

"Oh I know!" Daveed sparked randomly. "We will th-" Before he let another word escape his eager lips, he pulled Lin over and whispered the rest in his ear. Lin paused and then laughed, which broke the awkward moment of silence as me and Anthony looked at each other puzzled and shrugged.

We walked out of the cafe together, Anthony and I hand in hand, Daveed behind us, and Kin in front of us, walking backwards along the sidewalk. My eyes were glued to the sidewalk, watching my warn down converse shuffle along the sidewalk. No one said much about it, much about anything other than the show.
Before I knew it, I was standing in Anthony's apartment, where I had lived for the last year, with an open suitcase on the bed. There wasn't anything in it, even though I had been here for at least an hour.

A few hours earlier

I sat in the parking lot, checking bus times on my phone to make sure I was home in time. I wasn't going far enough to need a plane, in fact I was staying in New York.  But I had to leave the city and take a six hour bus ride home. Besides, the cast would be leaving for Los Angeles next week.

((a/n so I know I said in previous chapters that the school is in NYC, but as I reread the story, I realized that I also kept saying "I have to move back to New York" when they are actually in New York already. So please forget that the school is supposed to be in the city. Thank you :)))

Anthony walked out of Starbucks holding an Iced Coffee and something in a paper cup. He handed me the iced coffee before digging into his back pocket.
"Okay, so I found this really cool thing online and I bought it for you," he said, smiling, as he handed me a fabric cut out of the Hamilton star with a clip on the end. "It's a luggage tag, so you'll think of me while you are away."
I smiled and he wrapped his arms around my shoulder, bending down to kiss my forehead. "Times like this man," he said slowly. I looked up at him staring off into the sky. "They make me realize how truly lucky I am."

Now

I stood in the dark, empty apartment, feeling the fabric of the luggage tag in between my fingers. I was very lucky to get into this school, but deep down, part of me wishes I hadn't got accepted.

Finally, after standing at the foot of the bed for over an hour, I turned to the closet door and began to take my clothes off the hangers, feeling hot tears stream down my cheeks as I did so.