Toxic // m.c.

chapter three.

The drive to New York from Maryland is about 3 hours long, so it wasn’t that bad.

It started to rain about half way there, which most people might have been annoyed about, but not me. I personally love the rain, it calms me down which is what I need right now. Not going to lie, although I am excited, I’m very nervous. I don’t know anyone there since Rae isn’t coming for a while, and I’m not used to the surroundings. It would take some time to adjust, but I had high hopes I’d get the hang of things.

I arrived around 2 pm, and the first thing I noticed as I officially entered New York was that traffic was an absolute bitch. I already had a feeling I was going to be doing a lot more walking than driving, but hey, sometimes you make sacrifices. Plus with the amount of pizza I’ll be ordering for dinners, I’ll need the exercise. I had already come to New York about a month prior to go apartment hunting, and I found the most perfect place for me.

It was a really cute homey place, small, but all I could afford at the moment on my own. But what really drew me in was the bedroom. It had this big roof to floor window, that gave the most perfect view of the city and I was really excited to see what the view of the city looked like at night with all the lights lit up. Before I actually went into the apartment and unpacked my things, I figured I’d go look around and find somewhere to eat lunch--I was starving.

I parked my truck in my assigned parking spot the lady on the phone gave me and turned off the ignition. I called my grandparents and Rae, telling them I made it okay and that I’d call them tonight after I had settled in. I grabbed my keys and purse and walked in the opposite direction of the door, heading towards Times Square. New York was absolutely beautiful, no doubt about it.

After a little bit of wandering, I found a cute café that said they sold sandwiches and walked in. The place was surprisingly not that busy, so I didn’t have to wait in line too long. As I was looking through the menu, I noticed one crucial deal breaker. Everything had chicken or meat in it, and being vegetarian for over three years makes that a problem. As I was turning my head to walk out, one of the workers stopped me.

“Hey! Can I help you?” I heard a voice ask me and when I turned around to respond I was a little thrown off to notice the worker was pretty damn attractive. He had shaggy curly dark blonde hair and these cute black framed glasses. I walked over closer to the worker to speak with him, and noticed his name tag said Ashton.

“Oh no, I’m fine, It’s just I’m vegetarian, so I can’t order anything. Your shop looks lovely though.” I replied with a small smile. Ashton looked at me for a minute before chuckling to himself.

“Don’t leave; I’ll whip you up something. You must be new around here, there’s barely anywhere to eat that doesn’t sell hot dogs or something meat related.” He laughed and I found myself laughing back and taking a seat. “Yeah, I actually just got here from Maryland.”

“Huh. Well welcome to New York, I’m Ashton, aka your first friend.” He said extending his hand. “I’m Sophia, and thank you.” I said with a big smile on my face, happy to make a friend already, extending my hand to shake his too.

“You know Sophia, we need a hand around here and since you just got here I’m thinking you may need a job. Apartments are pretty expensive here.” He said, and my eyes went big remembering I needed a job again; I couldn’t just go to school and magically expect my rent to be paid.

“So I’ll take that as a yes?” Ashton asked obviously noticing how wide my eyes were.

“Thank you so much. Oh my God, you are seriously a life saver Ashton.” Giving him the biggest smile I could pull. I was so happy I met Ashton, he seems like a great person, and he’s so nice for doing this when he barely knows me.

“It’s no problem, come in tomorrow around 1 pm and we’ll discuss your schedule and get you a uniform.” He said and I agreed saying thank you about a hundred more times. Ashton stayed and made small talk while I was eating, just about New York and the pros and cons. I told him I was attending NYU, finding out he was also a student there, but a sophomore. It was around 5:00 pm and I figured I should probably head home to start unpacking. I said goodbye to Ashton, and left the café.  Now to remember how to get home was the struggle.

Finding my way around was actually much easier than I prepared myself for it to be, and I found myself back at the apartment complex in no time. I opened the back of my truck and started pulling out boxes and bags to bring up to my apartment. I checked myself in, and the worker gave me my apartment room key. “Ms. Sophia, would you like a cart to carry your stuff in?” the worker asked and I kindly declined. I didn’t have much stuff, so I didn’t think it was necessary, and my apartment was only on the second floor so it wasn’t that big of a deal. I loaded my arms with my boxes and bags I could manage and made my way upstairs.

As I reached my room door, I noticed one problem. How the hell was I supposed to unlock my door with my hands full? I tried to balance all my stuff mainly on one arm as I fished around in my pocket for my key, so it wasn’t all that surprising when all my stuff fell. I really should have accepted that cart offer from the worker. I bent down to pick up all my stuff when a voice startled me.

“Need any help with that?” the deep voice said with a chuckle and I completely froze.

No fucking way.