To Be Young And In Love In New York City

Chapter 4: "Sexy, Isn't She?"

The three days between the day of the writing session and the day of River's event had been pretty productive for Colette.

She and Niki attended their classes regularly, listening with utmost interest and concentration because only they knew how hard it had been to get into the university, and how lucky they were to have got in, especially together. They dedicated a sufficient amount of time towards studying everyday, while constantly motivating and pushing each other to do more.

Living together felt amazing for both, and they had only done the mundane parts of it, like unpacking together, cooking for each other (mostly Niki), or watching movies together. But that was the thing about the girls, they found happiness in the littlest things. Maybe that was why their friendship had always been so smooth sailing.

They did manage to fill up their application form and take a walk after lunch to Jenna's Bookstore to submit it. They got the job, to say the least. All three of them along with Matthew worked out a shift schedule that tried its best to fit into all of their schedules. Niki and Colette had classes at different times, which meant that their shift timings rarely collided, except maybe once or twice a week. They were expected to work four days a week for three to four hours, depending on the day of the week

Apart from that, they also managed to unpack a good amount of things. Apartment 21B almost looked fully furnished, they still had a few items like a coffee table or shelves that were yet to be delivered. Their rooms were completely done because Colette decided that their rooms needed their attention before any other. Clothes were still waiting to be put away from the boxes, but aside from all of that, they had done a quick and nice job.

Colette also squeezed in a coffee date for her, Niki, and Hazel because she desperately wanted Niki and Hazel to meet and hopefully, get along. Much to her delight, they did.

She texted River her address as well. That earned her a return text from him giving her the details of the event. It was on Saturday, at 7 in the evening.

They both had filled each other in about the people they met during the writing session the day after it. Niki seemed surprised at how easily Colette agreed to go to River's event, knowing that she had barely spent a day with him and hardly knew him.

"He could be an axe murderer for all you know. What if there's no event and he's just going to take you to the woods to kill you? " She had said.

"He's not an axe murderer Niki." Colette had replied.

"You don't know that."

Well, in Niki's defence, she didn't. She didn't know if he was an axe murderer, but she did know one thing: he wasn't lying when he said he was the son of the owners of Dery. Colette had googled about him the moment she got home from the writing session and found tons of images and articles of him, his family, and of course, the company. Unfortunately for her, she couldn't find his Instagram account that she hoped to stalk. Strangely, he didn't exist on any social media platform. Maybe he was an axe murderer.

On Friday evening, Colette and Niki were sitting in Colette's excessively pink room, Niki on her bed typing away an essay while Colette was seated at her desk researching a topic that was taught in her class that day. Her phone pinged and she picked it up to see who it was. River's name flashed on the screen.

River: Hey, what's the colour of the dress you're wearing?

She pushed her laptop away and texted him back.

Colette: Green. Why?

River: Gotta match my tie with your dress, remember?

Colette: Do you have to do that?