02|Chapter Two
2015, January | Harlem, New York
The view from my room in our tiny apartment was possibly the only good part about this whole place. I had the best view and to this day, it had always boggled my mind why Joey picked the room with the worst view. He had a sucky view, one with just trees and small bushes that were littered with beer bottles and used condoms. He told me it reminded him of Bed-Stuy, but I just think Joey is a lover of ugly things.
My view is perfect.
The sun always appears directly across my window and instead of waking up to a lame alarm clock, I had the pleasure to waking up to seeing the sun, the birds, and the cute little kids hopping into the bus for school.
But today, it was still cold and muggy, so it wasn't as cute as I wanted to be.
I woke up, wiping the crud off my eyes and glancing at the mirror on my vanity table. I had horrible bags and a pimple growing on my cheek. I needed to get rid of that immediately, but that would have to wait until later. I checked my phone making sure that Leah hadn't texted me. We had plans for today and I couldn't wait. We always had fun together, whatever those plans may be.
I slipped on my house slippers and headed towards the living room.
Joey was up.
He had a cup of coffee in his hand (I could tell by the scent) and he too had bags under his eyes. I could tell he hadn't slept too good last night, let alone in his room. He had a pillow and a blanket arranged neatly on the seat next to him. At the sound of me, he looked up at me, a small smile appearing on his face.
"Hey." He stated.
"Hi."
We didn't talk for a minute, but continued to listen to the news. Once again, another person was shot, this time in Manhattan. They were having a man hunt on the guy who shot him. It was scary how he could be so close to us and we didn't even know it.
"How's Cassie?" I questioned.
He took a long sip of his coffee before responding. He shrugged. "Better than yesterday." He answered. He got up from his seat, heading towards the kitchen. I took the cup from him, and grabbed his hand. "I don't know the future, but you gotta have faith." I whispered. Joey couldn't look at me, but I knew he heard me. I leaned in placing a kiss at the corner of his lip. He relaxed at this gesture before finally looking at me.
He nodded.
I placed the coffee cup in the sink, sitting down at the breakfast nook.
"She's still sleeping." Joey began as he fumbled through the cabinets looking for something to eat. "I kept on checking on her..." He trailed on before stopping and glancing down at his hands. "You know, to make sure she's not dead." He finished. I sucked in a breath at that. That must be scary, but I applauded him for being such a great brother.
"You know how terrible that is? Fearing that a simple 'goodnight' could lead to 'goodbye?" Joey continued.
I couldn't answer.
I didn't know.
Joey finally settled on some Cinnamon Toast Crunch. He placed it in a small bowl before pouring the rest of the milk inside. He tossed the empty carton to the side. "We need some more milk." He stated taking the plate back to the living room. I scoffed. "You don't say." I muttered. Joey shot me a look. "What did you say?" He said teasingly. I laughed. "Nothing." I smirked. I hopped off the stool in the breakfast nook and sat down on the empty couch. "I'm going out with Leah today." I stated. Joey tended to get mad when I didn't tell him where I was going. He nodded, his eyes glued on the TV. He had changed it from the news, and now we were watching basketball.
