I sat quietly on the bench. My legs crossed, a book in my hands and two suitcases at my side. I shivered against the wind, tugging the zipper of my jacket a little further up.
At the time I was only seventeen, just graduated from high school, on my way to New York with dreams that were way over my head. I had a few high school friends that I was going to stay with. They were a year older than me and already had an apartment. It wasn’t the biggest apartment, but it would work.
The bus pulled up and I slipped the book into my bag. I stopped at the top of the steps and handed the driver a few crumpled up bills from my jean pockets. “New York, please.” I exclaimed. He nodded and I heard the sound of hissing as the doors closed behind me. I stumbled toward the back of the bus, tripping over people’s feet in the aisle. I began to think about New York. Why was I going anyway? Dancing. That was it. I wanted to be a dancer.
When I was five years old my mother signed me up for dance classes. At the time I was too young to fully grasp the motions. But as I grew older I began to learn the steps and it all made sense to me. Growing up, dancing was my stress reliever. Whenever I was feeling depressed, I would lock myself in my room and put my headphones in, letting my feet carry me away.








***
The bus came to a halt and the driver called back, “New York.” I tapped on the man sitting next to me, who had been snoring loudly.
“This is my stop.” I state softly and he groans sliding into the aisle allowing me to pass. “Thanks” I mutter and climb off the bus.
Immediately there was a change in atmosphere. In Kentucky, sure it wasn't the quietest place but there was still a sense of familiarity, a feeling of comfort. But now it was different. As soon as my foot hit the sidewalk I was knocked off guard by a massive flow of people. Staring across the street I realized New York has a never ending supply of them.
When I finally managed to get my balance, I looked around and saw him. He hasn't changed at all. Still with his shaggy blonde hair and sunglasses on top of his head. "Daniel!!" I call and run toward him. He looks up from his phone and shoves it into his pocket pulling me into a hug. “This place is huge.” I exclaim in awe at the humongous skyscrapers and massive billboards, nothing like the ones you see back home.
“Yeah, well, you’ll get used to it.” he chuckles, watching me scan the streets. There were so many people. Joggers, bikers, business men and women, and so many others. “C’mon, let’s go.” I follow him through the crowds, holding onto the strap of his backpack so that I wouldn’t lose him. That would be a disaster.
We stopped in front of a tall building. “Here it is. The wonderful castle.” I smiled, allowing him to lead me up the steps. He shoves his hands into his pocket and then looks at me. “Um, hold on a second.” he sits down on the steps and starts pulling things from his pockets. Folded up papers, his wallet, crumpled bills and coins.
“You forgot your keys didn’t you?” I ask, plopping down on the step beside him.
“Maybe.”
“Is anyone home?” I ask, glancing at the line of buttons next to the names of residents and their apartment numbers. He follows my gaze and puts the palm of his hand to his forehead.
“You are a genius.” he states throwing all the items back into his pockets, standing up and dusting himself off. I smile to myself and press the buzzer next to apartment number 7. I hear Lily’s voice
“Hello?” Daniel puts his finger to his lips, motioning for me to be quiet.
“Hey Lily? It’s Danny, I forgot my keys. Can you buzz me in?” he asks. I give him a questioning glance. “She doesn’t know that you’re here. I wanted to surprise her.” he whispers
“Again? You really need to stop leaving them here.” I look over at Danny and he shrugs, getting a little red in the face. There is a faint sound of buzzing and Danny pulls the door open, going first and leaving me behind.
“Such a gentleman.” I joke. He ignores me until we get to the door.
“I’m going to go in and tell her that there is a package. Just wait here and don’t make a sound.” I nodded silently and waited. I heard them talking and arguing, but then the door opens and there stands a tired looking Lily. She takes one glance at me and she relaxes.
“Renee.” she whispers excitedly, hugging me tightly. “Come in, come in.” she steps backward and lets me pass into the apartment. “It’s not clean. The boys don’t know the meaning of the word ‘clean’” she states shooting a look toward Danny and Tyler who were sitting on the couch. “Tyler.” Lily calls.
“Hold on a second.” he motions with his index finger. “No!” he exclaims and I realize he had just been playing a video game. He looks up and sees me. “Renee! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were here.” He approaches me and we do our signature handshake. Tyler was always my best friend. The other kids always thought it was weird that we were best friends and we didn’t have feelings for each other. They thought that it was odd.
“You guys are weird.” Lily said watching us do our handshake.
“Thanks.” Tyler and I exclaimed simultaneously
“I repeat, weird.” she walked away to the kitchen to finish washing the dishes from the previous night’s dinner. I sat down on the couch between Tyler and Danny who switched off the television.
“So is this what you two do all day? Just sit around playing video games? I’m sure Lily can’t stand that.” I stated
“She hates it.” Lily called from the kitchen and we all laughed.
“I don’t sit here ALL day.” Tyler said innocently. We laughed again. “Sometimes I get up to get food.”
“Oh Tyler. Still the same boy I knew last year.” I layed my head on his shoulder
That night we talked and shared stories. Reliving our memories, laughing. It was one of the best nights of my life.








***
When I woke up the next morning, Danny was the only other person up. I only knew that because I heard him in the living room, strumming away on his guitar. I sat at the kitchen table listening to him. He had no clue that I was there, if he did he wouldn’t be playing. He only plays when nobody is watching.
He was really good, I don’t know why he wanted to hide this part of himself. His fingers ran over the strings. I watched from the doorway. His head was bent to look at his fingers. We were there for a good fifteen minutes, every so often mumbling about messing up or trying to figure out the next note that he should play.
Then he started singing. It was a song that I had never heard before. “You’re really good.” I exclaimed stepping into the room and sitting next to him. His face grew so red and he placed the guitar on the floor beside the couch.
“Yeah well I’ve been working on it for a few months now. Did I wake you?” he asked changing the subject quickly. I decide to let it go. Knowing how sensitive he is.
“No, I guess I’m not used to not having to wake up so early any more.” I let out a nervous laugh, but he doesn’t say anything. We sit there in silence, both of us lost in thought, me thinking about back home in Kentucky, him thinking about who knows what.
I hear rustling in the kitchen and I make my way into the room sitting at the table. “Good morning Lily.”
“What’s so good about it? she mumbled under her breath, turning to grab the milk from the refrigerator.
“You never were a morning person.” I exclaimed, watching her pour the milk over the froot Loops in her bowl.
“I never was and I never will be.” she complained, putting the lid back on the carton and shoving it back onto the shelf.
“Then why did you get up so early?” I asked, taking the wrapper off of a pop tart that I found in one of the cupboards.
“I have an audition for a play. I have to be there in an hour.” she sat down at the table across from me.

“What are your plans for today?” she asked, starting to become more awake.
“I was thinking about going exploring. I’ll probably drag the guys along. They need to get away from that screen.” She nodded in agreement, wiping her face with a napkin.








***
Later that day I was in one of the parks. A less, crowded place. That’s kind of hard to find in New York. The guys were tossing the football around in the field, while I sat on the ground watching them. Tyler threw the ball to Danny, who stumbled backward. Tripping on something and hitting the ground. Tyler came over and said something to him. I couldn’t tell if he was hurt, so I made my way over, only to find them laughing like children.
“You guys scared me. I really thought you were hurt.” I said jokingly, but Danny's face became serious.
"Sorry, we didn't mean to." I smiled, giving him a hug.
"It's okay Danny, I was just joking." He smiles, getting embarrassed
"Let's go home," Tyler piped up "Thats enough sunshine for today." He started walking toward the edge of the park leaving Danny and I alone. When Tyler was out of earshot, I turned toward Danny.
"Are you okay?" I asked and he replied with a simple nod of the head "Are you sure? You've been acting weird all day.”
"Are you guys coming?" Tyler called from the other side of the park. He was obviously annoyed that we were taking so long, he never had been patient.
"You go ahead, we'll catch up." Danny called chuckling at his impatience. "I'm fine Renee. Just tired, I didn't get much sleep last night."
I nodded even though I knew that he was lying. After all these years I've known him, you'd think he'd realize that I can tell when he's keeping things from me.








***

When Lily arrived back at the apartment, the guys were in the living room watching the t.v. I was in the room that I share with Lily, going over a new dance routine that I had just made up.

I heard Lily yelling, so I went to the living room to see what was wrong. “I am not your mother, do you think that I like working all day and coming home to two teenage boys, who are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, and having to cook and clean up after them. I am your friend, not your maid.” she stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door hard behind her. I stepped into the room, sitting in between the guys on the couch.

Tyler looked blown away, Danny looked as if he could burst into tears at any moment. We were all taken aback, Lily had always been the sane one in our group. The one that always calmed us down when we were upset.

“Should we go find her?”Danny asked quietly, breaking the silence of the room.

“No, she’ll come back. We just need to let her cool off.”
***

Two days later, Lily still hadn’t come back. We were all worried sick, calling hotels, the place where she auditioned the other day, everywhere we could think of. It was starting to look as if Lily had left New York entirely.
***
Another two days passed and still no word from Lily. All three of us were a wreck. I couldn’t stop crying, even when I thought I was out of tears to cry, there were still more. Tyler and Danny switched off roles. One would stay with me while the other would go out looking for her.
On the fifth night, the phone rang. We all rushed toward it. I put the phone up to my ear. “Hello?” I asked, hoping with all my heart that it was Lily.
“Renee? Is that you? You sound different over the phone.” my heart leaped with joy and I gave the guys, who were sitting there eagerly, a thumbs up sign. We all breathed a sigh of relief.
“Lily, where have you been? We’ve been worried sick.” I ask
“I’m really sorry about running out like that. I was just frustrated. I drove away and got myself lost. No surprise there right? So I kept driving, looking for something familiar and now I am out of gas in the middle of nowhere. I have no clue how to get home. It’s dark and cold and the closest gas station is ten miles away. I can’t walk that far.” she sounded so helpless.
“Hold on Lily, let me see if the guys know what to do.”
I explained Lily’s situation to Tyler and Danny. Danny suggested calling the police. Tyler was no help at all. He just shrugged his shoulders.
After about an hour of trying to figure out how to rescue Lily, we decided to just drive out and look for her. We had no idea where she was. The only landmark she could give us was a big green sign that read “Exit 57 in 2 miles.” Danny said that he knew where exit 57 was. All three of us gathered into Danny’s car and drove.







***
It was almost two hours later when we pulled up behind Lily. We climbed out of the car and each of us take turns giving her a hug.

After catching up on the days we had missed together we started on our journey home. That time Tyler drove because Danny was tired. I was too, since I fell asleep on Danny’s shoulder.
When we got home, it was dark out. I was so tired I could barely walk. Danny carried me inside.
Before we all went to bed, we sat in the living room talking.
“With all this madness going on these past few days, I haven’t had the chance to share my news.” I said. “I scheduled an audition for a top notch performing arts school.”
“That is so amazing!” exclaims Lily hugging me tightly.
“That’s great.” Tyler give me a fist bump. We both laugh.
“Wow…” Danny whispers.









***
A week later and everything was alright. It was a day before my big audition and I was so nervous. I was scared that something was going to happen. That they wouldn’t like me.
I had taken a trip to a little building where I could practice my routine.
I was on a high up stage and practicing a little too close to the edge. Before I knew it I was on the ground in so much pain. My leg was killing me, burning. I screamed and cried. Sobbing so loudly that a woman from the next building over came rushing in.
The ambulance came and took me to the hospital.
The doctors declared my leg to be broken and that caused me to cry even more. To a dancer, hearing that your leg is broken is basically saying that your career as a dancer is over.








***
Danny came to visit me the next day. I wondered where the others were but I didn’t ask. We sat in the room talking.
“Danny, what am I supposed to do now? Everything is over. I’ll never be able to dance again. Even if I can, I’ll never get the chance to audition for that same school. It’s all over.”
“You don’t need those people. You don’t need dancing to find your place in life.”
“Yeah right.” I said
“You have something right here, that loves you as much as you loved dancing.” he exclaimed, our eyes locked
“What’s that?” I asked
“Me.”

THE END