What's Your Story?

A shrill ringing sound woke Kylie the next morning. She groggily reached towards the table until her hand came in contact with her still ringing cell phone. She disabled the alarm and took her time sitting up and stretching.

Her phone had woken her up at six o’ clock and they were going to try and be on the road by eight-thirty/nine. After forcing herself to get up Kylie took a quick shower and blow-dried her hair. She then straightened it and put a little makeup on. By the time she finished with everything it was just about seven and time to wake Conner up.

His room was spotless and Kylie didn’t have to worry about stepping on anything as she tiptoed in the dark. Conner’s bed was directly in front of the door and the light form the hallway was enough to show Conner’s still sleeping form. Kylie crept to the side of the bed so that she was next to Conner’s back. She put her hands on the bed and pushed herself up as she jumped.

“Good morning!” she called out as she landed on top of her friend.

Conner let out a shrill yelp and twitched but that was as far as he could go, Kylie had pinned his arms to his sides when she landed on him. He squirmed a little but that did nothing.

“Goddamn, Kylie. All I do is talk to you when I wake you up! I never get physical.”

“That’s because I’m on tiny couches; you, however, have this huge bed. So really it’s all your fault for having a bed.”

“I hate you,” he groaned, pushing his face into the pillow. Kylie ruffled his messy bed hair.

“Come on, we have to pack the car.”

“No we don’t.”

“Then you’re going without all of your stuff.”

“I’ll borrow your things.”

Kylie scoffed and rolled off of Conner. Kylie lied on her side so that she faced Conner who was trying to fall back asleep. “Like hell you’ll use my things.”

“Then I’ll just buy stuff.”

“Nope, get up!”

Kylie cheerfully jumped out of the bed, pulling the blankets with her. Conner weakly reached for the moving blankets but he was too slow. Kylie dropped the blankets onto the floor and then opened the blinds that covered the three windows in the room. The light was blinding to Conner and caused him to stuff his head under the numerous pillows at the head of the bed.

“Come on, sunshine,” Kylie said before leaving the room.

Kylie put a pot of coffee on in hopes that the scent would lure Conner out of the bed. He stumbled into the kitchen when Kylie was pouring the drinks into the cups. His hair was mussed up and he wore a wrinkled Mets tee shirt and blue and white striped boxers.
“He’s alive!” Kylie cried out dramatically.

Conner just shook his head and grabbed the cup of coffee. “What time is it?” he asked.

“Almost seven-thirty.”

“What are you wearing?” Conner asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

Kylie looked down at her black dress pants, dark red blouse, and black socks. “What?”

“Are you heading off to your secretary job or something?”

“Excuse me?” Kylie snapped, her hands going to her hips.

“You’re so dressed up. We’re going to be in the car for five or more hours. Why don’t you just wear sweats or something?”

“Because if we find a story on the road then I don’t want to be dressed like a bum. If I’m dressed like this,” she indicated her outfit, “I look more professional and less like a loon asking them about their lives.”

“Ky, go change.”

“No! I love this outfit.”

“You’re going to be extremely uncomfortable.”

“No I won’t.”

Conner sighed at Kylie’s stubbornness. “When we go out on the town dress up. Just look presentable for the ride.”

After a few more moments of arguing Kylie reluctantly agreed to change into a pair of dark blue jeans and a shirt from Wicked.

“This means I have to change my shoes,” she whined.

“Which ones were you going to wear before?”

“Those black heels I just got,” Kylie replied sheepishly. Now that she was in comfy clothes she realized how silly she had been.

“Really, Ky?”

“Shut up. It could’ve come in handy. Say we were stranded on the side of the road. If I look hot there’s a better chance that a guy will help us.”

“Yeah that or kill me and kidnap you. I’m gonna start bringing my things down.”

“Grab my sneakers from my shoe back while you’re down there.”

“Uh huh.”

While Conner brought the suitcase down to his car Kylie washed the cups and coffee pot then cleaned the kitchen counters.

“Hey, Kylie,” Conner said when he came back into the apartment. His nose and cheeks were bright pink from being outside. “Two things. One, it’s drizzling and two, there’s no shoe bag in the car.”

“What?” She dropped the sponge into the sink. “Of course there is.”

“I moved everything around; there aren’t any bags full of shoes. How many do you need anyway?”

“I had sneakers, flats, flip flops, and dressy flats.”

“Do you really need that many pairs of shoes?”

“Yes! Oh, where’s my phone?” Kylie found the electronic on the floor by her open over night bag. She searched through her phone book and stopped on Amber’s name. The phone rang five times and was about to go to her voicemail when a tired Amber answered.

“’Lo?” she mumbled.

“Amber? It’s Kylie. I’m sorry to be calling so early but I need a favor.”

Conner left the apartment with the two duffle bags. The door closed quietly behind him.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“I need you to go to my apartment and see if there’s a bag full of shoes anywhere. The best place to search is the hall closet? Could you do that, please?”

“Sure. I’ll look and call you back in a few.”

“Okay, thank you so much and sorry for waking you up.”

“Eh, it’s fine.”

They disconnected and Kylie impatiently waited for Conner to come back up. When he finally came back into the apartment Kylie explained what she was having Amber do.

“You woke her up just to look for your shoes?” he sounded so shocked.

“Yes, I figured if she found them then she could bring them down to Otto and we can grab them, get breakfast, and head on out.”

Kylie’s phone rang and she quickly opened it. “Hello?”

“Hey,” Amber said, she sounded somewhat more awake but not much. “I found the bag.”

“Thanks, you’re the best.”

“No problem. What do you want me to do with them?”

“Could you bring the bag down to the front desk, please? We’re gonna swing by and grab them before we head off.”

“Sure, I’ll head down now.”

“Okay, one second.” Kylie lowered the phone to speak with Conner. “She found them, are we ready to leave?”

“Yep, let’s go.”

Kylie grabbed her overnight bag and walked out of the apartment in socks. “Okay, we’re leaving now,” she told Amber.

“Where are you guys going first?”

“Lenox, I chose it because of the name.” Kylie and Conner stepped into the elevator at the end of the hall.

“Cool, are you staying in New York for a while?”

“No, I think after Lenox we’re going to Pennsylvania then Jersey. After that I have no idea. We’re almost outside so I’m going to go.”

“I’ll see you in a few then.”

“Bye.” Kylie hung up and followed Conner out of the apartment building and to his car. The back was packed with bags.

The ride to Kylie’s apartment building seemed to take forever. They got stuck in morning traffic and no one seemed to know how to drive. Finally after nearly twenty minutes they reached the building.

Kylie jumped out of the car after Conner parked and she hurried into the building as fast as she could in the heels she had changed into. Otto smiled as he opened the door.

“Back so soon, Miss Shett?” he joked.

“Yep, I just missed this place so much. Where’s Amber?” The lobby was empty except for the desk man, Jerry.

“She went back upstairs; she had to get ready for work. She left this bag for you.” Otto handed Kylie the bag of shoes.

“Thank you so much. I’ll see you after the trip.”

Kylie went back out to the car and as Conner began to drive away she traded the heels she was wearing for a pair of warm socks. She took her sneakers out of the bag and placed the rest of the shoes in the back of the car.

They stopped for bagels, plain for Kylie and egg for Conner, and coffee. Then they began the five hour drive to Lenox.