Miserably Loving You

“How was Ashley last night, did she mind you came home a bit later?” Jack asked me the next day at work.
“No,” I replied focusing my camera.
“Oh that’s good,” Jack smiled.
“Not really,” I took a photo and grimaced. Nothing was going good today.
“Why? You should be happy she wasn’t pissed off.” Jack said with a questioning look.
“She came home at 3 this morning.” I stated, and looked at my friend.
“Why? That’’s so weird,” Jack was surprised.
“Yeah I know. She didn’t return any of my calls, nor did she reply to any of my texts. She said she was out with her friends.” I explained about the events that had occurred within the past 24 hours.
“And she didn’t contact you at all?” Jack was surprised.
“That’s correct.” I nodded and started to pack the camera up.
“At least you’ll have some time to yourself in New York,” Jack tried to cheer me up.
“Let’s close early, no one’s coming in within the next hour,” I suggested to Jack.
“Good idea, I still need to pack for tomorrow,” he replied. I was happy he agreed, I also needed to pack and I wanted to talk with Ashley, to sort everything out with her.
***
“I’ll see ya tomorrow,” I told Jack when dropped me off. I walked up the stairs to my apartment, unlocked the door, and headed straight to the kitchen.
‘“Ashley? You home?” I called out. No answer. I looked around the apartment, no sign of Ashley and no sign of any message she would be leaving. I fixed myself a normal dinner and sat down to eat in the living room. I turned on the T.V and ate. The phone’s ringing pulled me out of my thoughts.
“Hello?” I answered
“Hey sweetheart!” I heard Ashley’s voice.
“Hey, where are you?” I asked.
“I’m at a friend’s house, we’re helping each other write our papers, I won’t be back home until later today,” she explained, “Aren’t you home early?”
“Yeah, Jack and I closed a bit earlier today, I still have to pack for tomorrow,”I replied
“Tomorrow? What’s tomorrow?” She sounded a bit confused.
“Jack and I are leaving for New York tomorrow for our conference,” I reminded her.
“Oh right, right, I forgot,” she laughed.
“Yeah, We’re leaving early tomorrow morning, so if I don’t see you, good luck with your paper writing,” I laughed.
“Thanks honey, I’ll call you later,”
“Okay, bye,”
“Love you bye,” She hung up.
I finished what I was eating, put the dishes into the dishwasher and went to my room to start packing. I opened the closet up and looked through my clothes.
***
Soon my suitcase was packed, and everything was ready to go. All I had to do was call Jack to arrange everything.
“Yellow,” I heard Jack say when he picked up,
“Hey Jack,”
“hey Zachary, What’s up?”
“About tomorrow, what time do you want to head out at?” I asked.
“Hmm, well it takes three hours and we don’t want to get stuck in traffic so about 6 in the morning so we’d get there at 9 or 10?” Jack suggested,
“Sure, Meet me at my house and we can take my car,” I replied.
“Sweet I’ll be there.” Jack agreed. “See ya Tomorrow Zack,”
“See Ya,” I hung up.
***
I woke up to my alarm clock blaring. I turned it off, and in a very sleepy state walked into the bathroom. As soon as I was done, there was a knock at the door.
“Hey Zack!” Jack exclaimed as I opened the door.
“Good Morning,” I replied still not fully awake. “Did you eat breakfast?”
“No, I did not.” Jack answered as he sat down at the table.
“I’m going to make some sandwiches for the drive, because I frankly don’t want to stop until we get there.” I explained taking out the necessary food items. After I made everything and cleaned the kitchen up, we left.

3 hours later we were in New York and we were checked into our Hotel.
“I’m going to go for a walk. Fresh air will do me some good,” I told Jack, “And I might take a few photos, for our display back home,” I added.
“Go right ahead, just don’t die on me. You know I have no sense of direction and I probably will die.” he replied.
“I know, I know,” I rolled my eyes with a laugh, grabbed my wallet, phone, camera bag and walked out the door.

I had no idea where I was going I was walking aimlessly around New York, occasionally stopping to take a few pictures.

I decided to start heading back to the hotel and would look for a Starbucks and bring Jack back something.
I was walking and a girl was coming in front of me, I tried to move out of the way, but she bumped into me.
“I am so sorry!” she exclaimed.
“It’s alright, I should have watched out,” I replied.
“Shit, I spilled some coffee on you,” she looked at me apologetically.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry.” I answered wiping away some of the beverage that was spilt on my jacket.
“I am really, really sorry.” she went on looking tense.
“Listen. It’s really no big deal. How about I make it up to you and we can go to Starbucks? ” I answered truthfully.
“No I really shouldn’t.” she looked around.
“I insist. I kinda need some company. I’m not from here you see and I’m actually kind of lost and I have no clue where to go.” I replied looking into her brown eyes.
“If you insist. But I’m kinda on a tight schedule,” she half-smiled.
“Sweet, I’m Zack by the way,” i introduced myself as we started to walk.
“I’m Gabby,” the girl answered shyly.
“I like that name.” I complimented her.
“Thanks,” she looked at the ground. She was beautiful. Her dark hair danced in the Summer breeze as we made our way to a near Starbucks.
When we got there, I ordered and paid.
“Here,” Gabby gave me some money, “You shouldn’t have, I owe you”
“It’s okay, you don’t owe anything,” I smiled softly at her. “Do you want to sit or do we want to go and walk around?” I asked switching the subject.
“Uhm... we can sit I guess,” She shrugged. We sat opposite of one another at a table by the window.
“So Gabby, you live in New York?” I asked awkwardly breaking the silence.
“Yeah, where you from?” she asked
“Maryland, My friend and I came here for a conference, workshop thing.” I answered.
“Ah.. So you’re like a businessman?” she said.
“Well to one extent yes I am. I’m a photographer. My friend and I opened a studio a couple of years ago.” I explained.
“Oh, That sounds interesting. I’ve always loved photography. I took some courses, but I don’t think I could ever be a professional.” She laughed softly.
“Yes you could be, anything is possible,” I reached out and touched her hand. She looked uncomfortable.
“Are you okay,” I asked
“Yeah, yeah... just thinking,”
“Are you sure, you don’t look good,”
“I’m fine.” she replied.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to interfere or anything,” I said quickly.
“No worries.” It seemed like she was annoyed.
“Maybe you could show me around New York. Or we can go to the famous Central Park and Work on some photography,” I suggested hoping the girl would agree.
“Uhm... Can we uhm... can we go tomorrow. I have to go soon,” she mumbled.
“Sure whenever you’re free. My friend Jack and I go back home next Tuesday.” I responded.
“Uhm... I’m going to go to the washroom. I’ll be right back.” Gabby got up and left.
I took this time to take a piece of paper from my notebook in my camerabag and wrote down my number.
“Here’s my number. Call me or text me whenever.” I told her when she got back, giving her the paper.
“Thank you,” She smiled. “We can meet tomorrow,” We got up and started to leave. I opened the door for her, and we walked into the busy streets of New York.
“I’ll text you then when we can meet,” Gabby informed me before we parted.