It had seemed like forever since the steely gray skies of New York had cleared of rain and clouds. This unseasonable blast of sun and warmth cast away the tall shadows that fell over the city like a blanket during fall. It was something no one ever expected but was always extremely appreciated when it unfolded like it had today. It was like a momentary gift to get you out of the lackluster mentality often felt as winter approached.
People seemed to come out in droves, hitting the streets in the thousands whenever the sun managed to break through like this. New Yorkers always took full advantage of being able to shed the layers of clothing piled on to keep the cold from chilling their bones. Cafes owners pulled their tables out onto the sidewalk, adding a burst of color with little flower arrangements making it feel like summer was upon them. Patrons would flock to get a seat for an hour or two so they could luxuriate under the azure blue of an uncluttered sky and the gentle breeze of an Indian summer day.
Cass threw her overnight bag in the trunk then put the top down on her car. It was always a treat to get her little red convertible out of the garage and drive herself somewhere. Living and working in the city meant a lot of cab and subway riding, which in itself was convenient, but it was also a huge bore. It was how you got from point A to point B as quickly as you could. She had done it for so long now she could actually navigate the entire system with her eyes closed.
She loved the feel and smell of the soft tan leather that she’d upgraded to when she bought the car. This was the only vehicle she had ever owned and she’d wanted it to be perfect, wanted it to have all the perks, so she’d splurged on a Bose radio, crazy speakers, a navigation system, and big fat tires that she thought made the car look sexy.
She decided to leave her hair down today instead of tying it up into a neat little ponytail as she often did. She couldn’t wait to feel the warm wind blowing through it, feel it lift and whip around her face because it was not something she could do that often. In her business she was always picture perfect, every hair designed to sit just so, so when an opportunity like this arose she took every advantage of feeling slightly out of control.
She maneuvered quite well through the throngs of taxicabs and pedestrians to the outskirts of town and over the bridge on her way out of the city. It had been far too long since she’d seen her friends Liz and Bill and was thrilled when the invitation to their annual barbeque arrived. She could hardly believe that it had been nearly a year since she’d been out to see them, but in her world it didn’t take long for a year to slide by unnoticed.
She was one of the hardest working models in town and was constantly on the go traveling to and from exotic locations for photo shoots. She was, as they say in the business, a top commodity and always in demand. She spent just as many days traveling as she did working but she didn’t mind. It paid the bills and kept her out of trouble.
She had always referred to her friends new place as her country retreat, a place she could visit, unwind, and revitalize her spirit. She could be herself there without worrying about what she looked like and never really had to worry about the paparazzi catching up with her as they often did when she was in the city.
Her friends had done very well for themselves by getting into the housing market when they did because prices since then had skyrocketed. Their new place was a far cry from the small dingy apartment she and Liz had shared while going to college.
Both girls had tried to make it as comfortable as possible, gathering odd pieces of furniture off the streets and out of dumpsters to mix in with the few pieces they’d brought from home. Nothing matched but with a keen eye for design they’d somehow managed to put it together in such a way that it looked like a richly colored bohemian retreat.
Friends that would come to visit would often comment about how they could turn their junky finds into gold. This always made Liz and Cass laugh because if any of them were to lift the colorful throws and pillows off of some of these pieces, they’d see just how disgusting some of their castaway collections really were. They didn’t care though, they knew their apartment was only temporary, a place to stay while finishing school, a place to call home in the Big Apple.
Both girls had grown up in smaller towns where people worked hard for what they got so their expectations had not been all that high. Neither of them had lived on their own until they came to New York to attend university.
Cass had chosen NYU over several other campuses across the United States because she’d wanted to experience the hustle and bustle of the town built on an island, and beside, what better place could you live once you earned your degree in business management. New York was alive day and night, and even though she was kind of a homebody, she knew, or at least hoped, she’d get caught up in a crowd that would keep things interesting.
Liz also had chosen New York because she wanted to experience the electricity of a city like Manhattan. She wanted to be part of something bigger than where she grew up. Her hometown of Chandler, which was about twenty miles outside of Phoenix, Arizona, was not hugely populated and had only started to grow into something more than a lowly farm town during the 1990’s when Motorola and Intel opened plants there. Her older brother took a job at Intel but she wasn’t interested in working for either company. She wanted something more exciting than sitting at a desk making money for someone else. She’d always been a camera buff ever since she could remember. There were very few places and things that escaped her notice and her collection of photographs pretty much captured the essence of the whole town.
The weather was also something she had grown weary of. There were only two seasons there—sunny and sunnier. You were hot or hotter, tanned or tanner and all you could do was hope for a stray thunderstorm so you could pretend you had weather, then, you could be wet or wetter.
For her the thought of living amidst the brilliance of fall, where the leaves morphed from green into the beautiful jewel tones of fall, followed shortly thereafter by the chill of cold winter days and snow that would lay a perfect blanket over the city was something she wanted to experience. She didn’t know it then of course, but she would eventually have a love-hate relationship with the very thing that drew her there. The snow was far colder than she expected, the days seemed far shorter than back home, something she found extremely depressing, and she’d ruined nearly all her beautiful shoes and boots trudging through the salt laden slush getting to the subway. But that aside, it was an easy trade off because the university offered exactly the right classes she’d need to fulfill her dream of becoming a photojournalist. New York was alive with opportunity and she knew she would never be at a loss for things to photograph or write about.
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