Just Like Old Times

                                    

                                          
 I woke up at 8am. There was no alarm but I guess my body clock just knew it was a normal hour. As I woke up, I realized I was still cuddled up with Oli, who was still fast asleep with his beanie still on. I swear he must have practically lived in the thing. He looked so peaceful, and I just looked at him for a few minutes, thinking about everything he'd been through, about how awful he must have felt to want to end his life... it made me feel so sorry for him. All that time since London I'd just thought he was rude, or a 'typical guy' who ghosted girls... I never even considered that he'd be battling such big demons. I had been heartbroken before, and I'd been upset, but I couldn't even imagine feeling so bad that ending your own life seemed like the best option. I hugged him a little tighter. I wanted him to have the most amazing day off in New York – a day to just forget about the tour, about the guys, about everything. Even though I believed him when he said he was fine now, I made it my mission to make him smile and to think it was the best day ever. I carefully got out of bed as to not wake him and headed to the kitchen to make  breakfast.
                          
 Smashed avocado on toast was my favourite, always paired with a fruit smoothie, so it's what I made that morning – along with some cherry tomatoes; blistered in a pan. As I waited for the toast, I checked my phone - of course Behati had messaged to ask how my night had been. Or in other terms, to check if I'd done anything with Oli.  

'I know you're asking if anything happened with Oli... so before you ask, we did mud masks, watched a movie and well, we slept cuddled up together in bed.' I texted.
'Omg you slept in bed together? Spooning is one step away from forking!' she replied. I laughed at her dumb comment and I don't know why, but I felt like being more honest that I sometimes was.
'I wish he'd kissed me when I was putting mud on his face... We were so close and he looked so cute.' I admitted with a smiley emoji. 
'OMG! You should have just kissed him!!!!!!!' she replied.
'What if he doesn't want to kiss me?' I asked.
'Are you nuts? He's a boy! Of course he wants to kiss you!' she sent back. I just laughed and told her I had to go.
'DON'T FRIEND ZONE HIM!' she screamed back in all caps.
                          
I didn't have a tray but I took Oli's breakfast into the bedroom and sat the plate and glass on his bedside table, then went back for mine. He was awake when I went back the second time. 
 "Good morning." I said as I climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged in the middle of it with my plate of food. 
 "You made me breakfast?" he asked as he sat up.
 "Yeah, I was hungry." I replied. 
"I don't think anyone has ever made me breakfast in bed." he said with a smile.
"You've been hanging around the wrong people then." I joked as I bit into my avo on toast. 
"Besides, you're my very first apartment guest!" I said, realizing that he literally was the first person who'd been in my new apartment other than myself. "And you let me cuddle with you, so you know... seems fair." I joked. He smiled at the reasoning.
"Well Thankyou." he said. I think he was kind of impressed.
 "So what do you want to do today?" I asked, wondering if he had anything specific in mind.
 "I don't mind." he said. "I guess I'd like to see what a day in your life is like."
 I laughed lightly. "On a day off, it's not very exciting, but Ok."
                          
 We finished our breakfast and got dressed while I thought about where I wanted to take him. I figured another longer tour of Central Park would be cool, and I figured he'd probably never walked over the Brooklyn Bridge so that might be nice. I loved the views of Manhattan from there, and it was a good place to clear your head. There was also a great vegan burger place that I'd been to once before, so I planned our day around those things.
                          
 We took a taxi to Central Park and jumped into a rickhaw bike that whizzed us around for a couple of hours through the park. We stopped for coffee near Bow Bridge; the one you supposedly can't walk across without someone you love, and we sat and evaluated the people crossing it, making guesses on if they were married, first dates, or cursed – for the people walking across on their own of course. We laughed so much and we almost fell out of the bike when Oli told our rider to 'floor it' down a massive hill. I screamed and grabbed onto the bike for dear life, and he just laughed at me. He could be so crazy sometimes. 
                          
I hailed a taxi to take us to the burger place after all the excitement, and as we drove down Fifth avenue and stopped at a set of lights Oli made a funny gaspy amused noise. "What the fuck is a museum of sex?" he asked with a shocked laugh. 
 "Well... it's pretty much what it sounds like." I laughed in response. 
 "What the fuck?!" he said with a funny noise that was kind of like a mixture between offended, amused and curious.
 "Only in New York..." I joked.
 "Wait, have you been in there?" he questioned, amused at the thought. I had to laugh.
"I went once with the girls, and before you ask, yes - it was hilarious. We laughed like teenage girls." I responded; laughing at the memory. Oli laughed – I can only assume he was trying to figure out what on earth was actually inside.
 "You want to go later?" I asked with a laugh, expecting him to say no.
 "Well I'm curious now." he chuckled. I honestly thought he was going to be like 'hell no' or something, so I wasn't sure how I felt about him actually wanting to go – and me now having volunteered myself to take him.
 "Well, Ok... You're the tourist." I said with a laugh. My God, this was going to be so awkward, but I wasn't going to worry about it yet. Maybe he'd forget.

                          
 We arrived at the burger place and grabbed a table by the window where we ate and drank beer. Well, white wine for me. Someone recognized Oli on the way in and stopped him for a photo, but he didn't seem to mind. We talked about my trip to Australia which led to talking about my childhood, and we reminisced about London. I laughed remembering  the game of truth or dare we'd played and the night we went to see Skrillex. I asked about Micky's new girlfriend and Jordan and Emma's engagement, and I was so excited to hear about what was happening with them. I told him that I hoped I could hang out with them again someday and he assured me that I would.
                          
 "I hope this doesn't sound weird, but I'm really proud of you." he said suddenly and out of the blue while he drank his second beer. 
 "Proud of me? What for?" I asked.
 "You never gave up on your dreams... even back in London when you were having a shit time, you were still trying, and now you're there. You made it. It's really cool." he said with a smile. I wasn't expecting him to be so open and deep today, but his words were nice.
 "Well, if you want something, you can't just give up on it when you don't get it straight away." I said with a shrug. I was sure he would have been able to relate with his band. "You know the saying; nothing worth having comes easily." 
 "Very true." he agreed. "So are you excited for fashion week?" he asked, kind of changing the subject into something less deep. I told him I was.
 "I bet you're walking for all the good designers..." he said with a fake eye roll.
 "Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs are probably the main ones." I was surprised that he was interested to be honest.
 "And to think Drop Dead rejected you..." he joked with the hugest smile; clearly very amused at his teasing. I immediately shot him a look – he was so goddamn cheeky.
"Wow..." I said in fake offence.
                          
We took another taxi to Brooklyn; specifically to where the beginning point of the Brooklyn bridge so we could walk back over it towards Manhattan for the best views. The walk itself only took around 30 minutes, but we stopped for photos on multiple occasions and I snapped pics of Oli when he was obliviously standing by the railing just looking at the city. He seemed to like being outside in the sun, just taking in the views and not worrying about anything. I understood that though because I always liked it too. I wasn't really thinking about anything as we walked back toward the city... it was nice to feel disconnected from my everyday chaotic life - there was something about being with Oli that made me feel like that, and it was nice. We talked about his dogs, his family... and I asked about his brother; Tom, who I'd met back in London. We spent about an hour wandering across the bridge, chatting, laughing and eventually ending up at City Hall.
                          
 "So, do you still want to go to the museum?" I asked with a slightly embarrassed smirk, knowing if we were going to go, it would have to be now. 
 "I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty curious." he responded; not just saying yes, but obviously wanting to go. I just laughed.
 I hailed a taxi and requested the museum of sex. We both looked at each other and started giggling in the back seat after a moment of trying not to. This was going to be interesting to say the least.