Bitter (wlw) (teacherxstudent)

forty-five

"I can't believe I listened to your advice about how to dress appropriately for the weather here. I'm already sweating" Vic groaned as we walked out the subway, a view of Manhattan peeking through the top of the steps.

"I'm wearing the same amount of layers as you and I'm fine" I shrugged.

"Yeah, I should have remembered you're always cold"

"Just take your sweater off, there's enough space in your bag"

"I'll have to carry an extra weight on my shoulders because of you" she dramatically complained.

"The weight of having the coolest best friend in the city?" I joked.

"Okay, you still haven't lost your ability to make terrible jokes thinking they're funny"

"Thanks Vic, love you too" I laughed. "Anyway, you can put it in my bag if you think it's so heavy"

"Just being dramatic, not a problem. Anyway, let's recap our plans for today" she changed the subject. "I can't believe we're here, I'd missed this city so much"

"I can't believe you're here! Oh my god. But yeah, uhm, walk through a few Manhattan neighborhoods, High Line, lunch somewhere and afternoon in Central Park?"

We'd agreed on not doing anything that involved too touristy spots since we'd both already visited the main attractions more than once, and we'd just end up using our time waiting in queues. Instead, I wanted to show her places she'd never been to, mostly ones that Sam had shown me.

The streets were a bit more crowded than when I was there with her, probably people were using spring break to visit too, or the sunny March weather just motivated people to go out more.

"Can't we just eat while walking instead of waiting to get to the park? I'm hungry" Vic asked as we'd just walked through Times Square.

"We didn't just wait in a twenty minute line in front of a bagel shop for us to eat them in a hurry" I disapproved.

"I didn't say in a hurry, I said- Whatever, you know I get easily irritated when hungry. I can survive another ten minutes of walking" she chuckled. "Just promise you won't start with your wanting to find the best spot to sit in, because you know the park is bigger than our freaking hometown"

"I promise" I laughed, being reminded of how low-key insulting me was her way of showing affection. "You remember the last time we were here together?"

"Of course I do. My parents took us on a day trip here after hearing what you were going through. When was that, like a year and a half ago?"

"Yeah, more or less. I remember feeling like I'd forgotten what being happy felt like and finally remembering that day. It was great"

"Aw, El" she placed an arm around my shoulders. "It's the least we could do"

Vic's parents had organized a trip to cheer me up as soon as they discovered that my parents were basically not talking to me after I was outed to them.

In recent years I'd honestly been closer to them than to my actual parents, they'd always shown me an unconditional amount of love, as if I was their own daughter, and never hesitated on helping me in any way I needed. Vic kind of gave me the family I'd always wished I could have had, and that added to the list of reasons on why she'd been making my life better ever since we became friends.

"I remember it had just rained and as soon as we came through this gate you stepped in a huge mud puddle" I laughed as we approached one of the park's main entrances.

"Oh god, let's just remind ourselves of the good moments please"

"It was a good moment for me, extremely funny"