Albert's Smile (Albert Hammond Jr/ The Strokes Fanfiction)

New Apartment

'And that's the last of it!' I called out, throwing my arms in the air out of happiness but also in an attempt to stretch out my back after carrying all those moving boxes.

'Thank FUCK' Jessica panted dramatically.

I looked around at the new flat we shared. It's a pretty small apartment, but what do you expect when you're renting in the West Village? We needed to downsize if we wanted to live in a nice neighbourhood.

It is lovely though, despite its small size. Sunlight floods the apartment, as we have the top floor and no buildings block the sun from streaming in. Once you walk through the door you enter a narrow corridor with an exposed brick wall to your left and the open plan kitchen to the right. Walking down the corridor and passing the kitchen you enter into the living room which I'm happy to say is HUGE in comparison to our last flat. The TV hangs on the wall opposite the kitchens breakfast bar, there's a rug and coffee table in the centre with three sofas surrounding them. I can already see where all our records, instruments and other shit will go. Two rooms sit at either either side of the living room, one for me and one for Jessica.

'The landlord says we can smoke in here, right?' Jessie asked asked lazily, not really caring for my response.

'Yeah I think he did, not sure he knows what it is we'll be smoking though' I Smirked, pulling a perfectly rolled joint out of my back pocket.

Jessie laughed lightly though her nose after lighting her cigarette and falling onto the sofa, laying on her back.
'Our parents will never be able to visit, the place will scream 'your kids do drugs!'' she sighed dreamily, obviously taking he piss.

'Like you care' I laughed, plopping down on her thighs.

After a few minutes of smoking in silence and occasionally swapping cigarette and joint back and forth between us, we got up to finally explore the last and favourite feature of our new apartment; the rooftop.

The reason we even got this place was the private rooftop. Ever since me and Jessie we kids we dreamed of having our own place with a rooftop, to chill on in warm summer nights, music playing, drinks flowing and cigarettes lit, not a care in the world. We both love the sky; it makes us feel so at peace; day or night. And for us to have a private rooftop with a view of the city's skyline is fucking incredible.

In the left hand corner of the living room lives a black iron spiral staircase, and after making quick eye contact sending a telepathic message, we sprinted across the room, starting a race to see who could get up to the rooftop first.

'Ow you bitch!' I screamed laughing as Jessie pulled me down by my left ankle, which lead me to fall flat on my face, arms outstretched in front of me. I was practically planking on the staircase, bend awkwardly with the curve of the spiral.

'Ha!' Jessie panted, as she crawled over my legs, back and head on her all fours, squishing me flat to the iron stairs. Man, this is gonna bruise. Jessie then used my head as a fucking step as she twisted the handle for the trap door before she climbed the remaining steps and rushed out onto the rooftop. She stopped dead.

'What, what is it?' I asked as I peeled my face off the iron, cursing her under my breath.

She replied softly, 'Emilie, it's even more beautiful that when we viewed this place. Man, this is all we ever wanted'

After hauling myself on to the rooftop, my breath hitched in my throat. I think it looks so different to the first viewing, and so beautiful because we viewed it on a cloudy day. But now the sky was clear as crystal and the sun hung just above the horizon, casting a soft peachy glow across the sky. It was literally breathtaking.

Jessie snapped me out of my dream state by turning to me and grabbing my shoulders and shaking me frantically, her tousled blonde hair that falls at the base of her neck thrashing wildly behind around her.

'Em, lets rush to the off license, use our fake IDs, grab some booze, and rush back her for the sunset!! Okay? Let's go!!' She exclaimed, powering back down the staircase without even waiting for a response. Like she needed one.

40 seconds, a locked trap door, a quick grab of scooter keys and two helmets later we were on our shared classic baby blue Vespa with a frown leather seat. Jessie was in the driving seat and I was sat behind her on the back, my thighs either side of her hips and my arms around her torso.

As she sped down the ave I realised we don't know this neighbourhood. Like at all.

After spotting a group of five guys walking down the sidewalk I nudged Jessie in the thigh with my knee, and shouted over the roar of the engine for her to pull over. With a slight shrug of her shoulders she pulled onto the curb dangerously, I swear she's a relative of Evel Knievel somewhere down the lines.

The shortest one with curly hair and tanned skin shrieked and clucked his heart closing his eyes. I suppose you would if a scooter hurled onto the sidewalk at you and your friends full speed.

Sniggering as I took off my helmet, and shook my hair, their eyes all popped at the sight of me, they probably thought I was a guy, I mused. They were all incredibly attractive, but one stood out to me. He had mad curly hair, like the boy who shrieked but a little lighter in colour. He had on cropped ankle length trousers, battered high top converse, and a 'The Stooges' Tshirt on underneath a sheepskin collar denim jacket. Man, this boy had style.

I felt a pair of eyes on me, and my head snapped up to meet his gaze. He had a sexy smirk, and his eyes had a curious glint, as if he had caught me checking him out. Well of course he did, I've been sat here for ages staring at him, which I gathered from the fact that Jessie had her head turned to me, her eyebrow arched questioningly.

'What the fuck em? What have I pulled over for?'

'Well, we don't actually have a fucking clue where we're going do we? I was gonna ask these guys' I turned to them with a bright smile.

'Oh thank god. I thought you were two some one night stands who I didn't recognise trying to run me over' the tall lanky one with bright blue eyes exclaimed, sighing with relief. This earned him a snort from the one with shaggy hair and sunglasses, a soft elbow to the ribs and a muttered 'Idiot', from the one I was checking out and an eye roll from the shy looking one with bobbed hair.

'No, that wouldn't be us' I replied flirtatiously, smiling at Jessie. Catching on with where this was going, she added, 'Yeah, any of you boys would definitely remember a night with us' in a low voice.

The tall one smirked back at us, his cheeks tinted pink, while the rest of them laughed lightly at our remark.

'Anyway, sorry to startle you boys, but we're new in this neighbourhood. Do you happen to know where the closest off license is?'

The gorgeous boy I was checking out earlier replied in a smooth voice 'yeah sweetheart, just down this avenue, right and then right again. Other side of this block'

'Thanks!' Jessie called out, already fastening her helmet and starting the engine. Alarmed at how abruptly Jessie was pulling away I hauled my helmet on. As she left the curb, I looked at the boy and saw he was about to say something before Jessie sped off down the Avenue. I guess I'll never know what he was gonna say I thought. Could have been asking for my number, shit, I'm gonna kill Jessie. Oh well, plenty gorgeous boys around.