In Another Life

Sixteen

A/N: Just two more chapters left after this one, guys :(

It was around three in the morning New York time when Scott and Mitch finally arrived at their hotel with the rest of CalTones.

The plane ride had thankfully gone a lot more smoothly than Mitch expected it would. He may not have had any Xanax, but he did have Benadryl, so he ended up sleeping through a majority of the flight. And whenever he had been awake, he'd had Scott sitting right next to him holding his hand to help ease his nerves.

Mitch had finally made it up to his hotel room now; struggling to keep his eyes open as he walked inside and set down his luggage.

"Wow. This place is a lot nicer than where we stayed in Santa Barbara," Scott yawned, following behind Mitch and setting his own bag down.

Naturally, they were sharing a hotel room.

Mitch took a look around the room and slowly nodded his head. In most ways, it was nicer. The room was quite big with nice decor and didn't have any peeling paint or suspicious stains on the carpet.

But it also had two beds.

Frankly, Mitch preferred their Santa Barbara motel.

Mitch watched as Scott continued to walk around the room. He headed straight over to the window and pulled back the curtain. "Wow," he breathed out. "Come look at this, Mitchy."

Mitch complied even though his body was screaming at him to just go straight to bed. He dragged his feet over to where Scott stood, taking a look outside.

The sight in front of him was an instant pick-me-up. From their floor of the hotel, they had an absolutely perfect view of the brightly lit up city surrounding them.

Mitch felt totally breathless. He'd always adored New York City – he'd already visited on numerous occasions but it still gave him chills every single time.

In fact, New York would've been his number one choice of where to move to if it weren't for Scott's presence in LA.

"God. It's beautiful," Mitch breathed out.

"Yeah. It is," Scott agreed. He stood there for a little while longer before eventually retreating and heading over to his bed.

Mitch stayed rooted in his spot, however, continuing to admire the sight for a little while longer.

Finally, he turned around to face Scott. "Remember when we came here for our Martin choir trip my Junior year?"

Scott's face lit up at that. "Of course," he answered right away. "I will never forget how you won those Next to Normal tickets for us and Kirstie. We were so fucking dramatic crying together in the rain after it was over."

Mitch laughed softly. "What more can you expect from a bunch of choir nerds," he joked.

The trip had been a little over two years ago now. A small selection of Martin choir students had been chosen to go to New York for five days for a special performance, and Mitch, Scott, and Kirstie had been among them.

Since the trip had taken place just a couple months before Scott and Kirstie's graduation, it had been pretty bittersweet. Mitch had known it wouldn't be long until he rarely ever got to see them anymore so he'd made sure to cherish their time together in New York.

The trip hadn't just been an important time for Mitch's friendship with Scott and Kirstie, though. It had also been important for the development of his romantic feelings for Scott.

They'd shared a hotel room then, as well. And on their last night of the trip, upon returning to their room from their cry-fest outside of the Next to Normal theater, the two of them had ended up staying up way later than they should've having a heart to heart with each other.