My Valentine

Thirty

Nightingale Phillips

"If I have to go to another museum and listen to another tour guide pretend to like their job, I'm going to start flirting with these statues."

Joshua put his arm around me as we continued walking down the marble floor.

Even the fresh, unfiltered smells that accompanied museums were starting to get to me.

I looked around at all my classmates, wondering if they were about to go crazy like I was, but they all seemed in tune and focused on what the bland old man was saying.

Oh God.

"Relax. We only have one more museum to go."

"Kill me now."

Just like the rest, Joshua had stacks upon stacks of notes,whereas, I had a crumpled piece of paper under my arm and was browsing Instagram.

As if on cue, my stomach grumbled. We'd been at this since nine and it was well after two in the afternoon.

"Where's our next stop anyway?"

He was so caught up in the 1930's American Economy pamphlet that I had to ask again.

I didn't get why I wasn't sharing an interest in Roosevelt and Bethune. I mean, everyone else seemed so captivated.

"Museum of the Contemporary Arts."

Damn!

My mother was calling again. I declined the call. She'd been at it since this morning. I sensed that she probably just wanted to check up on me to see if I was dead or alive. 

I was pretty sure I'd still be alive when I got back to the hotel, so I made her wait.

"Now, I'm sure many of you are aware of the great depression and how it largely impacted the economy in the 1930's, but we still aren't aware of what went wrong. Who wants to make suggestions?"

Kill.
Me.
Now.

Marshall was up ahead, studying some shitty painting. He looked so happy. It was like the tour guide had shoved a star up his ass.

I scoffed. He was probably the only one who came to New York for the right reason.

I smirked.

Such a nerd.

"I feel like I could move here when I'm older what do you guys think?"

Berry took a sip of his smoothie and shrugged.

"Where you go, I follow."

"Aww!" Tammy and I both mocked. Berry almost turned red when Tammy kissed him on his cheek.  They were so cute.

For a minute there, I wondered what it would've been like to have Marshall kiss me so openly.

No. I had to stop. That was all in the past. I kept reminding myself that Marshall and I had lost our chance of being together.

"It seems like a great place to live. No one cares what you do out here."

The thought was sobering. Maybe not having anyone care about you wasn't such a good thing when you were all alone in a city like this.

I tugged my tube top, wishing I was in something even skimpier. Don't judge. It was a bit humid out.

"I don't know. Georgia's pretty great."

Tammy shoved him.

"That's cause you ain't been no where!"

"Tamara! I swear. If you shove -"