Manhattan Dreams ✅

54. Three

Waking up alone is something that I'll never get used to. After being without Josh for a couple days I was more than ready to see him in a few days...all I had to do was get through exams. "First exam tomorrow, you ready?" Josh asks while we talk on the phone on Sunday night. I groan, tossing my Calculus book onto my bed; I didn't care what Riley said, math was the devil.

"I hate school" I grumble and he chuckles while seemingly tuning his guitar since I can hear the chords coming through the speaker. I swear I could hear him play forever so I don't ask him to stop no matter how any times he almost blasts my eardrums. "How was your first show?" I ask excitedly. They had their first show in San Francisco last night and I had been waiting all day to ask him how it went.

I had seen endless social media posts from fangirls expressing how incredible it was to see them in a larger venue than the bar and I had even seen that a few fans got to meet them afterwards. It kinda blew my mind that there were girls freaking out about taking a picture with my boyfriend when to me he would always be just be the sweet and caring boy I ran into in the bathroom the first day of school. "It was a feeling unlike anything" he says dazedly. "The fans knew every word to all our songs, they were so damn loud and just so into it" he adds. "And after the show a bunch of them waited outside the tour bus for us and we got to take pictures" he says and a smile tugs at my lips. This was why I couldn't hold him back because hearing him talk so passionately about his fans melted my heart.

"Baby that's amazing" I gush. "I'm so proud of you" I add honestly.

"You're amazing" he counters. "I miss you like crazy. Remind me when you're coming to visit me" he says and I bring my lip between my teeth nervously.

"Soon babe I promise" I reply dismissively. "But uh right now I should really get some studying done. I'll uh talk to you later though okay?"

He sighs. "Yea okay. Don't go falling in love with any ballet boys while I'm gone" he adds and I roll my eyes. As if that were even possible.

"Impossible babe" I argue. "It'd probably be easier to fall for a fangirl don't you think?"

"I already did" he teases and I chuckle. "Goodnight Penelope."

"Goodnight Josh" I murmur happily before we hang up and I let out a deep sigh. Only three more days and I'd be back with him. Three more days.

*************************************************************************************

"Where is my graphing calculator?" I exclaim as I tear apart our bedroom looking for the expensive piece of technology that could stand between me passing and failing Calculus. "Ugh" I groan as our door opens and Riley walks in.

"Woah" she gasps. "What happened in here?" she asks and I sigh as I collapse onto the bed.

"What happened is that I have my Calc final in like fifteen minutes and I lost my damn calculator" I explain, running my hands through my hair in frustration. Riley chuckles.

"Did you check your boyfriend's room? You know, where you spent half this year?" she asks and my eyes widen. How could I not think of that? Josh left a few things behind that Riley promised to bring home so he hadn't handed over his bedroom key to the resident advisor yet.

"I gotta go" I exclaim, grabbing my backpack and running off down the hallway to the room I hadn't walked into in almost a week. I take a deep breath as I steady my key and push it into the lock, turning it and pushing open the door. The room looks completely void of Josh's personality and it's weird to think that I spent almost every day in this room. I head over to his desk and sure enough my calculator sits atop a stack of papers. I go to grab it but my eyes catch something on the paper that makes a smile tug at my lips. I pick it up and my heart skips a beat.