XPLR | Colby Brock

Epilogue (Rewritten, Elongated)

New York City harbors a different kind of feeling during the summer time. Staring up in the sky at the Freedom Tower, or the Empire State Building, makes something inside you twist and turn with a feel of pride. A deep fire is ignited in your soul, and it feels so good to know that this is the city of dreams, as I've heard it be called, and all of my dreams were reached.

"What are you thinking?" Colby asked me as he stepped up next to me, holding a hand over his eyes to block out the burning, bright sun. Wind blew his soft brown hair lightly to the side, and he looked over at me and smiled. "I'm thinking about how much I'm going to miss this place," I said, removing my sunglasses. He looked over at me out of the corner of his eye as I looked up at him, and a small smile tugged at his lips. He reached down and took my hand, before he leaned down and kissed my cheek. "I'll miss it too. But you know we don't have to leave here at all."

"We already signed the papers. Plus, I think it's time we finally go home."

"I don't think I've ever heard you call Los Angeles home," he teased. I rolled my eyes and took a few steps towards the Empire State building. "Would you just come on?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at him. "Yes, ma'am," he said, holding up his one free hand in surrender. A brand new, black wedding band around his finger.

Even though Colby and I have been living together in New York for three years, sometimes, when I look at him, I can't believe he's really here. After everything we've been through together, and considering how long we were too poor to even eat, since we were saving all of the money we could for when we really needed, and we made a pact when we opened the bank account to never tap into it until we had enough money to make the biggest, and albeit- most important, purchase of our lives and life together.

It's a beautiful sunny day in New York City. The Big Apple. One thing I noticed about Colby that I hadn't before, was that, whenever he could, his fingers were laced with mine, and we were standing shoulder to shoulder. Like he would never let me go, and neither would I him. Especially now that we're bound by vows, as of this morning.

I leaned my head against his shoulder and watched the floor as the elevator flew up floors at a time. Colby stared up at the glowing light as we approached the top of the colossal building. He nudged me a little bit to look up. "Pretty, huh? It's like we're going to a new dimension."

"Or Heaven," I said, shrugging. "Well, we'll be in Heaven when we make it to the beach outside of Los Angeles."

I smiled and nodded, and he pressed a kiss to my cheek just as the elevator doors opened and we flowed out with the rest of the passengers. We quietly strolled around, looking out the windows of the iconic building, before finally making it to the top of the Empire State Building.

The sun is thousands of miles away, but even being a few hundred feet up from the ground made it seem as if it were a thousand times closer. Colby's hand guided me towards an unoccupied part of the railing, and he let go of my hand to wrap both of his around the bars of the rail. "Wow," he said, looking over New York City, the side that faces the Hudson River, "I can't believe I lived in New York City for three years and never made it up here."

"There are so many things you never got to do," I said. I grinned and pointed towards a tiny silhouette in the distance in the middle of the Hudson River. "The Statue of Liberty," I grinned. He chuckled and shook his head, "In all her glory."

I leaned against the stone of the rail, and closed my eyes as I let the mid July sun beat down on my face. "You sure this is how you want to spend your last day living in the City?" Colby asked, I could feel his eyes on me, and when I opened my own, he was watching me with a sort of look in his eye he always has that I'm never able to place. What is it? Love? Admiration? Who knows. I think that's what I like about his eyes, and I hope he seems the same light in my own.