“We made it, welcome to the land of dreams!” Steve joked at the they drove into the City, the sound of Jay-Z blaring on their radio as Robin whooped, pumping her fist “the sky is the limit Dingus! We’ve got the whole world in our hands!” He laughed easing into a different lane behind a truck.
“And to think we thought we’d never make it out of Indiana.” They’d graduated two months ago and fled in the night with nothing but their clothes, their important papers and the money they had earned through their high school jobs, determined to make a name for themselves. They both got accepted into the same art school, and before leaving got an apartment and both applied for jobs, their only caveat was they work together, and had somehow managed to get a job together in a bar/club.
The sound of someone lying on their horn scared them out of their excitement, and both whipped their heads around to find a girl on a bicycle whip through the rows of cars. She was wearing a long flowing green dress the blew in the wind, catching enough that her legs were slightly exposed, showing off the tattoos on her calf’s, and she wasn’t wearing a helmet showing off her striking red chopped bob.
Robin felt her jaw drop at the sight of her, her mind short circuiting before she felt Steve push her jaw up with a laugh, “Jesus you’re gonna catch a fly with that trap hanging open, homo,” she smacked him hard in the arm getting a laugh out of him as he came to a stop at a crosswalk
*
“Alright, all three of you scoot, move fast traffic is crazy right now.” Ted shooed his three kids across the street as the traffic stopped. He had them for the foreseeable future due to their Mom’s current career choice- if you could call it that- so he was moving them into his apartment flat and had just picked them up from the train.
He wasn’t sure how they’d feel about it, but he was beyond thrilled. Split custody was fine but he got them all summer last year and sending them back to Karen made him feel physically sick.
“Daddy guess how many times I listened to this!” Holly spun around to show him her phone and walk backwards, displaying the Taylor Swift song about New York. “No clue love bug,” he chuckled as they made it to the sidewalk. “Probably too many-“ “oh stop acting like you were singing along Mike-“ “I was NOT-“ Nancy rolled her eyes with a tiny smile, looking at their Dad, “this has been the whole trip.”
He hummed in response, bumping her an elbow with his elbow, “I’m glad you came too sweetheart.” She smiled, bumping his arm back, “I’m the one who insisted on it to be honest, we didn’t want to move all over the place with her acting schedule. He could imagine. They had been married for years before the divorce. It both did and didn’t come out of nowhere. She cheated, they argued, she said he didn’t give her any freedom so he freed her.
That was about 2 years ago, since then she has decided she wanted to be an actress and followed her young boyfriend to California. And he moved to New York City and took up a position as a professor for ancient artifacts and art history. He wouldn’t say life is good but he’d say he’s starting to feel stable for the first time in God knows how long. And watching Mike and Holly race each other with their suitcases to the apartment as he walked with Nancy yelling at them to slow down, it was feeling all that much stable.
*
Dustin watched the boy and girl running up the sidewalk with their suitcases, a Dad and slightly older sister behind them, the older sister yelling by the way her hand was waving and the Dad just laughing. A pang of jealousy hit him at the wish he had a Dad, it was quickly replaced with a laugh as his Mom turned up the radio as Frank Sinatra sang, “oh look Dusty! It’s a good luck sign!”
They had just left his childhood home in hopes of finding a new home and new roots, and he was both excited and nervous. He wasn’t exactly the most popular person ever but he had high hopes he could make some friends here. It was gonna suck without Will around, but he’d be able to have him over and they lived in a time and place where technology meant they were a call and FaceTime away.
Claudia watched her son watch out the window, looking at the father and his kids walking- and for a moment she felt a rush at the sight of the man, quickly stomping it out. Damn he was cute- feeling herself frown, she never could give him the typical looking family, she wished she could but that wasn’t something she had done herself. She did the best as a single mom could, but- the sound of Frank Sinatra pulled her attention away enough to try and distract him, turning up the song, “oh look Dusty! It’s a good luck sign!” Dustin laughed and that was enough to fill her heart.
The move would be good for them, even if there were bumps in the road or aches of leaving life behind somewhere. “It’ll be good honey, we just need to settle in first.” Dustin hummed with a slight nod before looking out the window of their little blue beetle again, finding the city lights captivating. “Sure, I believe you mom.”
*
Jane watched out the window at the city life down below. There was so much to see, so much to do… so much. Her Dad had just started his shift at the station so she had the apartment to herself.
And this is what she wanted to do. People watch and eat eggos.
A blue beetle caught her eye, inching through traffic on its way to its destination. City life meant she didn’t actually need a car- well her Dad anyway, so she found cars to be fun to note their differences. If she could she’d have a pink beetle.
A small part of her wished she was down there- doing things, seeing things, being with people. But she didn’t have that kind of life, she was still pretty sheltered (not because of her Dad entirely but somewhat yrs. His paranoia got to him.) so she didn’t have friends.
She wanted friends.
She took a bite of her eggo, watching a lady weave around traffic on her bike, going past a car with tons of stickers on the bumper, then watched a man and his kids walk across the street with suitcases.
She felt like a pigeon watching the world from up here, maybe one day she’d make her way down there too and become a person.
