30. Cassie
CASSIE
Tor was definitely right about it being a short flight.
I wouldn’t have thought airplane food would be that good, but our breakfast sandwiches are delicious, and the pineapple is so fresh. We’ve barely finished, and our flight attendant is already coming back over to collect our trash and ask if we’d like anything else before we prepare for landing.
I grab Tor’s arm as the plane descends, but I still look out the window because the view up here is so cool. The landing is a little rough. I squeeze Tor’s arm, but he looks calm, so I guess it’s nothing to worry about.
And then we’re back on the ground, the plane taxiing down the runway. Once the plane stops, we unbuckle our seat belts. Since we’re at the front of the plane, we’re the first off, too.
Tor never told me where we were going, but the pilot said we had landed in New York. I can tell right away he meant New York City when I see the items at the shops we’re passing by.
I grin over at Tor. “You brought me to New York.”
“I brought you to New York,” he confirms.
“You couldn’t possibly know this, but I was just lamenting that I never got to see Times Square when I thought I was going to prison.”
“We will definitely be seeing Times Square.”
“Yay!” I flash him a big smile. “This is an awesome surprise date. Thank you so much.”
He chuckles. “It’s barely even started.”
“And already awesome,” I state.
He points at a shop up ahead. “Let’s stop in here to grab a couple of bottles of water. We still have a bit of a drive before we get into the city.”
I’m buzzing as I follow him to the airport shop. I’m already tempted to buy souvenirs, but I know we might see cooler stuff once we get into the city, and if not, we can always stop in one of these shops on the way home.
Once we have drinks, Tor leads the way to our ride.
It’s another car service, and it takes a good half hour or so before we actually get into the city.
When we do, I’m glad someone else is driving because traffic is crazy.
The sight of so many skyscrapers is definitely exciting, though, and gets me right into metropolitan mode.
I’m glued to the window, watching the city sights as we pass by.
It becomes clear why he said we will definitely be seeing Times Square when I realize we’re driving right through it. At first, I figure we just have to pass through to get to our hotel, but then the driver pulls up to the curb.
I look over at Tor.
“This is it,” he tells me.
“We’re staying right in Times Square?” I’m stunned as the driver opens my car door for me. I grab my purse and slide my legs out, and between the lights and the noise of the city, it feels like I’m stepping out of the car and into another world.
I feel smaller somehow as soon as I set foot on the sidewalk. I always imagined coming here someday. I’ve seen plenty of pictures over the years, but actually standing here on a sidewalk in New York City… everything feels more immense in person. More real. I spin around, taking it all in.
Tor climbs out after me, touching my shoulder in passing as he heads around to the trunk to grab our suitcases.
I can’t believe I’m here.
I can’t believe I’m here with Tor Walters.
I breathe in the air, and well, that’s a mistake because the city doesn’t smell amazing, but I still can’t help smiling at the fact that I’m standing in Times Square when mere days ago, I thought my life was over.
Tor leads the way into the hotel, and I follow, taking in every single bit of it. I open my purse and grab my phone so I can take pictures. I want to remember all of this forever.
I follow him to the check-in desk and hang back while he pulls out his wallet and gets us settled in.
He tells the lady that he has something to pick up, so we wait while she goes to get it.
She comes back with two garment bags and hands them over with a smile.
He thanks her, grabs his suitcase, and we head to the elevators.
“What’s in there?” I ask.
“Something for the evening portion of our plans,” he says evasively.
I smile. “Oh, really?”
“I figure we’ll get settled in our room, then we’ll head down and check out Times Square. There are a couple of places I know we’ll stop, and you can let me know if anything else happens to catch your eye.”
“Can I see what’s in the garment bag? This whole day is a surprise. Surely, I can have a peek at one of them.”
“Of course you can. Tonight.”
I shoot him a look, but I can’t stop smiling, so it probably doesn’t hit very hard.
That’s okay.
Tor scans a room key and pushes the door open, and I follow him inside.
Our room is nice and clean, and it has a king-sized bed, which I’m sure we’ll enjoy later. We’re on a high floor, and when I walk over to the window, I can’t believe the view of Times Square. Maybe I won’t love the bright lights tonight when it’s time to sleep, but I love them right now.
Since Tor wanted to settle in, we unpack a little. I put our toiletries on the bathroom sink, and Tor hangs up the garment bags and plugs in our phone chargers.
As I walk back into the main area, I say, “You know, since we’re only staying overnight, we probably could have fit everything in one suitcase.”
“We definitely could have,” he agrees. “But I didn’t know how much shopping we’d end up doing today. The extra space is so we can take things back.”
“Ooh, good call.”
Once we’re done checking out the room and putting stuff away, Tor takes my hand, and we head back downstairs.
The city is so alive as soon as we step out onto the sidewalk. I’m immediately overwhelmed—but in a good way. I don’t know where to start. “Which way should we go first?” I ask.
He turns and points at a sign with a giant M&M on it. “Let’s go that way. We need to cross the street, so we need the crosswalk anyway.”
I nod, and we start walking that way. “Look,” I say as we approach the corner. “Classic New York hot dogs!”
He cracks a smile. “We can get one if you want for the experience, but I thought we’d grab pizza for lunch. It’s always good at the hole-in-the-wall places you’ll find all over the city.”
The signal changes, and we start walking along with a dozen other people.
The shop we’re crossing to doesn’t just have an M&M billboard like I initially thought. It has a row of giant M&Ms on the corner of the building. It’s a whole M&M store.
“I figure we’ll hit this one first, then double back to the Hershey store.”
“The Hershey store?” I ask, delighted.
“I told you I’d take you to a candy store,” he says.
“We’ll do the touristy Times Square stuff first, get pizza, and then when we’re ready to leave the chaos, we’ve got some shopping to do.
You need shoes to wear tonight, but I thought you’d want to try them on.
I have a pair on hold. If you don’t like those, you can pick out something else.
I’ve never seen you wear heels, so I wasn’t sure if you liked them. ”
I shake my head. “I don’t. I’ll wear a short heel, but the really tall ones? Nope.”
He nods. “That was my assumption when I realized you didn’t own any.
The sandals I picked out for you have a small heel, but you can see how they feel.
You won’t have to walk that far in them.
It’s probably about a ten-minute walk from our hotel.
That’s why I booked us a place in Times Square.
Typically, I wouldn’t stay right in Times Square, but I thought you’d get a kick out of it, and it suits my purposes for tonight. ”
He lets go of my hand to open the door, and I thank him as we head inside.
___
There are too many fun stores in our immediate vicinity, so we end up hitting the M&M store, the Hershey store, the Disney store, a blind box store, and something called the Line Friends store, which has many adorable items. I buy myself a mug for my new apartment and a gray New York T-shirt, and I get Shaley a cute frog-face plushy pillow thing that I’m convinced she’ll love.
We also stop at a souvenir shop where I get a NYC bookmark, a magnet, and a couple of postcards to hang on my refrigerator.
We pass several hot dog carts, and Tor has to drag me away from them.
Not because I’m hungry, but because they’re iconic.
He assures me they’re just cheap boiled hot dogs, and I’m not missing anything, but I’m not entirely convinced.
Vendors are set up along the sidewalk selling all sorts of things. Artists have paintings and prints for sale, and other vendors have knockoff handbags and sunglasses.
I take a picture of the Broadway street sign. In fact, I take a lot of pictures of a lot of things. We get pizza for lunch, and Tor was right about that, too—it’s delicious.
We end up buying so much stuff that we go back to the hotel to unload before we continue with the rest of our sightseeing and shopping.
Once we get away from Times Square, the crowds thin out, and I feel like I can relax a little. I held his hand through most of Times Square because there were so many people. I was afraid we’d get separated.
Now that the crowds aren’t so thick, we can actually talk and hear each other better, too.
“I’m surprised you didn’t take me to Boston,” I tell him as we make our way down 7th Avenue.
He glances over at me. “How come? Did you want to go to Boston?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a little shrug. “I just know you mentioned moving there at the end of summer, so…”
“Boston’s not too far away. A lot of people who live there take day trips or weekend trips to hang out here.
Personally, I’m happy to visit, but I don’t think I’d want to live here.
Boston’s a little quieter than New York.
A good middle ground. I figured this would be a more exciting surprise date, though.
Boston’s where we’ll live, so we’ll have plenty of time to explore the area. ”
I crack a smile, but I’m not amused. “Where you’ll live, at least. I don’t want to talk about this today,” I tell him, glancing over apologetically. “You planned such a nice date, and I don’t want to ruin it with reality.”