Chapter 23
30 September 2023
From: Chris Hooper [email protected]
To: Brynn Wallace [email protected]
Subject: Hi
hi my girl,
i feel like it’s a good sign that there are fewer emails and messages from you now: your working and making friends and living your life in nyc just like you always wanted.
it is quiet here without you. not that you were ever a noisy one but the house seems strange. its made me think about when you and your mum first moved in with me, do you remember? you were so excited to have your own bedroom for the first time, but then that first night you ended up in our bed, tucked in between us. you curled your little arms around me and tucked into me as though id always been your dad.
how r you doing with your mums missions? bridie babysat for matty again the other day and said your doing the social media thing over there like she is. something to do with the missions? tell me all about it when you get time.
miss you love.
chris
p.s. matty wants me to tell you that I don’t make his milo proper ways.
The rain doesn’t let up overnight and I wake early in the morning to the sound of it falling even heavier. I wrap myself in a fuzzy bathrobe bearing the brand of some beauty company that Corey’s firm did work for and head out in search of coffee.
In the hallway I trip over a box and when I get into our tiny kitchen that’s also covered in boxes. ‘Corey?’
‘Polo,’ comes her voice from the living room. I pick my way through the boxes and find her on Jenny, laptop propped up on yet more boxes.
‘What’s all this?’
‘Flyers with a QR code linking to the petition,’ she replies. ‘We’re hitting the street to do a drop today.’
‘Deadly. I’m free today if you want a hand?’
Her face brightens. ‘That’s great.’
While we drink coffee, she puts me to work sorting the flyers. Every so often, someone buzzes our apartment and clomps up the four flights of stairs to collect their allotment. They head off to their allocated parts of the city. When nearly all the boxes have gone, there’s another buzz and Corey’s entire energy shifts. She goes from being confident and poised to running her hands through her hair and checking her oversized button-down shirt is sitting properly.
‘It’s him, isn’t it?!’ I say, elbowing her in the ribs.
‘Can you behave like a normal person? I was planning on us doing our drop with him, and if you can’t behave, I’ll send you out by yourself.’
I want to meet this Jake who makes my unflappable friend get completely flapped, so I wave my hands around my body like a white hippy cleansing their aura and set my face, though I can feel the corners of my eyes pulling up as though I’m about to smile.
‘Stop it,’ she says.
‘What? I’m not doing anything.’
‘I’m going to the door now.’
She stops at the mirror by the door and smoothes her hands over her hair. I have to bite my lip to force back the giggles and as though she senses it, she turns and shoots me a glare just as she opens the door. The transformation from stern Corey to coquettish Corey is remarkable and I make a mental note to ask her for some tips so I can act less awkward around Lucas.
‘Jake, hi,’ she says, a gentle smile playing over her rose lips. ‘Come on in.’
‘Corey, you Wonder Woman,’ he says. Jake is definitely handsome. He’s slender and clean cut, and about the same height as Corey, which would make them an interesting match when she has her usual towering heels on. He’s got smooth brown skin and dark eyes and I can tell instantly that he’s Native American. He’s wearing a black rain jacket and seems reluctant to come too far into the apartment. Instead, he hovers in the doorway. ‘Thanks so much for organising the flyers and the drop. I don’t know what we’d do without you.’
‘Oh, it’s no trouble at all. Anything to help out,’ Corey says and then goes quiet. Another laugh bubbles up inside me. She’s gone a bit moony staring into his eyes. Maybe I shouldn’t ask her for advice on playing things cool with Lucas. But the thing is, Jake is looking at Corey with a moony expression that mirrors her own.
‘Hi, I’m Brynn,’ I say after the intense eye contact has started to make me feel like I’m interrupting something private. ‘Corey’s roommate and your flyer buddy for the day.’
‘Oh, hi,’ Jake says, tearing his gaze from Corey’s a second after he’s spoken. ‘Nice to meet you.’ He shakes my hand with a steady, warm grip and for a moment I’m a little bit undone at his eye contact. I can see what Corey finds so dazzling about him. ‘Thank you so much for helping us out.’
‘It’s no problem,’ I say.
‘Brynn works at a doggy daycare,’ Corey says.
‘Oh, that’s cool,’ Jake says, not to me but to Corey. God these two are so into each other it’s not even funny.
‘Well, team, should we head off? These flyers aren’t going to drop themselves,’ I say.
It takes a moment to sort out our coats and shoes and moving flyers into bags. Then we trudge down the stairs and grab a cab downtown.
‘Thanks for coming all the way up to help,’ Corey says.
‘All good. It was so great that you found someone to print the flyers for us.’
We’ve got a fairly easy drop point: Tompkins Square Park, which is the actual site of the parade. Once we get out of the cab, Jake splits us up. He takes the dog run since it’s his territory, and Corey and I go to opposite sides of the park. We take a moment to jump around a bit, me squealing about how gorgeous Jake is and her blushing furiously as she agrees.
I approach people as I walk through the grounds and some stop to tell me that they’re also involved in the campaign, while others scan the QR code and sign the petition. Most people are happy to talk and many want to know why an Australian is a part of this. I tell them honestly that it’s my first Halloween here and I really want to go back home with the best stories about New York. Helping my housemate to save a doggy Halloween parade and bag the hot guy in the process sounds like something out of a romance novel and I’m totally here for it.
It takes a long time to hand out the flyers because the weather must be keeping people away from the park. When my backpack is mostly depleted and I’m tired and ready for a coffee, I head back to the place we’d agreed to meet, only to see Corey and Jake sitting on a bench, looking at each other with those lovesick expressions on their faces. I snap a picture of them. With the orange leaves behind them, it looks like a movie still and I send it to Corey with a text: This one’s to show your grandkids. Heading home now. Have fun and tell him you like him. Xxx
I’m on the subway home when a notification of a TikTok message pops up on my phone screen: ‘Hi Brynn, this is Perdi’s mom Sarah-Anne. I know all about the parade being cancelled and we’re devastated. We’ll definitely do some posts about it and signal boost for the community. Here’s a picture of us at last year’s parade. We love it and it’s so fun.’
I grin to myself as I screenshot the message and send it to Corey. We might actually manage to save the parade.