This was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea. I sat on the bus and fidgeted in my seat. The cast on my right arm itched as I thought of the many things that could go wrong.

First of all, Jess could not even want to see me -he left, after all. Second of all, I could get lost in New York. I could get kidnapped or killed. Lastly, the worst of all of those combined. My mother could find out and kill me. Considering that I was still in my school uniform, I was sure I would stick out like a sore thumb on the streets of New York.

Nevertheless, I stayed in my seat as the bus rode on to New York.

~~~

As I roamed the busy streets of Times Square, I wondered where Jess could be. It reminded me of the time when I went looking for Jess after he got in a fight with Chuck Presby. The only difference was that this time it wasn't in my small town home. It was in one of the busiest city ever.

I felt people bustling around me as they hurried to get to wherever they had to be at eleven in the morning. Parents brought children by their hands and business men carried briefcases. The sound of a cars engine reversing along with the occasional cabbie screaming at people filled the air.

In the back of my mind I thought of myself living here. Waking up early in the morning to get coffee at my favourite diner. I already knew nothing would beat Luke's but someone had to at least come close.

I thought of heading over to the law firm that I work at. Going to sleep late at night cause I was staying up watching old movies with somebody. Somebody. That was weird.

Usually when I picture my life I was always alone, I never had somebody to wake up next to. I never thought of someone to fall asleep next or to have dinner with. But lately there was always someone with me. I think I had a vague idea of who they would be.

Passing by a vintage looking bookstore, I was struck with the memory of Jess telling me one of his favourite places was a vintage bookstore. I couldn't remember the name of the place but the address 2246 Broadway was stuck in my mind.

Looking around me to ask anyone for some directions, my face landed on an old man. He had greying hair and had on a long coat on. He sat in the bench while tossing some bread to the local pigeons.

"Excuse me!" I called out as I approached the man.

He turned his head in my direction with a kind smile. "Yes, miss?"

I stand in front of him, blocking the sun from his view. "I was just wondering if you could point me in the direction of 2246 Broadway?" I ask politely.

"Of course, it's right over here." He points to the row of shops next to the bookstore. "This whole row."

"Thank you!" I exclaim as I head in the direction of the bookstore.

Opening the door, a bell rings over my head. Taking in the smell of paperback books and something that smelled faintly of coffee. My vision was clouded with the colours brown, beige and cream.

There in front of me was a narrow hallway lined with books from floor to ceiling that led deeper into the bookstore. A steep staircase that went up to the second floor was pushed to the right side of the room.

Momentarily, I forgot why I was in New York in the first place. My fingers travelled across the spine of books as I walked. I skimmed the titles until I found one that I recognised. 'Wuthering Heights'.

Of course, I had my own copy at home. But not one like this. This was a hardcover version that looked like it belonged in Belle's library from Beauty and The Beast. It was a deep brown colour that looked like leather and had the title and author inscribed in a classic gold font.

Deciding that I should focus on finding Jess, I pushed the book out of my mind. If he wasn't here then I would come back to buy the book before I leave. I was sure I had enough money for the bus fare back and this book.

Venturing deeper into the store, I checked every nook and cranny for the figure that I had grown accustomed to over the months. Alas, life never really took a liking to me. No matter how hard I looked Jess just wasn't there.

As I raked through my mind about where else he could be, I made my way back towards the 'Wuthering Heights' copy I planned to buy. When I scanned the shelf for the book, I decided that life really didn't like me. The book was gone.

I cursed under my breath as I scanned the shelf one more time only to find the book was indeed, not there. I wanted to kill whoever took that book. I had already envisioned it among my bookshelf back home.

"Looking for this, Cherry?"

Okay, maybe I didn't want to kill whoever took it. And maybe life didn't really hate me.

I spun on my heel to face Jess Mariano. He was wearing a dark blue jacket with a graphic t-shirt inside. His dark brown eyes looked a shade lighter under the yellow lights. His dark hair was styled perfectly as per usual. In his hand he held the book I've been looking for.

Without any hesitation, I jumped into his arms. I must have surprised him as much as myself. He stumbled back a bit before wrapping his warm arms around me. I inhaled his familiar scent as I buried my head into his shoulder.

"Miss me, huh?" He teased when we finally separated.

I felt my cheeks flush. "Don't flatter yourself, you got my book after all." I looked at the book in his hands. Somehow I felt slightly better knowing that the book was with him instead of some stranger.

Jess held up the book in his left hand. "Oh this thing?" He asks with a raised eyebrow as I grumble out a sad 'yes'. "Well, I actually bought it for you."

"What?" I asked surprised. "How did you know I wanted it?"

Jess simply shrugged. "I didn't. I just thought it'd make a nice birthday present, y'know. With your birthday is coming up. But since you're here." He handed me the book.

Gratefully, I took it with my good hand. I noticed the way he eyes my cast in pain, as if he were the one that had it on. "Thank you," I breathed out as he just sent me a small smile.

"You hungry?"

"Starving."

"Great, I know this amazing hot dog place. Let's go," He starts as he grabs my hand and leads me out of the store.

As we neared the hot dog stand Jess finally asked me the question I knew he'd been waiting to ask since I'd arrived. "Does it hurt?"

He eyed the cast the same way he had in the store. As if it brought him physical pain to look at what happened to me. "No, not anymore."

"You sure?" He asked concerned. "We can always stop by a drugstore to get you some painkillers," he suggests, still looking at the blue cast.

His concern made my insides feel all happy and mushy. "I'm fine, Jess. Really." I brushed him off.

"Whatever you say," he starts unconvinced. "But if it starts hurting again tell me, then we'll go get some meds for you."

Despite my heart telling me to blurt out my feelings for him, I roll my eyes at him. "Yes, mum." I say teasingly.

We stopped in front of a small stand with a yellow umbrella. The man at the cart was serving the people in front of us two hot dogs that looked worthy of Martha Stewart.

When it was our turn Jess ordered for the both of us before handing the man money despite my protests. Handing us the hot dogs and Jess' change, the man thanks us before we leave.

"So is New York everything you dreamed of?" Jess asks before biting into his hot dog.

I nod while swallowing my food. "Everything and more. It helps a lot since the last time I was here I was eight."

"Still thinking of moving here?"

"Definitely. I can't imagine a better place," I reply truthfully.

"Is it because I'm here?" Jess asks playfully as I bump his shoulder with mine.

'It certainly is,' I think to myself. But what comes out of my mouth is "You wish."

"When do you have to be back?" He asks as we find a empty bench under a tree to sit on.

Deciding to be bold, I grab his wrist and check his watch. His warm hand rests in mine softly as I check the time. "Not for another two hours," I say softly. If it weren't for the two hour bus ride, I could spend twice as much time here.

"Good, I wanna show you one more place before you go." He says happily.

I make a move to get up. "Should we go now?"

He grabs my arm and pulls me back down. "Nah," he starts still cradling both my arms in his as he speaks. The action sending shock waves through me. "It's just nearby and I have one more question to ask you."

My mind ran through countless fantasies that have been in my head for a while now. Most of them were along the lines of 'kiss me'. "Shoot," I say eagerly.

With a cheeky grin he looks in my eyes. "Can I sign your cast?"

I mentally sighed. Not what I wanted to hear at all. "You can't."

"Why not?" He asked with a pout that made me want to smash my face with his. 'Contain yourself.'

"Well, my mum will see."

"So what, Cassie?"

"If she sees that you signed it then she'll know I came here," I explain hoping he'll understand that it wasn't up to me whether he could sign it or not.

Jess hangs his head as he thought about what he could do about that. After a few second his head snapped up as he removed his book from his back pocket. He opens it up to the last page where all the random scribbles and acknowledgements that no one reads were at.

"What are you-" I was cut off by Jess shushing me. He tore out a small part of the page, making me cringe. "Hey, Sherlock. I'd like an explanation."

Jess looked up at me with a small smirk. "Give me a minute, Watson," he retorted before standing up.

I watched as he made his way over to the nearest coffee cart. He exchanged some words with the lady there before grabbing something long and slim from her hand.

When he sat back down he took my cast carefully in his hands as if he were afraid to hurt me. He began to draw something on the blue cast.

"Jess! Did you not listen to a word I told you?"

"Relax, Cherry. Let me finish my masterpiece," he argues back, his concentration still on the cast.

Once he was done he took the piece of paper in his hands and began to write something. While he was doing that I took notice of what he drew. It was a small cherry fruit, only visible if you looked for it amongst all the other signatures and stickers. I had to give it to the guy, his cherry wasn't half bad.

When he turns to me paper in hand, he gave a sly smirk. I take the paper form his hands and read what it says. It had the same drawing of a cherry fruit except this time his name was scrawled down beneath it with a smiley face.

"So, what you're gonna do is this." He takes the small slip of paper, folds it in half then sticks it in between the blue cloth and the cement cast. It was completely hidden from anyone's gaze "That way it'll still be there but you're mum won't see it." He sends me what is most probably the cutest smile I have ever seen in the entire world.

~~~

After going to a record store and buying some coffee with Jess, it was time for me to head home. "Alright, this is my bus." I say patting the big metal bus on my left. Jess leans against the empty bus in front of me.

I could see he was going to say something but I cut him off. "Why did you leave?"

Jess seemed surprised at my blunt question. "What?"

"You heard me."

He scoffs. "Yeah, I heard you. I just can't believe you would ask that."

I let out a puff of air. "Of course I would ask that!" I could hear my voice rising. "You were my-," I quickly stop myself from saying something I shouldn't have. "You were my friend. Why did you leave?" I ask sadly, looking up at him.

Jess pushed himself off the bus as he takes a step closer to me. "Why did I leave?" He asks incredulously. "Why didn't I leave sooner!" He shouts. "Look at what I did you! Friends don't do that!" He gestures to my cast, clearly angry with himself.

"That was not your fault," I say stiffly, angry at him for thinking that way.

Running his hands though his hair angrily he replied me. "Of course it was my fault! I was the one who was fucking driving!" He yells, obviously frustrated that I didn't blame him like he blamed himself. His gaze darted around everywhere except for my face.

"Hey," I say softly grabbing his face to look at me. "That was not your fault," I tell him sternly while looking into his eyes, all of my anger at him vanishing.

He leans into my open palm the same way a cat would. "Yes, it was." He says sadly, as if nothing I do or say would change his mind.

I throw my hands up exasperatedly. "Fine! Maybe it was your fault." I snap, giving him what he wants. "But I don't blame you, I would have done the same thing." I continued, looking at him, asking him to forgive himself.

He doesn't say anything, he just looks at my cast. "If you don't wanna come back, fine. But if you do, I'll be waiting for you." This caught his attention.

Sending him one last look over my shoulder, I board the bus that would take me home. I walk down the aisle towards the nearest window seat. As I sat down I put my book and vinyl next to me and opened the window.

Jess was still standing there, his hands in his pocket as he looks up at me sadly.

"Goodbye, Cherry."