Breakfast Monkey

The next day I woke up pretty early as usual.
My mom and grandma had already been up, which was atypical, and were watching the news in the living room for further insight on what had happened to the WTC the day before. While still in my pyjamas, without having taken a shower or even brushing my teeth I sat in the living room with them, they were drawing up these weird theories about the planes but we could all conclude it was in fact a terrorist attack. Mikey woke up a few minutes later and was fully dressed to go to work. Since he didn't have his driver's licence out yet he asked my mom if she could take him because he had slept in and wouldn't make it on time if he took the bus. My grandma needed to go back home and feed her cats but she promised to be back before lunch time.
They all left, leaving me behind, I walked up to the kitchen and poured some coffee my mom had made earlier. While I walked to the living room to keep watching the news, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Yes, hi, I'm looking for Gerard Way?"
"This is he"
"Oh, hi Gerard I didn't recognise your voice. It's Robert, head of the Art department"
"Oh hi, how are you?"
"I'm fine, look we won't be working until next week I wanted to call earlier but I didn't have your number I left everything at the office and I can't get in."
"Oh, okay, don't worry. I wondered about that, I hope I'll see you next week"
"This has been awful, New York is absolute chaos"
"Yeah I now, I barely made it out"
"okay then, that was all I wanted to say. Uhm... OH YES! By any chance do you know or have any reference of Sophia? I called her friend, Matt but he said he only knew she was okay but wasn't in NY"
"Well, Sophia is in Jersey with me, she's staying at my place"
"Oh, I didn't know you guys were that close. Anyway, could you please tell her about this week off?"
"Sure, no problem"
"Okay, Gerard, see you next week and take good care of yourself"
"You too"
I had completely forgotten about Sophia. I put my coffee mug down and thought over the idea of waking her up to give her the message. I knocked on the guest room door for several times, she didn't answer. I looked for her around the house and wasn't there either. I went back to the guest room and came in.
The bed was already made there was a letter for me there.

"Hey, I wanted to thank you for bringing me here, without you I don't think I'd still be alive. I guess I shouldn't be that much of a daredevil. I really loved your family. I can hear them making coffee and both your mother and grandmother laughing. I'll probably be gone and had said goodbye to them by the time you read this but please tell them (again) I'm very grateful with them. Thanks for everything, Gerard.
See you next week.

Sophia"

I didn't quite understand the reasons for her departure. The kiss probably made her uncomfortable. Maybe I did it wrong, maybe I suck at kissing. I probably suck so much she had to leave... Or maybe I wasn't as aggressive as she wanted me to be.
The day went by pretty slowly, as well as the week. Things were getting back to normal, by the weekend people were allowed to walk around the affected area. I could tell it was going to be a frenzy end of year due to all the chaos the crash had brought. My grandma and I had been practicing my singing and Mikey had been learning to play bass. At night I thought about Sophia and finished a second number of the comic book inspired by her. I hadn't heard from her, she didn't give me her number nor I gave her mine. I really needed to get a cellphone, we could've been texting or something. By Sunday evening, my dad had been back home.
We were having a family dinner while he asked me about the day everything happened and how I had managed to get out.
"Oh, sweetie, how's Sophia doing? Honey, Gerard rescued his coworker, Sophia. She's a lovely young lady. She just came here from Germany and you wouldn't believe how sweet she is!" Said my mom while touching my father's hand
"Really, Gerard?"
"I brought her here because she's here by herself, besides she was in so much shock that day she just sat in the middle of the street. I carried her with me so that she wouldn't get hurt"
"That was very nice of you son, where is she now?"
"Oh, I guess she went back to NY. I haven't spoken to her since she left"
"Oh, darling, you were asleep by then. She gave me her phone number, I just remembered. I had to give it to you" said my mom
"Are you dating her, son?" Asked my dad
"Uhm... No, we're just friends. Mom, where's her phone number?"
"It's on the fridge, honey"

I couldn't sleep all night, I was holding the piece of paper with Sophia's number on my hands. I needed a cellphone desperately, I thought about calling her but it was too late, she'd probably be asleep. _________________________________________
The next morning I rushed to the shower and tried to look my best. I was both nervous and excited, I hadn't seen her in days... The city had certainly gone back to normal, it was as chaotic and messy as always. While in The subway I thought over what I would tell Sophia when I saw her, nothing good came to mind. On top of me feeling nauseated by my nerves, I was late. I had only 5 minutes to get there. Even though I ran to the building and through nine floors, I didn't make it on time but Sophia wasn't there either. I approached one of the girls that worked there and asked her if she knew something about Sophia.
She said she was called in a meeting as soon as she got there. She came back an hour later as if nothing had happened. She smiled at me and looked pretty happy the entire day. We didn't really have the chance to talk or to even be alone, the girls were on top of her all day asking her about her new winter wardrobe. She certainly looked nice, as I said before: fashion in Europe must be delightful. By the end of the day, she walked up to my desk.
"Hey"
"Hey, busy day?"
"Yeah, had a meeting earlier, they talked to me about a raise due to a new project I presented. If everything goes well I'll certainly be earning more. How are you?"
"Great, great. I... Uhm..."
"Gerard, I wanted to apologise for leaving that way. I had to come back home because my parents had sent a person from the German embassy to take me home safely"
"Really? Wow, you sound as important as the president"
"Well, who gives a damn about Bush, am I important to you or am I still just a coworker"
"Oh certainly not, you're my German friend who is transported like a diplomat"
"Hahaha you're such an idiot! Okay then, I just wanted to say hi... I think I had been experiencing something similar to missing someone. You didn't call"
"My mother gave me your phone number last night, I'm sorry"
"Don't worry, I was just messing with you. I've got to go, uhm... See you tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow"
She smiled for a while and left.
It was comforting to know she left due to reasons completely unrelated to the kiss.

Notes

hey, I took a brief trip to London and had been busy. I'll keep updating.


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