Living with Love (Lessons in Love) (10 page)

“I miss home sometimes,” Alex admitted.

“Have you seen all the sights in New York? Did you check out the Natural History Museum yet? Or Coney Island?” Oscar asked, sounding excited.

“Actually
, no, I haven’t had a chance yet,” Alex answered, feeling lame for not having taken in the sights of the famous city she was currently living in.

“I mean, I want to see all those things
. I just don’t have anyone to see them with,” Alex continued, feeling compelled to explain herself.

“Well
, maybe I could help with that.”

“Oh?” Alex asked, bemused.

“Well, basically I called because, I know it’s been a while…” Oscar was rambling slightly, which Alex knew meant he was nervous.

“But I was wondering if I could come and stay with you for a bit? Catch up
on things, maybe check out the city. Just as friends, of course,” he hurriedly added the last part.

Alex thought of the week ahead where she had numerous days just to spend alone in her tiny apartment. It had been so long since she’d seen Oscar
, and they’d hardly parted on good terms. But she did miss him. She missed his sense of humor and his fervent opinions on anything and everything. The time apart had made her realize that as much as she loved him, as passionate as their relationship had been, there was an underlying friendship there which was why everything had progressed as quickly as it did, and why they had become so utterly lost in one another for a time.

“I know I probably shouldn’t have asked,” Oscar said sadly, taking her delayed response for a negative answer. “I just miss you. Not us, you. I miss just hanging out and having fun together. And I’m home now with nothing but time, supposedly still recovering from everything. But Boston is literally like an hour away by train, but if you’d rather I
didn’t come, if you think it would be too awkward—”

“Actually
, I’m off work next week,” Alex interrupted him, having made up her mind while he was rambling again.

“You are?” Oscar sounded surprised.

“Yeah, I am,” Alex clarified. “And actually, it would be really nice to see you and spend some time together. It’s been far too long.”

Now Oscar was quiet as he took her answer in.

“You really don’t mind me coming?” he asked after a few moments, his voice small with disbelief.

“Of course not! I mean, we’re friends
, aren’t we?”

“Of course.”

“Then I’d love to have you come and stay with me. With you in tow perhaps I’ll finally go see the museum and Coney Island.”

“Maybe catch a show on Broadway?” Oscar added hopefully.

“I didn’t have you down for a fan of musicals,” Alex said, her tone deadpan.

“Not everything on Broadway is a musical!” Oscar scoffed. “I’m talking about real, legitimate theater
, where you find Hollywood actors treading the boards and returning to the roots of their craft,” he continued, sounding more like his old self.

“It all sounds great
.” Alex smiled.

“Okay then
, Alex Heron, I shall see you Monday,” Oscar said, smiling to himself.

“Sounds good
, Oscar Deloitte, I shall see you then.” Alex hung up the phone, also smiling. She felt a stirring sense of excitement within her stomach at the prospect of being able to explore the city with a friend. She felt happy and hopeful. She was no longer alone and couldn’t wait to see her old flame, Oscar.

Alex spent the next few hours planning what she and Oscar could do the following week. It made her realize just how much of the city she’d yet to explore. She wanted to show him that her choice to live and work there had been a good one. She also knew how much he’d enjoy taking in some of the more cultural elements.

It felt good to be having a visitor, even though she wasn’t sure where he would sleep since she only had the one bed.

Alex waited nervously within the famous foyer of Grand Central station. Any minute the man she had fallen so deeply in love with whil
e at Princeton would come surging through with the oncoming crowd to spend a week with her in New York City.

She had not seen Oscar Deloitte since that fateful day in
the hospital when he reluctantly let her go so she could spend her summer travelling Europe with Ashley. Now they were to be reunited once more, and Alex’s stomach flip-flopped with a mixture of nerves and excitement.

His train had arrived on time, so the large arrivals board stated. He had travelled in from Boston, his hometown, a place Alex had once summered with him when they were together. His house, his family, all things which had once felt so familiar
, felt foreign to her now as though they now belonged to someone else. It was as if any time she’d spent with them was merely borrowed, not really hers.

Looking through the crowd
, Alex tried to find him. There were families of tourists bustling nervously together, students meandering through, and professional commuters moving with intense purpose. Then, amongst the crowd, she saw the familiar black tangle of hair and, beneath it, the intense eyes that she used to get lost in for hours.

Almost as soon as she spotted Oscar
, his eyes locked on hers, and he raised his hand in greeting, smiling.

“Oscar!” Alex went over to him and put her arms around him. It felt so good to see him that for a moment she forgot herself, holding him close and inhaling his heady scent of cigarettes and cedarwood. Then she remembered that the friend barrier was now between them
, and self-consciously she pulled back.

“Alex, hey
.” Oscar smiled warmly at her, and she looked him over. He was slimmer than he had been in Princeton, which made his cheekbones more pronounced. No doubt, the months spent in the hospital were responsible for his weight loss.

Being slimmer made him seem all the more gothic in appearance, with his pale skin, black hair and sharp eyes. It could be argued that the term brooding had been coined solely to describe his dark allure. But there was something different
; he was somehow changed. He looked the same, spoke the same, but his sparkle was gone. He was still Oscar but without the extra dose of that fatalistic essence often referred to as the ‘it’ factor.

It saddened Alex
, but she figured he’d be back to his magnetic self once his internal wounds were fully healed. He just needed more time.

“So how was your trip?” she asked politely.

“Okay.” Oscar shrugged, his eyes still boring into hers.

“Just okay?” Alex pressed, certain that the Oscar she knew would be full of a tirade about how crowded it had been and the terrible people he’d been forced to endure for the duration of the journey.

“It was lame, okay?” Oscar conceded, sighing. “But I knew that at the end of it I was getting to see you, which made it not so bad.”

Alex blushed at the compliment and began leading him out of the famous terminal.

“My place is a couple of stops on the subway away,” she explained as they stepped out onto the sidewalk. Oscar glanced around approvingly, taking in the sights and smells of the city.

“Do you mind if we grab some lunch first
? I’m starving,” he asked, hungrily inhaling the scent of a hot dog vendor’s cart they passed.

****

They headed into a small diner. Alex ordered a Caesar salad while Oscar had a grilled cheese sandwich that he hungrily delved right into as soon as it arrived.

“You
haven’t eaten since I last saw you?” she joked, watching him wolf down his food.

“Hospital food is so bad,” Oscar said between mouthfuls. “And my folks refused to sneak me in any food, which was pretty lame.”

“How are your mom and dad?”

“Okay.” Oscar shrugged. He was saying okay an awful lot.

“They didn’t mind you coming here to stay with me?” Alex queried, wondering if perhaps she should have spoken with them prior to his arrival, checked on his mental state in case there was anything she needed to be aware of, any medication he needed to take.

“They trust you.” Oscar finished his sandwich and noticed the troubled look on Alex’s face
as she gazed distractedly out the window.

“I’m a big boy, Alex,” he told her. “I can look after myself.”

“Are you… are you on anything?” she asked, lowering her voice.

“I’m on some meds, yeah,” Oscar answered, his jaw clenching slightly. “And I’m on top of taking them
, before you ask.”

“So you’re feeling much better?” Alex’s eyes grew wide with concern.

“I’m feeling better. Let’s leave it at that.” Oscar said sternly, not enjoying being scrutinized. He’d had a whole summer of people assessing him and overanalyzing his every move; he didn’t want that behavior to follow him here to the city.

“Well, I’ve thought up lots of things we can do,” Alex said brightly, trying to lift the mood.

“Oh yeah?” Oscar asked with genuine interest.

“I’ve booked us some theater tickets for tomorrow night, and I was thinking we could go ice skating.”

“Ice skating is a tad cliché,” Oscar commented, his old persona surfacing, much to Alex’s relief. She liked the old opinionated Oscar who had something to say about everything.

“I know, but I think it will be fun
.” Alex smiled sweetly.

“For you maybe, I can’t really skate that well,” Oscar admitted.

“Still it will be fun,” Alex declared.

“I guess.”

“And I’m determined for you to have fun while you’re here,” Alex told him, feeling guilty about the summer and desperate to make it up to him.

“So when do we start having this fun?” Oscar teased, flashing his mischievous smile
, which Alex had missed seeing.

****

A couple of subway stops later and they arrived at Alex’s apartment. If Oscar thought that it was in a salubrious neighborhood, then he kept his judgments to himself. Instead, he commented on how brief the journey there had been and how old and interesting the buildings all seemed. Alex appreciated that he was trying to be nice and not mocking where she lived.

As they walked towards her apartment building
, she was glad to have Oscar with her. As much as she’d learnt to walk the streets of New York alone, she still got unnerved when she saw a solitary figure lingering too close. She felt safe to have Oscar with her, it was comforting to sense his presence so nearby.

“So this is it,” Alex announced grandly a
s they stopped at the stoop leading to the main entrance of the building.

“It’s got character
.” Oscar nodded.

“You think?”

“Sure!”

Upstairs, in the one
-room apartment, Oscar glanced around at the four small walls and then out of the window onto the street below. He was silently taking it all in.

“I know it
’s small,” Alex said apologetically. “But it’s all I can afford.”

“Alex, stop stressing
.” He turned to face her. “It’s me. I don’t care what your place is like. What matters is that you’re happy here.”

Alex smiled fondly at him. Oscar had never been one for airs and graces. He’d always rather stay in bed with a pizza and a DVD th
an go out to a fancy restaurant.

“I mean, you’ve done it
. You’ve come and got a job in New York, and now you’re living here!” Oscar told her excitedly. Then his face dropped, and he moved back to the window. “I envy you,” he admitted sadly, looking out through the glass.

“It’s not as wonderful a life as you’d think,” Alex told him, stepping up close so that they were both looking out on the street beyond. Beside him, she pointed to the spot just down the road where she’d had a gun held to her head.
“I got mugged at gunpoint just there,” she said, her body breaking out in goose bumps just at the memory.

“Are you serious?” Oscar asked, shocked.

“Yeah, guy came up behind me and took everything.”

“Alex, that’s…” Oscar turned, looking at her with worried eyes. The thought flashed through his mind about what he’d have done if he’d lost her. He’d already struggled to come to terms with losing his sister; he doubted he could handle losing anyone else he loved.

Oscar shook his head, pushing away the negative thoughts.

“You’re okay now
. That’s what matters,” he said seriously.

“It made me more self-aware,” Alex noted. “I’m more careful now when I go anywhere.”

Oscar moved and sat down on a desk chair that doubled as a dining chair. He ran his hands through his hair and looked sadly at the bare wooden floor.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner,” he said, his voice low.

“It’s okay,” Alex told him, positioning herself opposite him on her drop-down bed.

“But I should have called,” Oscar continued. “But for a while, I was so mad at you. Mad for leaving, mad for moving on with your life when I couldn’t move forward with my own. You somehow managed to put your past behind you
, and I envied that.”