Natural Glow

I scarfed down the breakfast Jonah made me Monday morning and ran out the door. I swung by my apartment for a brief second to grab my school bag and books. When I opened the front door I almost had a panic attack. Kadie was standing on the other side of the door. She was dressed in a flowy powder pink blouse tucked into a black pencil skirt that had leather on either sides. Her hair was tied up in a top knot. Since moving to New York I hadn't seen her wake up before 11am so this was shocking.

“Oh dear Jesus!” I screamed. I took a breath to calm myself “I completely forgot you're starting Darlington today” I rushed past Kadie and into my room. I grabbed my books and quickly stuffed them into my bag.

I heard Kadie's heels clicking against the floor chasing after me. “Oh, my god Lynn! Tell me it happened!”

“Not now Kadie! I'm running late! Can't talk! Gotta go! Bye!!” I shouted as I ran around like a maniac. “Oh, and good luck today!!” Kadie watched me as I practically jumped my way down the stairwell.

I walked into class with zero seconds to spare. Our professor had walked in behind me and started lecturing right away. I shimmied my way through the auditorium seating. As I walked past Henry, Emma, Corey, and Sarah they all turned to look at me. I ignored them and quickly pulled out my iPad to take notes.

Sarah turned her attention back to the front of the class room but leaned in towards me,“Well someone looks cheery” She whispered.

The professor started skimming through slides and I looked back and forth between the main screen and my iPad to make sure I was on the correct page. I whispered back to Sarah, “I don't know what you're talking about”

I saw Sarah turn from the corner of my eye to look at my face. She turned back towards the front of the room and replied “You have a nice glow. You must tell me how you got it”

I stopped what I was doing when I realized what Sarah was talking about. I turned towards her and she did the same. When she looked at me I had to let out half a laugh. I didn't want to tell Sarah right away about Jonah so I made something up. “I guess it's just a late reaction from my spa day”

I saw Emma trying to wave down my attention while I was looking at Sarah. I leaned over to get a better view of her. She mimed a circle around her face then pointed at me and gave a thumbs up. Oy vey.

The day dragged on slower than a speeding microorganism ( trust me, it was slow). We went from one class to the next and studied between every break. We didn't even have time to eat. I felt like I had lost a couple pounds just in the last week since school had started.

By the time I walked out of school it was almost sunset. I didn't have time during the day to go through all my text messages and emails so I started catching up while I headed towards the subway. I jumped on the 6 and saw that the train stopped a block away from Jonah's work. So, I decided to hop off to pay Jonah a quick visit. Just when I rounded 47^th street I called Jonah. He stood waiting outside of the building for me.

“Hey handsome!” I pulled at Jonah's suit jacket before I gave him a hug. His cheeks flushed pink. “You're awfully dressed up for work today” He was wearing a navy suit with a cream shirt and a dark gray tie over a pair of two-toned black and gray wingtipped oxford shoes. It fit him just perfectly.

Jonah looked to be a little scatter minded at the moment. I could tell he was trying to force a smile. "What's wrong?"

“Nothing, I just got out of a meeting with some big execs from the show and network.” He let out a sigh.

"Uh oh, is everything okay?" I was starting to notice more and more how stressed out Jonah looked.

"Yeah, everything is fine. It's just been a really long day." He grimaced but started to smile as he continued "But I'm glad you came" He held my hand as we walked in and went through security.

We headed into the elevator and instead of pushing the 7^th floor button, where Jonah's office was, he pressed the button to take us to the roof.

When we stepped out I dropped my jaw at how beautiful it looked. There were small trees laced in lights spaced out around the perimeter. In the middle of the rooftop was a small garden with a reflecting pool in the center. To get to each section there were a few steps leading up to it.

Jonah took off his suit jacket and tie and placed it over the bench that faced the reflecting pool. He sat down and sprawled out his arms across the back of the bench.

“This is amazing!” I walked around the reflecting pool and then over to the edge of the building to get a view of the streets below. “You're so lucky you work here!” After admiring the sunset I walked back over to Jonah and sat down next to him.

“I love this place” He smiled “This was my dream job and I worked my ass off to get it. I owe every good thing in my life to this place. When works gets to be too hectic I come up here to remember why I'm so appreciative”

“That's sweet. You really deserve it” I leaned into Jonah's shoulder.

Jonah and I both looked up. The sun had already gone down but the redish orange hues still lingered. Directly above us the sky was a deep black with specks of tiny twinkling stars.The night was falling upon the city and it was beautiful.

When I looked back down from the sky I noticed Jonah looking at me. He brushed my hair behind my ear. “You look really nice today”

“Oh god, not you too” I said while rolling my eyes.

Jonah laughed “What?”

“Everyone's been telling me how glowy I look today. I've had people coming up to me all day asking what my beauty secret is” I smirked when I looked back at Jonah

“Well, did you give them my number?” he grinned and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

I lightly punched Jonah's knee “You're so funny” I said sarcastically.

Jonah leaned his head onto mine “You wanna come over for dinner? I'll be done with work in a little bit”

“I really need to run. I have classes early morning tomorrow and Kadie's going to kill me if I'm not home soon to hear about her first day!” I turned to kiss Jonah “I just wanted to stop by for a minute to see you. Oh, and thank you for breakfast!”

We walked back inside and went down to the plaza where we hugged each other good bye. I ran to the subway and quickly made my way to the apartment. Thankfully I made it home before Kadie.

Kadie walked in just a few minutes after me. She had a giant shopping bag hanging off her shoulder, a handful of binders, and a huge smile plastered on her face.

“How was your first day?!” I excitedly shrieked

“I freaking love Sarah! Oh my god”

“...Sarah?” I was confused.

“Yes, Sarah! She's been telling her mom all about me and the fun we've been having these past few weeks. So when I came in today Eva was all over me and making sure I had the best everything!"

“Yay Sarah!” I cheered

We went into Kadie's room and sat on her bed. “Look at all this cool shit I got!” Kadie picked up the giant shopping bag and dumped it onto the bed. It was filled with freebies from companies that worked with Darlington. Kadie goggled her eyes at the pile like a child on Halloween night.

“Tell me more about Darlington! I'm dying to hear!”

Kadie was too busy opening packages and reading labels. When she snapped back to reality she answered me “I love it! I have my own office with a sick view! I had a cubicle at first but Eva moved me into an office once I got there. Everyone is pretty cool, young, and fashion forward. Seems like it'll be a lot of fun” She went on to tell me more about her day in detail just before she interrupted herself  "Wait a second! How was last night?! Did it happen?!"

I couldn't help but giggle like a little girl. "It happened!" I lowered my voice as if someone was listening to our conversation.

"Hellsss yeah!" Kadie gave me a high five "Well, how was it?!"

"Ugh, I can't even explain it in words!" I made a dramatic gesture by grabbing my heart and falling back on the bed.

"That good?" Kadie laughed

"It's like I saw this whole other side to him." I was staring up at the ceiling reminiscing the moment.

"Well I mean technically you did" Kadie raised her eyebrows and giggled.

"Ain't that the truth!" we laughed.

The room grew silent as Kadie and I were lost in thought.

Right then my phone started ringing. I would have ignored it normally, but it was my dad.

“Hey daddy”

“Hi honey, how's it going” my dad always sounded upbeat when he was on the phone.

“Been busy, but I'm okay. How are you and mom?” I was exhausted so it was hard to put on an enthusiastic tone.

“Good! That's great! I hope you're studying, gotta make sure you get those grades!”

“Of course, daddy” My dad was the reason I graduated in the top percentage of my college class. He was always making sure I was on top of my studies.

“Just wanted to let you know your mom and I are coming in to town for a conference the weekend after next. Wanted to make sure you'll be free.”

I wanted to say, “Nooo that's the weekend I'm going to Cozumellllll!” but I didn't. If my dad had found out I was leaving in the middle of the semester for a weekend trip he would have killed me. So to save my own life I didn't mention it. After we hung up the phone I texted Sarah to let her know I wouldn't be coming.

I laid back onto Kadie's pillow and let out a deep sigh. Kadie heard me while I was on the phone and wiggled her arms in the air excitedly. She loved my parents and even referred to them as mom and dad. It's not that I wasn't excited, I really was. I love my parents deeply and I missed them terribly. But being and only child I was always put under a microscope and critiqued. I didn't know if I was ready to deal with it again.