I looked over and she was gone. My best friend, Daniela Patterson, was gone and I was alone on the crowded streets of New York City surrounded by thousands of strangers in the freezing cold during winter break in the tenth grade. Earlier that day while riding the train we brainstormed every way possible to stay together and were sure nothing would happen. It was supposed to be just a day of shopping in the major stores like Macy’s and H&M, eating good food at TGI Fridays, and seeing the enormous Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center covered in every color.

We were walking out of Macy’s, our hands full, and on to our next store, Lord & Taylor. Lord & Taylor was right across the street but the light was taking forever and it never seemed safe enough to go. I was always good with crossing the street at the right time so I was the leader in that aspect.

“Look over there,” Daniela screamed while looking at a fat, old, hairy man dressed up as Santa Claus ringing one of the obnoxious bells like they use to get money for charity purposes.
“Lets go,” I said at the exact time she told me look. I had crossed the street and looked over and she was not there. I looked back and she was not across the street either. Where did she go? Daniela gets distracted easily but we had talked for the whole train ride about staying together. I was sure she would take into consideration that New York City is a crowded place and getting distracted is something she should try not to be. I went back across the street in search for Daniela and she was was not there. Being someone that panics over everything, I panicked bigtime. Her phone was on silent so I could not get a hold of her. I could only imagine what she was thinking when she figured out I was not with her either. We were in one of the largest cities in the world and lost each other. I walked about ten blocks or so and she was still nowhere to be seen. I already knew that if I called my mom to tell her the dilemma she would not be happy with me. So I waited on that and figured that since we lost each other, we can find each other.

It was an hour into the search and my stomach was growling louder than a train on train tracks. I thought that maybe she went to TGI Fridays because we were supposed to eat there anyways. Since I was thinking that, maybe she was too. After walking all those blocks, I had realized that Fridays was all the way back where I started. I really did not want to eat anything but that. It was on my mind since breakfast. To eat a nice, juicy burger, crispy potato fries and an ice cold lemonade. My mouth was watering just at the thought of it. I had to go back and maybe she would be there but the walking seemed like it would take forever. So I started back.
It was getting close to four o'clock and still no Daniela. I was only three blocks from Fridays and I swore I could smell the food already. I was luckily getting every crosswalk light and I never had to stop and wait for traffic.

“One block,” I kept thinking to myself when I approached that last light. I went straight across and up to the doors of Fridays. I glanced over at the Hershey Chocolate store just to see what it looked like and there she was.

“DANIELA! OVER HERE,” I screamed to get her attention.

“Oh hey, Jordan,” was all she said to me. How? Had she not realized we have been separated for hours?

“I thought I lost you for good,”

“What do you mean?” she said as she laughed like I was wearing a crazy hat on my head.
“We’ve been separated ever since we left Macy’s...”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!” I screamed. She must be kidding.

“I really did not realize. But here we are back together. Lets buy some chocolate and then eat,” she said and wandered off once again.

“Come back!” I said, starting to smile. We bought chocolate and then to Fridays to get our delicious burgers and fries and a dessert to die for. A warm chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and nuts.

“We should do this again sometime,” Daniela said.

“Haha...sure,” was all I had to say to that.