“Maci” I told the doorman, “my name is Maci”.
“Oh, ah, yes, they have been waiting for you Miss Maci”, the man said as he pushed the elevator button. The lobby of the building was decorated with big elegantly carved wooden chairs; the ceiling was lined with a gold trim that twinkled as I shifted my weight from one foot to the next. The elevator dinged and the door opened, the elevator man took my bags and hit the twelfth floor button as I got in.
“Miss Maci, so good to see you again.” Teddy had been the elevator man in my grandparents building since my mother was a child. Teddy was a short, dark, man who always welcomed everyone in the building with a warm smile every morning and evening. “I hear your grandparents are throwing another one of their parties,” Teddy said. “I haven’t seen you mother go up yet-“
“She said she’s taking the car up in a few hours,” I said.
“You sure do got a lot of bags”

“Yea, I think I might be staying here for a few days, we’ll see how it goes.”
“Well this is your stop.” The elevator dinged, and the doors opened.
“Thank you, Teddy.” I said. As I stepped out he handed me my bags, and he waved goodbye as the doors closed.
Before I could even ring the doorbell James opened the door. “Good evening Miss”.
“Maci,” I said. “You can call me Maci.”
“Miss Maci your Grandfather has been waiting for you.”
“So I hear.”
“I advise you to go in the back room and pick out one of the wardrobe choices your grandmother has laid out for you, to wear to dinner.” Great, I had been here four minutes and I have already been told I need to change; I guess my white tank top and cutoffs were, as my mother said “not appropriate for the occasion”.
James took my bags and led me down the corridor. The walls were filled with modern art, and smelled of fresh paint, all of the chairs in the halls looked like they had never been sat in.
My new room was around the corner and four doors down. Freshly painted teal walls, walking in, the room looked quite small with only a small couch and funky looking desk. “Miss, if you would mind stepping out of your front hall I would like to show you the rest of your room.” I walked down what seemed a small hall, which opened up into a huge room. “This is where you will be sleeping for the net three weeks.”
“Wait three weeks!” I said. “I thought I was just here for the weekend.”
“Miss, I do not make the decisions around here. Here is your bed, and the remote should be in one of the night table drawers. The TV screen can also be adjusted by the same remote used for the bed. I do advise you close the curtains at night because the entire east side will be able to see into your bedroom.” James laid down my bags, and started walking towards a corner of the room, and then he opened a door. “This is your closet, shoes are on the bottom racks, accessories are on the shelves in the middle, gowns for events are behind the door, everything else should be hanging in and around the closet”.
“I brought my own clothes you know, I don’t think I will need all of these.” I said.
“According to your grandmother you will” James started to head towards the door. “Oh! And before I forget your dress to wear to dinner is laying over the chair next to the window. And if you need anything to be sent out please tell me the night before.”
“Thanks,” I said. My tone was irritated and confused. My mom said I was spending the weekend, not three weeks! And who the hell needs this much stuff and this big of a room, its insane! I looked out at the city lights, thinking to myself if New York is the city that never sleeps or if that was Vegas. The sky glowed; it had a green tint to it. It would make sense if New York were the city that never sleeps. If I didn’t have those big curtains I don’t know how I would get to sleep tonight.
Someone knocked on my door “Maci, are you in there?” I could hear my grandma; she opened the door. “Maci! Darling how are you?”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“We have to get you into your party dress, James said he left it on the chair next to some window.”
“Yea, its over there,” I said. The dress was green with a tint of blue. My grandma said she picked it because it matched my eyes . . . how tacky. The dress was beautiful but why she picked it made my teeth cringe as she told me her reasoning.
“Jordan and Amber will be up soon, the party started twenty minutes ago, dinner starts at eight, and your grandfather is very anxious to see you.”


Thirty-five minutes later my hair was up and done, my face was covered in every type of makeup imaginable and my dress was tighter than ever. I started walking down the hall, and around the corner where I bumped into someone and fell on my face; it wasn’t the best start.
“Are you okay? I didn’t see you there.” A voice said.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“I didn’t mean to bump into you, I hope you’re alright.” He held out a hand to help me get up.
“That’s okay, I was bound to fall at least once while wearing these damn shoes.” I sat down in one of the wooden chairs that lined the hallway to take my four-inch heels off. They had only been on for ten minutes but my feet were killing me. I don’t know how I will survive the next three weeks if this is how I’m suppose to dress. “I’m glad it was in front of you instead of all of those people out there, my grandmother would have killed me.” I said.
“Oh, you must be Maci,” he said.
“Yea, that’s me.”
“Your grandparents have been talking about you none stop. And, my names Tony by the way.”
“Good to know, I’ll see you around.” I said. “I have a party to attend.” I said with a very sarcastic tone. Tony smiled; he looked less thrilled than I was.
I started heading down the hall once more, getting closer, and closer, I could hear the laughter, the meaningless chatter, and clanking of wine classes, walking by the kitchen I could smell the dinner that was going to be served, but within an instant it was immediately covered up by the over powering aroma of good wine.

Five and a half hours later, hovering over a chocolate fondue pot in the kitchen, wanting to die from the millions of pins and needles that were raddling around inside my head. I wanted to know why my grandparents had to throw all of these huge parties; I wanted to know where my mother was, and I wanted to know what language the lady next to me polishing silver was speaking. Most of all, I wanted to know why they me have more than three glasses of wine at a so-called “formal” event.
“I can take it from hear, you can go home, don’t worry about the rest of the dishes.” I heard a husky warm voice say. The lady polishing silver stood up from her chair. Still hovering over the fondue bowl, I could see out of the corner of my eye, her leaving the room and a young man taking her place. “Your first hangover, is it?” He said too me.
“Far from it actually. They hit me pretty hard every time though.” I said. “My grandparents have never really enforced me not to drink, so what happens, happens.” The words rolled off my lips, I felt numb. Couldn’t smile, couldn’t laugh, couldn’t even come up with one of my sarcastic lines. I moved my head out of curiosity to see whom I was talking too. It was Tony. He sat their very calm and collected, which I found completely weird considering he looked like he was in a complete panic when I bumped into him in the hall a million hours ago.
“How long are you visiting for?” Tony asked.
“Not so sure at the moment, according to James I am spending a few weeks, and my mom said that I am spending the weekend. But she also said that she would be joining us for dinner; I have no idea.” I tried standing up, but ended up banging my head on the lamp that hung overhead, and swiftly fell back into my chair. I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my eyes, I began to feel anxious. I looked up, and met Tony’s gaze. His eyes were a soft warm blue, his hair was darker than brown, and his (now morning) afternoon shadow was coming in. He looked exhausted and over worked. Going off topic I asked “Why are you here so late? It’s like almost 2am and your still cleaning and polishing and stuff . . . shouldn’t you be home?”
“Actually, this is my home for the next four months. My parents used to be really good friends with your grandparents and after I got out of college I had no job and nowhere to stay. Your grandmother offered me a place to stay, and whenever they throw one of there parties they pay me twenty bucks an hour too help out and I join the catering staff.” Tony said.
“Why come here though? Why didn’t you go back home and stay there?” I asked.
“My parents are all the way out in Colorado, and after going to college here, in New York I never wanted to leave.”
“You actually like it here?”
“Of course! The city lights, the energy, all the people; it’s the city that never sleeps!”
“Ugh, I can’t stand it here. The loud people, the honking of horns, and the terrible smells . . . I don’t understand how you would want to stay here.” I said. “You make no sense too me.”
“Stay here a while, and I think you will start to like it,” he said.
“I don’t think that will ever happen.” I said. My head was pounding harder than ever. I stood up out of the chair and took off my shoes. “I think I’m going to go to bed, it’s getting pretty late.” I said.
“That sounds like a good idea, I think the dishes can wait ‘til morning; your grandparents won’t mind.” Tony said. I left the kitchen, shoes in hand and headed down what I hoped was the right hallway. And then I stopped, Tony was right behind me.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“I live here, remember?” We kept walking, down the hallway with the half dozen never sat in wooden chairs. I noticed that the modern art paintings on the walls became larger as we got closer and closer to my room. As it so happens to be, Tony’s room is right across from mine; just my luck. “Goodnight Maci,” Tony said.
“Bye Tony.” I said in the least enthusiastic voice I possibly could.
“Sleep well,” he said. I closed my door . . . and that was that.


I woke up at 7am. It had been a pretty rough night. James put a tray at the end of my bed forty minutes ago, I was too tired to see what was on it until now. I sat up and pulled the tray towards me. The tray had French toast with raspberries and powdered sugar, and a glass of orange juice on the side. Its like he read my mind or something. I looked up because I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and of course it was Tony. “The door was open,” he said, “I hope its okay that I’m in here.” Tony said.
“I guess it don’t matter now” I said. “What do you want?”
“Your not a morning person are you?” Tony said.
“Hell yeah, I am. I just couldn’t sleep with the horns, and all of the deliverymen, and the barking dogs, and what is up with that glow? It’s all purple and green outside.”
“City lights you mean?”
“Yeah I am not a fan.”
“Well anyway, I came here to see if you would let me take you around the city today.” Tony said.
“As great as that sounds, I think I’m just going to hang around the house today. Maybe another time.” I said. “Thanks for the offer though.”
“Oh okay, well I guess I will see you later then.” Tony sounded disappointed. I felt bad. But seriously, it’s the city; what is there to see? Cement?
After I finished my breakfast I scrimmaged through my bag for my iPod, and plugged it into the stereo system. Then I headed towards the shower. There is always something about all of the warm water and steam that makes me feel better. Usually when I’m in the shower I think about random weird things that come to mind. But the things that you can’t share out loud with people otherwise they will think you are too emotional, sentimental, or weird. I think about what I want to be and what I want to become. I also think about all of the mistakes I have made and the regrets I have. All I can think about is Tony. He walked into my room beaming; I just figured that he was a morning person. But he looked so disappointed when he left. Was I the cause of his disappointment? Eh, probably not. He is twenty-three years old, working as a waiter in NYC, from Colorado, living with his parent’s friends. I can see why he looks disappointed.
The shower water started to become colder and colder. My mind tangent must have lasted longer than I thought. I hopped out of the shower and grabbed one of the towels on the table that stood next to the curtain. The entire bathroom looked like it just came out of some Martha Stewart home decorating magazine. The walls of the bathroom were light yellow with a white trim, and not the tacky kind of yellow from the seventies; but the kind of soft inviting yellow that you can see poking over the horizon when the sun is about to rise. On one side of the bathroom was a bathtub that was made out of what looked like some kind of marble or granite. I can’t really tell the difference. Under my feet there is a furry rug. In a weird way it almost looks like they skinned one of those really furry and shaggy white dogs and decided to lay it down on the bathroom floor. Hesitantly I opened the bathroom door and let out all of the steam. I walked over to my bed, looking for my bag with all of my clothes and noticed that it wasn’t there. I looked on the desk, the desk chair, behind the curtains, I went out into that little room when you first walk in the door. I was becoming aggravated and more than that frustrated. I walked over to the nightstand and sat on my bed. I picked up the phone and dialed line one. Luckily, James answers.
“Good morning Miss Maci.” James says
“Yea, hey James I was just wondering- Wait how did you know it was me?” I said.
“Caller I.D. Ms.”
“Oh, uh right. Anyway, I was just wondering where my all my clothes went.”
“What do you mean, aren’t they all in your closet.”
“No, my clothes. The clothes I brought with me.” I feel myself becoming more and more irritated with the situation. “They were in a brown leather bag.”
James didn’t say anything.
“Seriously, you have probably been in my room a million times, you couldn’t have missed it. It’s like the size of Texas.”
“Oh yes! I sent all of those things out to be cleaned.” He said.
“What do you mean cleaned?”
“They were not very fresh.”
“So what am I suppose to wear?” I said.
“I can help you with that, I will be right over.” By now I was standing up. For some reason I always feel the need to stand whenever I am pissed off or aggravated, or just when I feel like I am loosing control of what is about to come. Standing makes me feel like I am the one in control, even when I know I am far from it. Knowing that there is no point in standing any longer I flop back down on the bed. I soon realize that I am only in a towel and get up again to go get some type of bathrobe or something so I won’t be standing looking even more retarded than I already do just in a towel when James walks in.
A few minutes later James knocks on the door, and then comes in. He wastes no time getting an outfit ready for me. He picks out what looks like a million small pieces of clothing and lays it down on the bed.
“How am I supposed to wear this?” I ask.
“It’s a mini skirt, blouse, high socks, boots, and a sweater.” He looks confused. And gives me this what is there not to get look. I give up. I grab the clothes and go into the bathroom. First I put on the mini skirt, it’s the one piece of clothing there I actually recognize. Then I pull the blouse over my head, then the sweater. Almost scared, I put the socks on. I haven’t worn socks in years, kind of gross now that I think about it. I pull the socks up, and up, and up. They end up coming all the way up to my thighs. I then slip on the boots, and walk out of the bathroom.
“Is this really how kids are dressing now a days?” I ask sarcastically. A large grin unfolds on James’s face. “What?”
“Come here.” He says. He adjusts the skirt and socks, and does this weird bunching thing with the sleeves of the sweater. There is a four-inch gap in between where the socks and skirt meet of bare skin. James turns my shoulders so I face the mirror. “Much better.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I actually don’t look all that bad, who knew?
“Now we need accessories.”
“Seriously?” He hands me a red and silver watch that has Brooks engraved on the backside where the battery plate is; and then several chunky bracelets, which I have no idea what they are called. Finally we are all done.
“Now I think that you can handle the makeup part, do you think that you will be able to do all of this on your own tomorrow?”
“I’ll try.” I said, trying to show somewhat of a smile.

I came to the conclusion that I had been spending too much time in my room and decided to look around. My grandparents have always been firm believers in “the bigger the better” even living in the city has not changed their belief, especially when it came to the size of their apartment. I remember when I was younger, my mother having to come find me because I used to get so lost in all of the hallways and many rooms. I started walking down the hallway that Tony and I share, too the kitchen. I poked my head in to see if anyone was there, no one was. I walked further down the hallway towards the front hall to see if anyone was waiting for the elevator; no one was there either. On my way to the coatroom I glanced in the sitting and living room. Not one person was there. Once again aggravated, I swiftly walked into the dining room and smacked down into one of the leather chairs that huddled around the table. My elbows rested on the table, while my head rested in my hands. Through the glass table I watched my foot tap to the beat of a song that had been stuck in my head. Where the hell did everybody go? I silently thought to myself. Then I remembered where my grandfather would be. Where he always is. Everyday. I bolted out of the dining room, down the hall, past the kitchen, through the front hall and by the elevator to the other side of the apartment. He was in his office.
“Hey Grandpa.” I say. Sounding a lot more excited than I mean too.
“Afternoon.” He says, still looking down at his work. “How are you?”
“I’m doing pretty good.”
“How has your day been?”
“It’s been okay, I was actually wondering where everyone is today?”
“Well, it is Sunday Maci.” What’s on Sunday? Yeah and tomorrow is Monday, I thought to myself. What difference does it make? My grandfather looked up, and I think he noticed the confused look on my face. “Everyone has the day off on Sunday.” He said. That explains why it’s so quiet around here. “Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?”
“Tony offered to take me around the city, but at the time all I wanted to do was hang around the house, and now I am getting sort of bored so I regret turning him down. And-”
“Yes, he did tell me about that.” Grandpa said.
“Do you have any idea where he might be?” I asked.
“You might be able to find him on the steps of the Bethesda Terrace.”
“Honestly, I have no idea where or what that is.” I said foolishly. He pulled out a map from the bottom desk drawer, and then a red pen from the drawer above. He circled their apartment on the Upper East Side and then circled what I assumed was the Bethesda Terrace.
“Here’s a map, I think you can handle it from here.” He said.
“Thanks! See you later!” I said as I walked out of the room.


“Thanks Teddy. Would you mind telling my grandmother that I will be back in time for dinner?” I asked.
“Will do Miss Maci.” Teddy Said.
“Okay, I will catch you later then.” A mild-warm breeze blew in when the doorman opened the door.
The park was directly across the street, so I didn’t really have that much trouble finding it. The hard part was deciding which path to take when I arrived at a four-way intersection. I just decided to keep going strait. The map my grandfather gave me wasn’t really helping at all.
After only ten minutes of walking I arrived at my destination. I hoped that I would find Tony pretty soon because it felt like a storm was rolling in.
I heard my phone ringing and forced myself to rummage around my bag in hope that my mom was the one calling me. It was my sister.
“Hey Jamie, how’s it been going in Cal-” I started to ask.
“Actually, that’s why I called you.”
“I’m listening.”
“You know how grandpa gave me money after college because he said he wanted me to travel the world and everything?”
“Yeah, I remember.” I also remembered how my grandpa gave her a brand new BMW when she got out of high school, and he gave me a Honda.
“Well than money has kind of been spent, I even had to leave California and move to Miami.” Jamie wined.
“Oh, poor you. Drama queen.” I mumbled under my breath. I paced back and forth under the indoor hall.
“Seriously, can you help me?”
“Of course I can help you.” I said sarcastically. “But I think whether or not I want to help you should be the question.” That came out a lot meaner than I meant it too, I thought to myself. But when has my sister ever been nice to me? We haven’t spoken in six months and now the only reason she is calling me is because she needs help and more money.
“Well don’t think to long or hard because I have a flight up to New York on Thursday.”
“Wait, what!” Everyone always has that one person that pisses them off, and my sister is one of those people, for me at least.
“I told grandpa that I am coming up for a small visit, I just didn’t really tell him why. So I was hoping that you might be able to hint to him about my situation. Or, maybe ask him for me-”
“Not doing your dirty work for you Jamie.” I said. I sat down on a bench and watched people run all around the fountain trying to get out of the rain. The man next to me started smoking and stretched his arm out so it was almost touching my shoulder. I turned my back towards him and continued talking to Jamie. “Why don’t you just tell them? They like you more. And they are kind of pissed that mom left me with them and ran. I tried calling her cell but every time I called it sends me to voicemail.”
“That sucks, well I guess I will see you Thursday. And thanks for telling grandpa why I am coming up. Bye!”
“Jamie, do not hang-” the line went dead. “B****,” I mumbled. I turned back around so my back was no longer towards the man on the bench, and crossed my arms.
“Sounds like you got some problems with that girl Jamie.” The man said.
“You were listening to my conversation? Seriously?” I asked.
“You were right there, I couldn’t help it.” I realized that by the sound of his voice the guy sitting next to me wasn’t much older than I was. Though, I was still skeptical about his actual age because his hood was down and covering his face. “Why are you in the park on such a crumby day?”
“I was looking for someone. How ‘bout you?” I asked.
“It’s my day off.”
“So you come to the park to sit on a bench?”
“Well that, and too think.” He lit up another cigarette.
“You got another one of those?” I asked.
“Yeah, here.” He moved one seat over on the bench and handed me a cigarette, then a lighter.
“Thanks.”
“Does you grandmother know that you smoke?” He asked.
“Nope, I got to leave the apartment too.” Out of curiosity I leaned over to see the face of the person that I was talking too. Who else would know whom I am living with but-“Tony?” I ripped off his hood.
“Hey.”
“I came out here to find you because I felt bad about blowing you off earlier.”
“Nah, I don’t blame you. I think I was a little to forward and invasive. I wasn’t thinking.”
“What do you mean? All you did was come in my room and ask if you could show me around.”
Tony didn’t say anything.
“I was wondering if you wanted to go grab a drink or something, you know? Since you can’t exactly show me around cause it’s raining.”
“Sounds good.”
“I hope you brought an umbrella with you.” I joked.
“Well it looks like we are going to have to get wet then.”
“No I am wearing white!” Tony gave me this ‘rains is not going to kill you’ face. “Kidding!” I said. The rain was pouring so hard that we could barely hear one another speak.
“In that case.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me out into the rain. I took off my boots and started to run. He grabbed me as I tried to run away. “Where are you running off too?”
“To get out of this rain!” I yelled.
“You know what a water slide is?”
“I know what a mud slide is.”
“Even better.” Tony pointed to a hill on the other side of the pond. “Follow me.”
Once at the top of the hill we sat down and I held onto his back. All of the mud, grass, and streams running down the hill made it a lot easier and more fun to go down. We got to the top of the hill for the second time. I started to push Tony down, but I forgot to let go. We went down lying on our stomachs several times, before ending up just laying down in the rain. Our backs laid down in at least two inches of mud. Our clothes were completely covered with mud and grass stains. My white shirt was no longer white, and I couldn’t tell the difference between my skin and my skirt. I got up and started walking back towards the sidewalk.
A few minutes later I came back to Tony. “Where did you go?”
“Nowhere special.”
“Really?”
“I called James and told him that we won’t be back until later. But I did tell him that we might stop by to get some clean clothes.”
“Cool. Where are we going that we won’t be back until later?”
“Well, I want to show you New York, from the point of view of a New Yorker.” I said.
“Am I missing something?”
I laughed. “Just come on!”
We walked back too the apartment, took showers and changed our clothes. And then went back out to grab some dinner.