A Long Way from You by Gwendolyn Heasley

Author:Gwendolyn Heasley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2012-06-04T22:00:00+00:00

I look at my watch. Tad sent me the text at two, it’s almost three, and the scholarship meeting is at four. Breathe deep, Kitsy, and pray to Cupid that he will make the pitter-pattering of your heart stop. I don’t want to have a heart attack on the sidewalk. Besides, Tad’s probably not even there anymore, I shouldn’t go anyway, and I have a devoted boyfriend writing I love you in shaving cream on the BSHS football field. But I decide that I can easily walk to Union Square, say hi to Tad if he’s still there, and make it back in time for the four o’clock meeting.

As I approach Union Square I realize why everybody falls in love with New York City. On one block alone, there are two Mister Softee ice cream trucks and a cupcake truck. A bunch of little kids are shrieking and splashing around in the fountain and a group of break-dancers perform a routine to the sounds of a boom box that’s blasting Michael Jackson.

For a second (and I’ll confess that it was barely even a full second), I take in the scene, forgetting that I came here to find Tad. I remember why I’m here when I see a cluster of people huddled around a giant chess table. A mixture of relief and disappointment washes over me when I don’t spot Tad among them.

He’s not there. Back to class, back to life, back to reality. Pivoting, I decide to skip the snack at the bodega and go for a cupcake from the Cupcake Stop truck. The name is telling me “Red light!” but this is probably my one and only chance to eat cupcakes out of a truck. Maybe it’s something I can bring back with me. It’d definitely make tailgating a lot more fun and would finally add some estrogen to the menu.

Waiting in line, I listen in on two friends’ lively debate over what cupcake to split. I think it’s a pretty great day when the biggest decision you have to make is choosing between baked goods. As much as I try, though, I can’t put Tad’s text out of my mind. Why would he text me on a Monday if he didn’t like me? And more important, why should I care if he does? I have less than three weeks left here, and then I go back to the last seventeen years of my life in Texas. If I’m calculating my math right, I’ll have spent less than one percent of my life here. Zero isn’t even a real number according to my algebra teacher, Mrs. DeBord.

“Next!” the lady in the truck calls out from the tiny window.

Confronted with a rainbow of mini-cupcake options, I suddenly freeze with indecision—then quickly overcome it when I see a mound of frosting topped with a giant Oreo cookie.

“Can I get one Oreo?” I ask.

As she wraps up the cupcake in pink tissue paper, my eyes stay glued to a Funfetti mini cupcake.

“Would you like the Funfetti mini, too?” the lady asks.

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