Awake Page 13

  “Dammit, I wanted to see it too,” Ben said. “The view isn’t as good in the back.”

  “You can sit up front with Lee if you want,” Ivy said to Ben. “That way you guys can have some boy time and Stella and I can hang out.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Stella and Ben said in near-unison.

  Lee fired up the rig and followed the pleasant British voice of the GPS onto I-95, which would take them to New York. “So what’s the plan for New York? The regular touristy stuff?” Ben asked, fiddling with the radio to try and find a station he liked.

  “I don’t know, I was thinking that maybe we should spend some time there. I’ve always wanted to really see how life is in New York, not the fake stuff you see in sitcoms.”

  “How much time are you talking about?”

  “However much everyone else can stand, I was hoping for a couple of weeks or longer.”

  “I’d be down with that, and I’m pretty sure Stella would be too.”

  “I thought you would be. Ivy would probably be game, I think.”

  “Don’t you guys be talking about me, now!” Ivy shouted towards them.

  “We were talking about how long we’d stay in New York,” Lee called back. “I wanted to do at least a couple of weeks and we were wondering if you and Stella would be cool with it.”

  “Sure we would, that sounds fucking awesome!” Stella answered before Ivy could respond.

  “Sounds good to me, where would we stay?” Ivy asked.

  “I was thinking a hotel, it can’t be that hard to find us a couple of rooms, or at least I hope it isn’t,” Lee said.

  “Won’t that get pretty expensive for you?”

  “I’m fine. I haven’t even checked my sales for this entire trip, I’ve probably gotten enough already to pay for everything I’ve spent so far,” Lee said. “Except maybe the RV, that is. It was kind of expensive.” The girls laughed, even though he hadn’t been joking, which he took as agreement to the plan.

  13

  As they closed the short distance between Philadelphia and New York, Lee was astounded to find that there was no end in civilization between the two. It was one huge megalopolis, a never ending stretch of sprawl. Out west, there was actually some empty land between cities.

  “Wow, there’s nothing like this back home,” Ben said, summating it perfectly.

  The GPS was dead wrong about how long the drive would take, as they hit a huge traffic jam thirty miles from the outskirts New York. The traffic is moving so slowly that I could get out and walk almost as fast as we’re moving, Lee thought to himself.

  “Fuck, not even in New York yet and already I’m seeing the downsides,” he said.

  “Yeah, no way we’re going to be able to park the RV anywhere near here,” Ivy said.

  “Looks like it’s time to go with the original plan, could you program that thing for New Jersey?” Lee asked, pointing to the GPS.

  “You think that you’ll be able to find a spot to park the RV there?” Ivy said.

  “No idea, but I’m hoping. All I know about New Jersey is from HBO.”

  Ivy laughed and started fiddling with the GPS. “There’s a Omnimart in Newark,” Ivy said, “Well, close to Newark at least, in some town named Kearny.”

  “How close is it to New York?”

  “Not sure, but it’s like an eighth of an inch on the GPS map,” Ivy said, smiling at him.

  Lee chuckled. “Well the city sounds good, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to leave the RV alone in a Omnimart lot for two weeks, or however long we end up staying. Maybe you could find a storage unit there?”

  “Sure,” she said. A minute later she put the GPS back in its mount, saying “There you go. It’s set to take us to a place called Maxx Storage in the same town as the Omnimart.”

  “Thanks, love,” he said. He wasn’t quite ready to bust out “I love you” in front of Ben and Stella.

  “No problem, love,” Ivy said, smiling.

  Traffic crawled all the way to Newark. On the drive over, Ivy called the storage place to make sure that there was a unit there big enough for the RV, and that there would be a worker on site when they got there. She got a yes for both, so it was a go.

  When they arrived at Maxx Storage, there was a worker waiting for them, as promised. He was a balding, bulldog-like man, chomping on a cigar and holding a clipboard and portable credit card machine in the biggest hands Lee had ever seen. He motioned for Lee to come down to fill out the paperwork for the unit. Lee complied quickly, not wanting to make a man as tough looking as him wait. Lee thought he might be the manager or maybe even the owner, due to the air of importance and impatience about him.

  “You’re the guys who called a bit ago about getting the large unit for an RV, I take it?” the man asked in a thick Jersey accent, admiring the RV.

  “Yep, that’s us,” Lee said.

  “You’re lucky kid, we’ve got one of the fifteen by thirties that just became available, we only have a few and they’re hard to get,” the man said. “It’s going to be four hundred a month, with the first two months up front. Fifty extra a month if you want insurance.”

  “Sounds good,” Lee said, having already been assuming he’d have to pay for at least two months no matter how long he stayed. “And I’ll take that insurance too. I’ve seen The Sopranos.” The man didn’t think that was so funny, frowning as he passed the clipboard he was holding over to Lee.

  Lee filled out the papers as fast as he could, including a declaration for the insurance. When he was done with that, the guy ran his card. When the payment went through, the man gave him a lock and key for the unit, as well as a wallet-sized card that contained his unit number and the pin he’d need to get the gates to open. Lee thanked the man and climbed back behind the wheel as the owner ambled back into his small office outside the gates.

  He fired up the rig while Ben took the info card and opened the gate. Lee drove through, and when Ben was back in the RV they drove around looking for the unit.

  Though the place was huge, it was organized well and they were able to find the enormous unit quickly. “Crap, the walk back to the gates is going to be epic,” Ben said after Lee had pulled the RV into the unit and they were all getting their things together.

  “It’ll be good to stretch our legs after the ride,” Lee said.

  Everybody had a fair amount of dirty clothes, so they took advantage of the washer and dryer to do some laundry before the trip. “Make sure you get everything you might possibly need for two weeks,” Lee reminded everyone after the clothes were clean and they were packing.

  “Yeah Stella, don’t forget to bring one of your vibrators,” Ivy said, and the girls both laughed.

  “Oh, thanks for saying something Ivy, that reminds me to bring mine too,” Ben said, and everybody cracked up.

  When they were ready, Lee did one last check to make sure that everything electric was turned off. Satisfied they wouldn’t be left with a dead battery when they came back, they exited the storage unit. Lee pulled down the door and slapped the padlock on.

  They lingered for a moment before starting the long trek to the front gates. It felt almost like they were leaving their home behind. After a minute, they started walking.

  Lee had a rolling suitcase, so he took Ivy’s bag in the same hand he was carrying his computer in, while she found them a taxi on her phone. “And could you send a van, please? We have a lot of luggage and I don’t think it would all fit in a car,” she said to the dispatcher. By the time they got to the gate the cab was already waiting for them, a van as Ivy had requested.

  “Where do you want to go?” the driver asked when they’d loaded all of their bags and piled in.

  They all looked at each other blankly, realizing that they hadn’t figured out which hotel to go to. “Somewhere in New York city, let us figure it out really quick,” Lee said, fumbling his computer out of its bag.

  The cabbie laughed, “You don’t know where you’re going? Lord, you�
�re going to be in over your heads.”

  “Just turn the meter on,” Lee said, looking up hotels on the internet, “I know the laws here and you’re not going to sucker me out of extra, so I guess we have that covered at least.” The cabbie frowned, and turned on the meter without saying another word.

  Lee found a hotel, The New Yorker, and told the cabbie to take them there. He’d chosen it mostly because he liked the name, but also because of the good reviews he found. It was also conveniently located near Madison Square Garden and a train station.

  “I’m so excited!” Ivy said as Lee made reservations for two rooms through the hotel’s web page.

  “Me too, I wonder how hard Broadway tickets are to get?” Stella asked.

  “That’s a good idea babe, I really want to see that Book of Mormon musical,” Ben said.

  “Oh shit, I’d forgotten about that,” Lee said, writing down his confirmation number from the web page. “I’ll look it up.” He was surprised to find that there were tickets available for the next day, so he snatched up four of them, writing down yet another confirmation number in his notepad.

  “Look, you can see the city!” Ivy said. His nose still buried in the laptop, Lee looked up, excited.

  It was everything and more than he had imagined. There were an almost impossible number of skyscrapers, each straining to reach higher into the heavens than the last. “Wow,” was all he could manage to say. Ben and Stella were speechless, gazing wide-eyed at the metropolis in awe.

  Despite the slow movement of the traffic, it wasn’t very far to their hotel, and they arrived in just a little over half an hour. The cabbie had managed to not make any more wiseass remarks on the way over and helped them to unload their luggage, so Lee tipped him decently.

  “Thanks. I hope you guys enjoy your trip,” the man said, and went on his way.

  The lobby had a quaint feel to it, but it was kind of endearing. There were chairs all around, mostly occupied by older people, sitting around and chatting. As Lee was checking in at the front desk, a bellhop came by and started loading their luggage on to a rolling carriage he had with him. It was the first time he’d seen an actual bellhop in a hotel, and Ivy remarked that it was for her too.

  Lee got the keycards, two for each room, and handed them out. They were on the 30th floor, so they, along with the bellhop, crowded into one of the elevators and headed up.

  “Hey Ben,” Lee whispered as they rode up. “Pretty sure we’re supposed to tip this dude,” he nodded to the bellhop, “but I don’t have any cash on me. Do you have something to give him?”

  “Yeah, I got it buddy,” Ben said.

  “Thanks. Oh, and by the way and I found my checkbook in my computer bag so I’m just going to write you a check after we get settled in.”

  “Sounds good, thanks man.”

  They arrived at the adjacent rooms and the bellhop quickly unloaded the bags from his cart, setting them on the ground. Ben gave the kid a ten, and he thanked them as he walked away with his cart.

  “Meet up to eat in an hour or so?” Lee asked.

  “Sure,” Ben said, “just give us a call or bang on the wall.”

  The room was small, but Lee supposed that most rooms would be in New York. “It’s cute,” Ivy said, placing her suitcase in the closet.

  “Well the bathroom in the RV is definitely bigger,” Lee said, peeking in, “But I think the room is the same size that we’re used to.”

  “The view’s great, come and see!”

  Lee stood next to Ivy and looked out. The view was breathtaking; he could see a multitude of buildings, including the new World Trade Center going up in the distance. “Wow, it really is an amazing view,” he said, putting his arm around her.

  The next thing Lee knew, he and Ivy were kissing, and a moment later they were trying out the bed. Lee hoped that Stella and Ben wouldn’t be able to hear them in the next room, but after hearing them so many times in the close confines of the RV, he wasn’t too worried.

  Afterwards they took a long shower together, not having to worry about emptying the water tank the way they did in the RV. “What do you want to do tonight?” Ivy asked as they each put on fresh clothes. “I totally understand if you want to stay in and get some more rest or something.”

  “Nah, I want to do something. Not sure what though. I’ll look around on the computer and try to figure something out.” Ivy turned on the TV to the local news while Lee got out the computer.

  “Well it looks like there isn’t much touristy stuff we can do this late,” Lee said after looking around on the internet. “But there’s a bunch of bars within walking distance of here, or we could take the subway to a different part of town.”

  “Let’s just stick to one of the bars close by. I don’t think I want to deal with the subway today, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Yeah, it’s been a long day.”

  Ivy texted Stella, telling her and Ben to meet them in the hallway, while Lee gave himself a once over in the mirror to see if he looked okay. He shaved quickly, noticing that his stubble was getting a bit long.

  “Rooms are a bit cramped, but it’s better than the RV,” Ben said when they met up in the hallway.

  “The master bathroom in the RV was better! The one in the room is as big as the toilet closet,” Stella complained, using the nickname she’d given the main bath.

  “Well I don’t think that there are many big hotel rooms here in the city. Especially ones that someone else will pay for,” Lee said.

  “Oh calm down silly, I was just making a joke,” Stella said.

  On the long elevator ride down to the lobby, Lee grabbed his checkbook from his pocket and wrote out a check to Ben for thirty thousand. Ben took it, confused.

  “Dude, you really don’t have to do this,” Ben whispered to him once he’d registered what it was.

  “It’s cool, that’s just the first half. You’ve done me a huge favor by coming along.”

  “Well thanks man, if we see an American Bank on the way I’ll deposit this right away,” Ben said.

  “Sounds good.”

  They left the hotel and started walking towards a bar that Ivy found on her phone, called Concrete. By luck, there was an American Bank ATM on the way, so Ben stopped and deposited his check.

  “Sweet, I’ll get four hundred of it right away,” Ben said. “That’s all I can get for now. Wonder how long it will take for the rest of it to clear.”

  “Wait, you’re not broke now? I think I like you even better,” Stella said.

  “Ha ha, I was never broke. It’s not my fault that Lee is so generous.”

  “Thanks buddy,” Lee said.

  When they got to the bar and went to order, they found the place only served cocktails and “shots” that were really just shot-sized cocktails. “Aw shit, I think we picked the wrong place. Let’s find a different joint,” Lee said, turning away from the bar.

  “Oh come on! It looks really cool to me,” Stella said, pouting.

  “Maybe for you girls, but they don’t serve anything here that a self-respecting man would drink,” Ben said, jumping in.

  “Hey, we don’t say anything when we go to a guy-ish bar,” Ivy said.

  “Fine, how about we stay for a bit, but after a couple of drinks we find another place, deal?” Lee said.

  “That sounds fine,” Ivy said, and gave Lee a hug and a peck on the cheek.

  “Sweet, I’m going to go grab us a table, it looks like it’s starting to get busy,” Stella said, and pointed at the menu board. “Ben, grab me one of those Raspberry Mango Mojitos, that sounds great.”

  “Uh, sure,” Ben said as Stella walked off.

  “Grab me one too hon, I’m going to go with her,” Ivy said to Lee, and followed Stella.

  “God, shoot me in the head with a shotgun,” Ben said when the girls were out of earshot. He studied the menu. “Which one of these lady drinks are you going to get?”

  “I guess the Hennessy ‘Martini’. It sounds like the
only thing I won’t puke up right away. I don’t know how they can call it a martini though. They don’t have a drop of gin in the entire place.”

  “Oh Jesus, I didn’t even notice that. It doesn’t have a single martini ingredient in it! What the fuck. It doesn’t look that bad in comparison to the other dinks, though. I’ll get one too, I guess.”

  The bartender came by, and they got the drinks. Careful not to spill any while navigating the crowd, they made their way back to the table.

  “I’m not even sure if I’m going to manage two drinks here, this stuff looks funky,” Lee said as he put the drinks on the table.

  “Now now, we had an agreement,” Ivy said. “You can’t go back on it now.”

  “Yeah, just think of it as a girl’s night out that we’ve let you come along on,” Stella said, snorting at her own joke.

  “In that case, can I be the girl who starts crying about some guy really early on and you guys spend the rest of the night comforting me?” Lee asked, taking a sip off of his faux martini. It’s not that bad, he thought.

  Everyone laughed. “Sure,” Ivy said, “and Ben can be the girl who goes around making out with every guy. Usually that would be Stella’s job, but I think she’s in a relationship right now.”

  “Hey, screw you,” Stella said, smiling. “I don’t want my guy going around making out with a bunch of other dudes.”

  “You don’t own me!” Ben said.

  “Oh wow, this is really good,” Ivy said after taking a sip of her drink.

  “Yeah it is, this place is awesome!” Stella said, and took a swig. “What did you guys get?”

  “Fake martinis that don’t even have a passing semblance to the real thing,” Lee said.

  “It looks good,” Ivy said, looking at the ingredients on the drink menu sitting on the table.

  “They’re pretty decent, but I don’t know how they get off calling it a martini. Putting whatever you want into a martini glass doesn’t make it a martini.”

  “Speak for yourself. They’re not ‘decent’ at all. They ruined a good cognac by putting cranberry juice and lime into it,” Ben said.