Page 18 of Finding My Forever

Greg stepped forward once again and introduced himself.

“Sorry, I’m late. My flight was delayed.” He let out a sigh and seemed to relax now that he found us.

“No problem at all. You’re Danny, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright then, group. We’re ready. Follow me to the van.”

We followed the group outside to a waiting van with ‘Airport Shuttle’ on the side. Somehow the driver was able to squish all of our bags into the small cargo area and we settled into our seats. Greg sat in the passenger seat and turned to face us the second we were moving.

“Congratulations to you all for winning the national competition. It’s a pleasure to have you here and I’m honored to be your guide. As the initial email stated, you will be free to sightsee in groups of at least two or you can come on the guided tour with me and my partner, Helen. She will be meeting us at the hotel.”

He paused and made eye contact with each of us. This was something he probably learned in his training. Make sure you make awkwardly long eye contact with each teen to ensure they have heard and understood what you said.

“The award ceremony will be held tomorrow night at seven, but the rest of the time is yours. If there are any questions or if you would like recommendations, feel free to ask either of us. I encourage you to eat outside of your comfort zone while you’re here. There is food available from almost every nation.”

I groaned and Sophia nudged me in the side. “Not very adventurous?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m a grilled cheese and vanilla ice cream kind of girl.”

She laughed and shook her head. “I never would have guessed that about you. I promise to find us normal food.”

I smiled and tried to pay attention to Greg’s ramblings. Sophia was planning on hanging out with me. That was a relief. I wasn’t too interested in following a guide around to only the areas they were willing to show us, so I was pretty excited Sophia had been here before. Hopefully, she knew not only where to go, but how to get there.

The transportation in the city seemed overwhelming. There was always the car service app, DRIVR, but that would add up quickly, and I only had saved up a couple of hundred dollars for the week.

Traffic wasn’t as bad as I expected, so we got to the hotel just a block away from Time Square in the early evening. We would have enough time to explore the area and get dinner before crashing. We didn’t necessarily have a curfew, but I didn’t want to stay out too late on our first night and be tired tomorrow.

The van parked at the curb, and I waited for the people in the front row to get out before following Sophia to the sidewalk where the driver was already unloading our luggage.

Greg waved his arms, gathering us in a tight group against the van. While he was talking, I was looking up and left and right and across the street. People were everywhere. Cars drove like there were no laws, cutting each other off, stopping without warning to drop off passengers, and honking for no reason.

I could feel the smile spreading on my lips. It was everything I imagined.

Every sign seemed to have flashing lights reaching for my attention before I could move on to the next one. We were across from a restaurant with a line extending out the door and down the block. I couldn’t tell what kind of food it sold, but with a line like that, it had to be good.

From where I stood, I saw two billboards for Broadway shows. Yes. They were calling my name.

The more I saw, the more excited I was. There was so much to take in and only five days to do it. Sophia tapped my arm and pointed toward our bags.

“You ready?” She pulled up the handle on hers and waited for me to do the same.

“For what?” Had I missed something Greg said?

“We can go up to our rooms now.”

I didn’t want to leave the hustle and bustle of the city so soon. I wasn’t done taking it all in, but the sooner we got checked in, the sooner we could come back and I could soak it in.

Chapter 7

Sophia led me through the modern lobby and up a set of concrete stairs. There were bleacher seats set up to the right overlooking a stage with a band playing easy listening music. She walked straight to a hall of elevators. “Greg said he’ll be going to a Chinese food place for dinner. Does that sound good or do you want to find somewhere else?”

The moment I’d been dreading. I could have mentioned it earlier, but I’d been praying we’d go something easy, like Mexican food. I guess I’d find out a lot about Sophia really fast.

“I normally like Chinese food, but I usually have to make it at home.”

We stepped onto the elevator and the doors shut quickly behind us.