Page 20 of Finding My Forever

Once again, I was so grateful I was paired with Sophia and she knew what she was doing. I wanted to squeeze in as much as possible, and with her around I was confident we could do it.

We turned onto seventh avenue and joined an even larger crowd walking on the sidewalk. Sophia led the way slowly enough that I could look around at the shops and signs, but with enough determination that we didn’t get in anyone’s way.

When I saw a store I wanted to go into I tapped her shoulder and pointed. It was too loud to tell her what I wanted to do, but she seemed to understand. I wandered through the crowded store simply enjoying the energy.

After an hour or so of repeating this down one side of the street my stomach began growling.

“You hungry?”

Sophia nodded. “Let’s head back that way.”

She was a woman on a mission cutting through groups standing in the middle of the sidewalk and checking over her shoulder to make sure I was keeping up.

When we got to the Shake Shack, which turned out to be the restaurant with the huge crowd from before, the line was much shorter than when I’d seen it. We were only three people away from the door and just moments after we got in line an employee handed us a menu. This place was all about efficiency, and I really had to focus on reading the menu rather than watching how they did it.

The line moved quickly until it was my turn to order.

Sophia leaned over from the register she was ordering at. “Let’s get this to go and eat in our room.”

I agreed and finished ordering.

Less than ten minutes later we were back in our room. The burger exceeded my expectations. I’d grown used to either eating them wrapped in lettuce or a gross gluten-free bun, but I took one bite and moaned.

“Good?”

“Mmmm,” was all I could get out. If the food continued to be this good, I was going to have a really hard time leaving at the end of the week.

“Try the shake.”

I swallowed and lifted the straw to my lips. Chocolate and peanut butter coated my tongue and I moaned again.

“Yeah. I’m never leaving.”

She giggled. “We have one back home, but it’s not close enough to go to as much as I like.”

“Lucky! I’ll have to check if there’s one in Portland.”

Sophia turned on the TV while we finished eating, but once we finished, she turned down the volume and turned her body to face me.

“Alright, roomie. Let’s get to know each other.”

“What do you want to know?”

“You already told me about your hobbies and your family.” She paused and stared at the wall for a beat before looking back at me. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Nope. You?”

She shook her head. “No. High school boys don’t generally go for the artistic girls, which is fine since I’m not into them either. I’m more of a college girl.”

“You date college guys?” I didn’t know if I should be impressed or worried.

“No, that’s not exactly what I meant.” I raised a brow waiting for her to continue. “There are high school girls and college girls. High school girls are popular in high school and date a lot and love dances and drama. Then, there are college girls. We don’t peak in high school. We survive that time knowing that college will be the glory years. That’s when our personalities will be the ones people are drawn to and want to be around.”

I slowly nodded. “Do you think I’m a high school girl?” I hoped not since it wasn’t going that well so far.

“At first, I thought you were, but the more I get to know you I think you’re one of the lucky few. You’re popular in high school, but it’s not your thing. You’ll have your time in college.”

I felt like she was reading my fortune.