Snow place like home

There had been times when Alicia despised living in the city. Granted that moving there was her idea against her friends and families own thoughts, she decided to learn to either love or hate the city on her own. And hate the city she did. If it wasn't for the office of her dream job residing there, in the middle of times square, she would have packed up and moved back home months ago. But instead she decided to give living in New York a shot and chase the dream she had dreamt since she knew what a dream was. But now, staring wide eyed at a taxi from the sidewalk while clutching her heart, she realized how much she actually loved the sound of those wretched car horns. It took until now to realize that they could save a life. They saved hers.

"Alicia!" Came the loud shriek of her friend and coworker from across the road. She stared wide eyed at her in a mixture of annoyance, relief, and fear. Fifteen seconds prior she had cautioned Alicia about crossing the road haphazardly and not waiting for the light to signal that they could walk across, but she didn't listen. She wanted to rush and get to her job before she was finally fired after repeating this late cycle for weeks on end. It was a wonder that she hadn't been fired yet. But now the rush for that job almost cost her her life. Just like that, she might have been dead over a job that barely paid her enough to live. But soon she realized that no one but her friend Kara seemed to have noticed, let alone cared. It was just another day in Times Square. Everyone was moving around quickly in their own search to start the day. I guess it would be asking to much to realize that she almost got hit by many moving cars.

When the light finally did turn and Kara rushed across the street, her long white coat billowing in the wind, Alicia had almost regained her breath.

"I'm fine." Alicia quickly said when she felt Kara's shaky fingers grab hold of her shoulders and pull her farther away from the road. If she hadn't been close to death less than five minutes ago, she would have laughed at her theatrics. 

"Fine?!" Kara squeaked and clutched her tighter. "Died, Alicia! You almost died!"

Alicia nodded along. "I know I was there." She smirked, then straightened and shrugged Kara's arms away. "But i'm here, alive, and regretting every second of my life yet again. That just proves that this is just another day."

It didn't matter how much she tried to stop Kara from worrying, she was going to do it anyway. From the moment the exuberant, kinky haired beauty walked into the drab office that Alicia worked in she knew that they would be close. She was the only light in that place beside the wallpaper, but even that was putting it lightly. And then they talked, went out for lunch, then drinks, and the cycle continued until she couldn't remember a time when she didn't know her. Alicia also saw how empathetic and kind she was to everyone around her. Basically, she wouldn't be Kara if she didn't care. 

Slowly Kara's eyes became smaller and her breaths shorter and less rushed. Never in Alicia's life did she ever think that she would pay attention to the way the steam from the cold came out of someone's mouth and nose, but she paid attention to Kara's. When the steam lessened, she knew that she calmed. Before she could start again, Alicia linked their arms together and began walking down the street to their work building at a steady pace. There were already late now, there was no point in rushing anymore. They were at least three blocks from work. Even if they arrived then, they would still be written up.

It wasn't until they passed their third hotdog cart and a subway stop that Alicia stopped walking and groaned. Kara stopped with her and patiently waited for whatever Alicia had to say. Alicia couldn't keep the grumpy frown off of her face as she turned to her friend. 

"Remind me again." She said after a while, her dark brown eyes pleading to her friends identical ones, but slightly darker, almost black. She continued. "Remind me why i'm here in this city, racing go get to a job that barely acknowledges me, all while dodging cars and grasping for my life." She really wanted to know if it was worth it to be here anymore. Lately, it felt like everyone in her life was right and that she should have just stayed at home and try something that didn’t involve moving thousands of miles away.

But everyone else was not like Kara, no. Kara liked to make you reach for your dreams and not deny your journey, no matter how hard. It was a wonder how she and Alicia became friends in the first place because of this. The only characteristics they shared was a shared job and dark brown skin. There were only five at the job who looked like them, and they were two of that handful.

With her eyes sparkling and smile wide, Kara unhooked their arms and turned to Alicia, placing her hands on her shoulders again. "This is your dream." She said simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. But Alicia didn't think so. She needed more reassurance. "You told me that you wanted to be a journalist since you realized how good you were at it. You dreamed about gazing at the empire state building from your penthouse for goodness sakes!" She chuckled, and Alicia followed along, Kara’s infectious laughter hard to resist. "You know i'm right! Don't let a near death experience deter you from achieving that."

"And yet i'm stuck in my cramped apartment that costs more than I can afford." She grumbled. She knew she was acting like an immature child by how much she was complaining, but she almost died! She was allowed to complain at least for a little bit, even if her being in this position was her own doing.

"You have to go through hell to get to heaven." Kara shrugged and released her shoulders, hooking their arms back together. "Your dream wouldn't feel well earned without hard work. Don't give up now."

Alicia groaned. "I don't want to. But I don't feel like myself here, Kara. Back home I would be sitting around with my family, drinking hot chocolate and watching the grinch as the snow poured from the sky and stuck to the ground. Instead i'm stuck with-" she waved her arms around to showcase the bare streets of New York, not a drop of snow in sight. "-this." She continued, then dropped her head. "I don't feel like me here."

Kara then squeezed their locked arms together as they continued to walk. There was no words of encouragement and a distraction from her thoughts that Alicia heard. Kara listened and she comforted her, and in that moment that's all Alicia needed.

*

It was four in the morning when she heard it. It was loud, pattering, incessant, and it woke her up out of the deep sleep staying late at the office caused. How Alicia managed to drag herself out of bed, throw on a robe, grab a knife from the kitchen just to be safe, and crack the door open was beyond her. But she quickly sobered up at the wide eyed look of Kara staring back at her with her hands held up high. Alicia had held the knife up through the crack in case it was someone meaning to do her harm. Again, she was cursing her apartment for not having a peephole on the door for situations like this.

With a finger up to tell her friend to wait a moment, Alicia then closed and unlocked the door before displaying it wide open. Kara eyed the knife still gripped in her hand.

"Explain." Was all Alicia said as she wiped at her tired eyes. "It's four in the morning, Kara. It may be Saturday, but we have so much work to catch up on."

"Yeah I know." Kara nodded quickly. She was practically bouncing in her pajamas and winter coat as she stood in the doorway. Her smile was also wide and creepy, making Alicia wonder why she looked like the cheshire cat. "But I have an answer to your question."

"My question?" Alicia was confused. She had done so much work the previous day, including asking a multitude of questions, that it was almost impossible to determine a specific one. But Kara had the exact one in mind.

"About why you're here." Kara replied eagerly. "You were wondering why you were doing this and who you were outside of your old life. But it doesn't have to be like that and I can prove that."

Alicia narrowed her eyes after she was finished for a moment. "How?"

Without a word, Kara left her in the doorway and rushed to her room. Moments later she emerged with her winter coat and a pair of boots she brought from back home. While it was cold in the city, it wasn't nearly as cold enough to wear those. So she couldn't help her amusement when she took the items from Kara.

"Kara, it's not that cold." She said with a laugh.

"Yes it is! You know it gets cold at night." Kara said with a roll of her eyes and urged her to get dressed. Alicia complied, wanting this to be over with already so that she could climb back in bed for a few more hours at least. If she was going to be worked like a mule, she at least wanted a few good hours of sleep first. After grabbing her keys and her phone, she followed the eager Kara to the stairs and down the four flights it took to get to the bottom. The attendant at the desk paid them no mind, his chair back and his mouth open as he slept. But before she could make it to the doors, Kara turned her away from the doors, Alicia's back to them, as she prepared to speak. 

"I came to the city when I was ten." Kara began. Alicia already knew that, but she waited for her to continue anyway. "My parents moved us here for my dads work and never looked back. I didn't want to come here and I begged to go back home. We had made traditions already as a family and I didn't want to make new ones. So..." She looked down sheepishly and cleared her throat. "Well I acted bratty and was really hard to work with to the point where one summer I decided to run away." When Alicia's eyes widened and her mouth opened to comment, Kara shook her head and held her hand up. "Remember, I was ten." She chuckled. "But I purchased bus tickets with my allowance money and made it back to my old home of Philadelphia. But because there were people who were living there, I went to my grandparents instead.

"My parents had alerted the police and they searched everywhere, but the amber alert was called off when my grams called my parents to say I was safe. She taught me a valuable lesson about what home was that day. She said that home isn't just one place or a place at all if you don't want it to be and you didn't feel it in your heart. She said that you can make anywhere you home if you let it be. I'm telling you this because I know you miss your home and everything it offered, but this place can offer the same. I want to show you that."

"How?" Alicia wondered, still reeling from the story she just heard. It was then that she finally noticed the thermos in Kara's hands and scrunched her brows at it. "What's that?"

Kara smirked and grabbed her hand. "A part of it. Now close your eyes." With a sigh, Alicia complied and began walking where Kara lead. She heard the front door open as they walked outside into the cold. It wasn't until she cool air hit her that she was thankful that Kara grabbed her thick boots for this mission of hers. But as they walked she felt something hit her face and groaned. 

"Kara! Is it raining?"

"Not quite." Kara replied, mirth covering her tone. They stopped walking. "Now open your eyes."

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Alicia did as told and immediately gasped. It had to be a blizzard from what she could see of outside. The white snow was coming down in abandon, blanketing the sky in its cold and color to anything it could touch. The street was hard to view from how the snow covered it. If she didn't know that it was suppose to be night it would seem as thought it was daytime. It was cold, it was snowing, and she loved it. She had never seen the city so quiet as most of the people stopped and watched as the snow fell. Being downtown in times square, the lights weren't hard to see nor hard to for anyone to hear the honking of car horns. But tonight they held back and let the only sound be the drop of snowflakes. And that sound was silence, but it was beautiful. With her own wide, cheshire grin she turned to Kara who mirrored her. But her eyes zeroed in on the smoking thermos in front of her. She could smell it's contents before she saw it.

"Kara..." She trailed off, her voice thick with emotion. "What hardships did you go through to conjure this up?”

"Only ones to cheer my best friend up." She shrugged and offered up the bottle. "Hurry before it gets cold. The top is off."

Not wasting anymore time, Alicia grabbed the thermos from her and took a sip, her eyes closing at the warm feel of the hot chocolate coating her throat. "This is heaven." Alicia sighed. She turned back to Kara. "Okay, i’m no longer mad that I was woken up."

"That's not all." Kara sang as she tapped on her phone for a moment before turning it towards her, a movie popping up with her favorite green character. "The grinch! I've never watched it so we really have to."

Alicia looked up with a gasp. "You've never watched it?" She exclaimed. The cold was beginning to claim her body's warmth, but she had more pressing matters to attend to.

Kara nodded slowly. "I know, silly me, but we can watch it together!"

Alicia was on her way to agree until she groaned, remembering the work she had to do. "We can't." She said sadly. "Workload, remember?"

Kara tolled her eyes. "Yes I remember, which is why I did the majority of both of our work ahead of time." She said. "I've been planning on this the moment I looked at the forecast, Alicia, so yes we can."

At that moment Alicia couldn't speak, only think about what she did to deserve the gift that was her best friend. There was nothing more she could say to make her argue Kara's point. So she agreed to her suggestion, and eagerly awaited their night ahead. But before that, they stayed a little longer and enjoyed the snow and hot chocolate. By the time they made it back inside, settled on her bed and turned on the television displaying the netflix logo, Alicia's heart was full. They both had a mug of their own for their hot chocolate and the covers on Alicia's bed pulled up to saver the warmth. The heat was on too, because it was really cold outside.

"I think we're ready to watch it." Kara said as she shimmied deeper into the covers. She noticed Alicia looking at her and smiled. "What?"

"Thank you." Alicia said. It was below a whisper and she hated how sappy and emotional she felt, but tonight made more of an impact to her than all of her time she had been in the city. 

"You're welcome." Kara replied just as quietly. "Is it starting to feel like home yet?"

Surprising herself, Alicia nodded. While it would never be the home that she grew to love and always would, tonight it came pretty close. After all, there was no place like home. It didn't matter whether it was new or old, nothing else could compare.