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Apparently my day can get worse.
I’ve just stormed out of a meeting with one of the biggest rock stars in the northern hemisphere, and now my car is being towed right before my very eyes.
“Hey, wait!” I shout again.
The driver must catch sight of me in his side-view mirror because brake lights suddenly glow red through the rain, and then he’s leaning out the window and looking back at me, squinting when a gust of wind blows cold and wet against his face.
“Sorry, lady, too late.”
“But I’m right here!” I shout, running after the truck. I hold my hands up over my head, trying with little success to cover myself from the rain. The sky is as dark and somber as my current mood, and it’s really starting to come down hard now.
A crack of thunder sounds loudly, followed by a bright flash of white light that brightens the city streets and makes onlookers hurry to find shelter.
“So?” he asks, looking down at me.
“So, give me my car back.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you were parked in a no parking zone, sweetheart. That’s what I do. I tow cars away for a living. See…” He leans out the window and points to the side of his truck with his thumb. “It says so right there on the side. Taylor’s Towing. That’s me, Taylor. Get it?”
I look up at him. It’s not like I can get any wetter. “You seem like a decent guy, Taylor,” I say, with a hint of defensiveness in my voice. “So, have a heart, come on. I had a really important meeting to get to, and I couldn’t find anywhere else to park my car. And I’m really sorry! I promise it will never –”
A car behind the tow truck honks loudly, followed by a cabbie hanging out his window, banging on the side of his door with an open palm that’s almost as big as my entire head. He spits something on the ground and then starts swearing at the tow truck driver for holding up traffic.
“Look, lady, I gotta go,” he says, glancing over his shoulder with a sour expression. He tosses me a business card that falls straight into the gutter, and I have to grab it before it floats away. “You’ve got twenty-one days, or the car will be impounded for three months.”
“Three months?” I gasp.
“I don’t make the rules, sweetheart.”
“My guitar is on the back seat. Can I at least get my guitar out so I can go to work this afternoon?”
Taylor reaches for something in the passenger seat of the truck. He looks back down at me, and then with a quick flick of his wrist, he tosses my guitar out the window. I barely catch it with the way I’m practically soaked through to the bone, and my hands are all wet and slippery. “Have a nice day, sweetheart.”
“You’re an asshole, Taylor!” I shout, slapping the side of the truck as it pulls away.
The asshole laughs. Can you believe that? He fucking laughs. And then he pulls back into the traffic with a lingering smirk on his face and a part of me thinks he’s actually getting off on my misfortune.
“Damn it,” I grumble, watching on in horror as my car disappears down the busy street.
Another loud clap of thunder sounds across the sky, making me shudder.
How is this my life?
I’ve come so far since I arrived in New York, conquered so much, physically and emotionally, but it’s in moments like this–with my blouse now completely see-through, glued to my chest, making my black bra visible to anyone who cares to notice, water dripping from my hair, eyeliner running down my face–that I realize just how far I still have to go, and just how bad this city is trying to eat me alive.
Reed
The valet has already brought my Jeep around, and I’m halfway out of the parking garage when I first notice her standing by the side of the road.
Oh, you can’t be fucking serious.
Is she crying?
It’s hard to tell with the way the rain is falling so hard, but she’s holding her head in her hands, and her shoulders are shaking, and I don’t know why she’s just standing out there on the sidewalk like she doesn’t give a shit that she’s getting soaked through, but I just noticed her guitar case is sitting on the ground between her feet.
