We arrived at New York City.
In all my days, I didn't think I would travel here at my age since we were dirt poor.
But here I am.
I looked around, the city was basically shimmering in the light. People seemed to walk in every direction and the birds chirped in glee.
Joshua motioned me to come and I followed. I checked the pocket of his coat that I wore to see if the money and the list was still there - which, they were.
He led me to an opened entrance shop (makes sense) where his dad, and two others were working with a full line of people waiting.
The sign above read "NY Blacksmiths" in black print.
The girl taking care of the of people turned to Joshua and asked him angrily.
"JOSHUA!! WHERE WERE YOU!?!?"
"Out."
"That's now a reasonable answer!! Get to work now!"
"I brought a v.i.p customer that needs help."
"Whatever! Just hurry him up and get to the rest of the customers."
"Whatever. Over here Chase."
"Who was that?" I asked as he led me to his work station.
"Whina. She's my older sister."
"Step?"
"Nah. My step siblings don't work here. They have a more "refined" taste."
"Oh. What about that other guy?" I pointed at a scrawny looking boy that looked exactly like Joshua except for the hair.
"Liam. Younger brother. He was just able to work here a few weeks ago. He hates it here."
"Yeah, I can tell." The boy was shattering with cold and mumbled curse words under his breath as he kept working, making what seemed like spoons and forks.
Joshua led me to another room where they kept all their materials and objects in stacks of crates.
"Right, I'll get your things. The list?"
"Right." I grabbed into my pocket and pulled out the list.
"Mhm...it'll take a minute to get these together."
Joshua looked through the crates as I just stood there - not knowing what to do.
Whina would come in and go out with things, occasionally looking at me in the eye before looking away.
"Okay, I got everything." He dropped a metal pot with everything I needed inside beside my feet.
"Thanks." I handed him the $5 bill.
"I'll be back with the change."
"Thanks."
Joshua left the room as I sighed.
How boring.
I would've expected something to happen.
oh wait I spoke too soon.
A Asian looking lady entered the room, looking around before her eyes landed on me.
"Who are you?" She asked in a thick Japanese accent.
"Chase. Joshua's friend."
"Ah, you hang out with him." She put an emphasis on "him."
She eyed me uncomfortably, obviously giving me a hard core stare.
"So...I heard you visit Bellissimo Bambino?"
(That's the name of our bakery. It means "Beautiful baby" in Italian. Mamma says it was named after me...)
"Yes. The bread there is exquisite for such a cheap price. Why do you ask?"