* there are some changes (in bold), you better read this chapter, thanks! Agi x

'Cause anywhere with you feels right
Anywhere with you feels like
Paris in the rain
We don't need a fancy town
Or bottles that we can't pronounce
'Cause anywhere, babe
Is like Paris in the rain
- Lauv, Paris in the Rain

I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't lonely." I remembered the words he said and asked, "did you just say that you dropped your grandma at home, then left her there?" He was in the middle of chewing so he answered me with a nod. "Why? Don't you miss her?"

"Not really since I saw her two months ago." He shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I love my grandma dearly but sometimes she can be so..." he paused to find a suitable word to describe and at last, he found one. "Difficult."

"What do you mean?"

He finished off his sandwich and pushed the plate away. "She's really old-fashioned so she complains about everything."

"That's because she cares about you."

Frazier shook his head. "Nah." He took a drink and set the mug back on the table. "One time she dragged my," he paused and cleared his throat, "friend out of the house and she didn't even let her put her clothes on. She just dragged and threw her out."

I tried not to laugh over his misery but it was too funny. In my head, I could imagine his grandmother caught a naked girl on his bed and told her to go home. "I like your grandma."

"Why?" He asked as he raised his beer. "Do you like her cos she ruined my fun?" He took a drink, then added, "or do you like her because she kicked other girls out of bed?" A mischievous smile played on his lips.

I gulped and reached for the mug to cover my nervousness. "Well, I like your grandma more if she kicked your ass too."

"How did you find this place?" I asked him truthfully.

Frazier raised one brow and stared at me with a surprised look on his face. "Are you taking the piss?"

I scowled. "What?"

"My family is Irish and this is one of the best Irish pubs in New York City." He shook his head in disbelief. "Plenty of famous people have walked through that doors." He pointed at the front door of the pub and continued, "people like Teddy Roosevelt, Woody Guthrie, John Lennon, Babe Ruth, Hunter S. Thompson, and even Harry Houdini. E.E. Cummings even wrote a poem about this pub."

I narrowed my eyes and looked at him as if he was joking. "I don't believe you."

Frazier shrugged. "Well, google it."

I pulled out my phone and typed the pub's name on the Google search bar. He was right. The pub was truly famous and all the rest of his words were facts.

"You're lucky you come here in 2018. This used to be a men-only pub," said Frazier as he signaled the barman. "Read their history. Women were not allowed into McSorley's until 1970 when a city ordinance banned discrimination against women in public places." He turned to face me and asked, "Do you want more beer or are you done?"

"Get me one more dark ale, please."

He informed our order to the barman. In a few minutes, he brought four more mugs and placed them in front of us. I took a long drink and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand unladylike. I let the fluid of alcohol calm my nerves and tone down the tension I was having in the back of my neck.

I had to admit, there was something about Frazier that made it easy to be around him, especially when he was being friendly.

TYLER

"What the hell were you doing there?" I pulled Mario away once we parted ways with Faith at the junction. Mario has been acting as if we didn't know each other and asking questions about me and Autumn. It felt weird for me especially since we didn't even talk to each other that much during our nighttime job and there we were, fifteen minutes ago, sitting in a cafe and having what felt like a girl talk.

"Take it easy." He shrugged my hand from his shoulder and pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his back pocket. "I was just being curious."

"About me?" I asked him incredulously. "We hardly said anything before and now you're suddenly interested in what's going on in my life?!"

Mario smirked. "I wasn't here for that. I know everything about you even when you don't know anything about me."

I raised one brow. "That's creepy, dude."

Surprisingly, he burst into a set of laughter. "You should get used to it. We don't employ people without having all the details on their personal information." He pulled a Marlboro from the pack and lit the end with his lighter. Squinting his eyes against the flame, he eyed the cars passing on the road like a hawk.

I froze. "What do you mean by details on my personal information?" I always felt that it was quite odd for someone from the other gang to trust me right away and handed me tasks without further supervision but since I didn't really care about the job, as long as Santiano didn't touch Autumn or anyone I cared, I didn't raise any question.

Mario exhaled a long stream of smoke and started to walk down the road. "This and that. Your background and all those stuff. We're Italians, we don't hand our trust to people that easily."

I wanted to ask more questions but I knew I had to go back to the apartment as soon as I could. Autumn has been waiting for hours. I glanced at the watch on my wrist and cursed almost immediately. It was twenty past seven. Time flew so fast. "Damn it!" I moved two steps and I heard Mario calling me. "What?" I turned.

"You have work to do. Come with me."

I shook my head. "I can't. Autumn's waiting at home. I gotta go." I knew I was late but if I stopped wasting time and ran, I might get home before it was too late for dinner.

"No." His voice was as stern as the look he gave me. "You're coming with me or there won't even be Autumn tomorrow."

AUTUMN

I lost track of how many ales I'd drunk. I suddenly felt like my old sixteen years old self, the one who liked to party and got drunk. The girl who didn't give a fuck about anything and stayed up all night long outside partying because no one gave a fuck about her at home anyway.

If it wasn't because of Frazier telling me to stop drinking, I probably wouldn't have until I passed out.

"Give me one more glass. Just one more. Please..." I gave him a pleading look.

He leaned forward, closing the gap between us. With eyes locked on mine and his face inches away from me, he whispered, "No."

Frazier paid the bills then stood beside my chair and held out his arm. "Come on." I jumped off the stool and nearly fell flat on the ground. His strong arms were quick enough to hold me and kept me steady. "Be careful."

"I can manage." A silly giggle came out of my mouth as I pushed his hands away. "I'm not a baby." Right after I said that I slipped again. My feet seemed to lose their ability to stand straight and I fully blamed the sawdust on the floor.

"You are a baby." Frazier put his arm around me while his other hand held my arm tightly as he led me to the front door.

It was getting harder to keep my eyes open. "But babies are cute." The nonsense started coming out of my mouth. "I want to be a baby."

He held me in one arm and wrapped me close to his side so I wouldn't fall while his hand tried to open the car door.

I was annoyed that he ignored me so I pulled his ear. "I want to be a baby!" I yelled at him.

"Fine, fine, you can be my baby." He managed to open the car door and carefully helped me get inside the car.

I realized that I wasn't behind the wheel so I held out my palm. "Give me the keys. I wanna drive."

"Ah, sure!" He bent down and kneeled beside me. He lifted my legs, which dangling at the door, and put them inside the car. "But you're a baby, remember? Baby can't drive." With that, he carefully closed the car door. I was about to open it again when he pressed the key he was holding and locked the car.

I watched him through narrowed eyes as he walked over to his side and unlocked the car before getting inside. "Why did you have to lock it?"

He reached out to me and fasten my seatbelt. "Call it crazy, but I knew you were gonna try to get out of the car and refuse to get in unless I allow you to drive." My jaw dropped by how close his prediction was to the truth. I was going to exactly do that.

I pout and looked over the window. "I want some music." He pressed some buttons on the steering wheel and soft music started to play. I frowned. "I want a happy birthday song."

He stole a glance at me. "Why? Is it your birthday today?"

I shook my head. "No."

I could hear him let out a deep sigh. "Then why do you want a birthday song?"

"Because I'm happy!" I answered a tad louder.

Frazier shook his head in disbelief. "No. You're drunk."

"I'm happy!" I insisted.

He chuckled. "Oh, yeah? Then why's that?"

"Because you're not being an ass and we're having a good time." I could hear him say something but my eyes were too tired to remain open.

TYLER

"Am I allowed to go home now?" I put both hands on my hips and looked at Mario. I should be home, talking to Autumn, not standing in front of a hotel room, guarding the door for two hours.

He waved his hand. "Go."

He didn't need to tell me twice as I rushed to the set of the elevator at the end of the hallway and pressed the call button.

It was around ten o'clock when I finally got home. The elevator took longer than usual, no matter how many times I pressed the call button so I ran my way from downstairs to our floor. By the time I got home, I was sweating and panting hard. I fished out the keys from the pocket of my jeans and unlocked the door. "Autumn?"

All lights were turned off. I used my phone to get to the coat stand. I reached for the lamp switch on the wall and turned on the light. The apartment was weirdly quiet. I shrugged off my jacket and tossed it on the couch. "Autumn? Love, where are you?"

I went and searched the bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathroom but I couldn't find her. I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. It was sent straight to the voicemail.

"Hi, this is Autumn. I'm away right now but I give you five seconds to leave a message before summer."

I pressed end call and checked my message just in case she left me a message. Only then I realized that my text bounced back. "Shït!" I should've known, Mario always turned on the jammers whenever we were on a mission to prevent anyone calling cops or their colleagues. I hit resend and dialed her number again. This time, I left a voicemail.

"Love, I'm so sorry. I just noticed that my reply wasn't sent. Where are you? I'm so sorry. Can you come home? We can talk. Please. Call me back so I'll know you're alright."

I plopped down on the couch and leaned back. As I stared at the ceiling, I rubbed my hands over my face out of frustration. I've let her down so many times. "Fucking stupid!" I felt the tension pressing against my skull and at the back of my neck. Everything seemed to fall apart lately. No matter how much I tried to make it right, it always ended up in a disaster. It almost felt like we were in a series and the screenwriter didn't want us to be together.

I went to the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee then walked to the balcony. I looked out at New York and the heavy traffic down below. The sound of traffic drifted upward to the tenth floor, and a brisk breeze brushed my face, carrying the scent of car fumes and noisy car horns.

What's wrong with you, Ty? What happened to us?

I remembered her words like I'd been listening to them the whole day. How I wish I knew the answer to those questions. How I wish I knew how to fix this.

I don't even mind if you want to meet Ashton or one of your exes. Hell, I won't even complain if you're going to meet that teacher you used to sleep with. We just talked. Faith and I were just talking over a drink. What's the big deal? I wouldn't mind you having a drink with your exes as long as you're not thinking of banging them.

I moved away from the rail and sat on a padded patio chair. I raised the mug to my lips and took a sip of the strong black coffee. I always assuaged my guilt by telling myself that I wanted to give her some space and that everything would turn back to normal once she cooled down.

If you give her too much space, someone else might get to her first. She's really fragile right now, especially after having a fight with her man, you shouldn't leave her alone to rethink the whole thing. You might end up losing her, you know.

Faith was right. I was dumb. Why had I thought that she would come around? She wouldn't come around if I didn't do anything. Fucking idiot!

I raised the mug and took a long drink. The bitterness of the coffee reflected the bitterness in my heart. A lock fell on my forehead and I brushed it off as I leaned back in the chair. I checked my phone but there was no reply. I tossed the phone on the chair beside me and sighed. "I fucked up."

As I stared at the night sky, I prayed that no matter where she was, she was alright. And for the time being, I'd be waiting until she came home.

It was around midnight when I saw a car parked in front of the apartment building. This was New York and there were many people with flashy cars yet this car took my attention in particular. A guy came out of the car and then walked over the hood to the passenger seat. He opened the door and kneeled on the sidewalk which made me even more curious. My eyes caught a brunette head with curly locks leaning forward and saying something to the guy. That was when I knew what was going on or at least my heart knew that that girl was Autumn. I rushed towards the door and pressed the elevator button aggressively. When it took too long to come, I ran downstairs using the emergency stairs. Yet after all those hard efforts, by the time I got out of my building, the guy closed the door from the driver's seat. Right before the car started to move, I caught a glimpse of Autumn with both of her eyes closed, leaning on the window.

AUTUMN

"Hey, wake up." I heard someone whisper softly in my ear. "We're here. You should wake up." I felt my body being shaken.

"Steven, shut up and let me get back to sleep!" I pushed him away with one hand.

"Who's Steven?" I felt my body being shaken again but this time it was harder. "Wake up or I'll carry you upstairs and knock down your door."

I stretched my body and yawned. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, believe me, I'd be glad to. But I'm sure your boyfriend won't appreciate that."

I fought the heaviness on my eyelids and opened my eyes. Frazier's face filled in my vision and I immediately sat up. I looked around and realized I was still inside his car except that the car was no longer moving. "Where are we?"

"Just outside your building." He was kneeling on the sidewalk, looking up at me. A small frown appeared on his forehead. "You should go ahead. It's late."

Everything that happened today came back to me and I shook my head firmly. "No."

His frown deepened. "What do you mean by no?"

"I'm not going home. Not tonight." I covered my mouth as I yawned. I was mentally and physically exhausted.

Frazier let out an exasperated sigh. "Then where do you want to go?" asked him at last.

I stifled a yawn. "Not home." I could feel my eyes start to close and everything became so blurry until they were none.

* * *

"Okay, wake up. If you're not waking up, I'm going to carry you out of the car."

I blinked a few times until my eyes adjusted to the light. The car was parked and Frazier stood beside me with one hand holding the door.

"Where are we?" I stifled a yawn and got out of the car.

He closed the door and put one hand on my arm as if he was afraid I might fall again. "Don't you recognize the building? It's my home."

A small frown appeared on my face. "Why are we at your home?" The last thing I remembered was both of us drinking beer in the Irish pub called McSorley's.

He rolled his eyes. "I got you to your house but you refused to get in. Anyway, you can stay with me at the guest house."

"What? What do you mean-" I haven't finished my sentence as I heard a voice from the door.

It was a woman. "Frazier, is that you, darling?"

Frazier rubbed his face with one hand and cursed under his breath. "Oh, shit." He looked at me and quickly dragged me to the side of the driveway. "Quick! Hide behind the bush!"

I stared at him dumbfounded. "What?"

"Quick!" He dragged me behind the bushes and pushed me down.

He walked towards the porch, scratching his head nervously. "Yeah, it's me."

"Are you with someone? I thought I heard someone's voice," countered the woman. I couldn't make out her appearance since it was quite dark outside.

I saw Frazier shake his head innocently. "Nope. Just me. How's your day, gran?"

I put one hand over my mouth as I tried to stay quiet.

© All Rights Reserved 2018 AgathaRoza

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