Central Park

Louise's POV

What had I done to deserve him? I had treated him like crap, yet he saw right through me. He refused to give up on me. And I was truly grateful.

It was our third day in New York and I had decided to stay in the spare bedroom. I thought it was for the best and Ed reluctantly agreed. We were still a couple I guess, but I think we both needed a little space for now.

I was sitting on my bed applying cream to my cuts. They really stung. I hadn't cut since I was 16. I thought that time of my life was over. I thought my depression had left me. I guess not. I guess depression never leaves, not really.

"You okay?" Ed popped his head through the door and I turned my face to see him.

"Mhmm." I smiled then turned back to my arm. He walked over towards me and sat next to me on the bed.

"They hurt, yeah?" He asked.

"Sort of." I shrugged.

As soon as I felt the blade touch my skin, a wave of nostalgia washed through me. It felt so good and relieving. I wanted to do it again, and again, and again. That was the thing about cutting, you became addicted very easily.

"They'll heal." Ed assured. "It just takes time."

"Yeah." I nodded. "Ed, can you do something for me?"

"Anything." Ed replied.

"Take these." I reached over to the pile of sharp things that I had collected and placed on my bedside table after putting in a bag. "Throw them away, burn them, hide them. Do whatever. Just...just keep them away from me."

"Sure." Ed took the bag. "I'll take care of it."

"It's just... I don't want the temptation." I confessed.

The bag contained nail scissors, a shaving razor blade, 3 bobby pins and a safety pin. It was everything in my room that I thought could hurt me. I knew there were things elsewhere in the house, but not my room. That was good.

"I get that things are going to be hard..." Ed trailed off.

I could tell he felt awkward and confused. He wasn't used to this...whatever 'this' was. The cancer, the cutting, the almost break up.

"It doesn't matter. Things will always be hard, but I don't care." I told him.

"We'll get through this." He said.

"Together." I promised.

"Are you sure you still want to stay in New York? I can easily book a flight." He told me.

"No. I want to stay here and just forget about the cancer, just for a little longer." I told him.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I just want to forget about it for now. Can we not talk about it until we get back to England?" I asked.

"That sounds good." He smiled.

"And just forget everything that happened yesterday. Pretend that nothing happened. For now at least." I proposed.

"I'd love that a lot actually." Ed agreed.

"Me too." I smiled and put the cream on my bedside table. "So Edwardo, any plans for today?"

"We could do anything. Just say the word." He grinned.

"You'll regret saying that." I replied.

"Why?" He raised his eyebrow.

"I'm in the creative mood. Possibly art?"

"Nah-uh, no way, never, nope, not again." He shook his head.

"Why not?" I laughed.

"You know perfectly well why not. We agreed." He told me.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I acted innocent.

"Erm, how about the fact that the last time we were near paint, I ended up grasping a naked man's penis?" He refreshed my memory.

"Oh yeah!" I pretended to remember.

"Oh yeah!" He mimicked. "Like you could forget."

"I still want to do something creative." I pushed.

"Loooouuu..." Ed whined.

"Eddddd..." I copied him.

"Fine." He gave in with a sigh. "What've you got in mind?"

"Pottery." I revealed with a smile.

"Pottery?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "We're in New York and you want to do pottery?"

"That is exactly what I want to do." I nodded.

"If that's what-"

"No, wait! I know what!" I gasped.

"What?" Ed laughed.

"Central Park! Then we can go to a little coffee shop nearby and pretend it's Central Perk like in F.R.I.E.N.D.S." I told him.

"You want to pretend a coffee shop is Central Perk?" He asked.

"It's been like a dream of mine to go to Central Perk."

"Then I shall make sure your dream comes true."

                       ****

A picnic. A nice, beautiful, calm, peaceful picnic was all I needed. We chose a spot underneath an oak tree and sat down on a red and white checked blanket. We didn't have a picnic hamper or anything like that. Just a carrier bag from the American equivalent to ASDA: Walmart. We bought two sandwiches, two cans of Coke and a small tub of fruit.

We were both sitting crossed legged opposite each other, eating our sandwiches.

"Good idea, right?" I asked as the warm air wrapped around us.

"Anything that doesn't involve paint is a good idea." Ed replied.

"I haven't been on a picnic in ages." I told him.

"Me neither." He said. "It's peaceful."

I took another bite of my sandwich when something popped into my head.

"Wait, isn't it Christmas in... 2 days?" I realised.

"Erm, yeah." Ed answered.

I had not gone present shopping. That would have been really terrible if I forgot. But when was I going to go? I really should have bought him a present earlier.

"It's fine." Ed laughed.

"What?"

"By the look on your face, I'm guessing you forgot." Ed grinned. "But it's fine. As long as you're with me, I don't really care about presents or anything."

"I didn't forget..." I denied.

"Of course you didn't." He smirked.

Truth be told, I like forgetting when Christmas is, but it's pretty hard to ignore considering everyone is in the Christmas spirit. However, I was expecting it to be a lot colder than this.

"Wait..." Ed's mouthed gaped wide open.

"What?" I asked.

"Is that..." He squinted his eyes on something behind him so I decided to turn around.

"It is." A huge smile spread across my face.

"Carlos!" Ed and I both yelled in sync and the tanned man turned around. His face lit up when he saw us and he seemed to be with another man.

"Chicos!" He beamed and ran towards us like a mad man, the other person he was with trailing behind.

"I can't believe it!" I stood up and so did Ed.

"Nor can I." Ed agreed.

"Oh my gosh my beautiful babies! You're here! Together!" Carlos practically screamed and gave Ed a bear hug.

"What are you doing here?" I could hardly hide my smile as Carlos went into hug me.

"I'm on holiday with my boyfriend. Chicos, meet Pablo." Carlos introduced.

"Boyfriend?" Ed could hardly believe it and neither could I.

"Hola!" Pablo waved.

"Yes, boyfriend. I could hardly believe it myself, but I guess love does things to you. I'm no longer a man eater!" He smiled. "Speaking of love! You too!"

"Yeah." Ed grinned.

"I knew it! My magic sixth sense was telling me! Carlos is never wrong." Carlos smiled.

"I guess not." I smiled at Ed.

"But what are both doing in New York?" Carlos asked.

"Holiday too." Ed told him.

"For how long?" Carlos asked.

"Until Boxing Day." I informed him.

"We're leaving a day after that. We have to meet up!" Carlos demanded.

"Definitely." I agreed.

We arranged to meet tomorrow evening for drinks at a club nearby the apartment complex. I was still amazed that Carlos was here. Out of all the places in the world to be, fate made it so he was with us.

"See you tomorrow chicos!" Carlos waved and Pablo and him walked off.

"Can you believe that?" Ed looked shocked as we both sat back down on the blanket.

"Of all the places." I added.

"I know, it's unreal." He shook his head in disbelief.

We continued to talk about this revelation and soon finished eating our picnic. We packed our things away and began our search for the ultimate coffee shop.

"Here?" Ed suggested.

"Starbucks?" I looked up at the shop.

"What's wrong with Starbucks?" He asked.

"Nothing, it's awesome. But it ain't no Central Perk. I can go to Starbucks in England. We need to go somewhere that's unheard of; one of a kind." I explained.

"Ah, I see." Ed nodded and ignored the fact that I was being a little weird. I was dead serious and he knew it.

"How about there?" He pointed to a place that read "Central Park Cafe".

"Perfect." I smiled and that was where we went.

The refreshing smell of coffee invaded my nose and I was overwhelmed the feeling of happiness. This place was beautiful. There were small, wooden, mahogany tables spread out across the floor and quotes plastered on the walls. Tiny lights trailed across the top of the walls creating a welcoming atmosphere.

"Good enough for you?" Ed asked.

"Definitely." I nodded and we lined up, looking at the menu on the wall above us.

"I wanna try something new." Ed told me.

"Me too." I agreed. "Close your eyes and point to something."

"Okay." Ed nodded.

His eyes shut tight and he held out his arm, spinning it around and around until it finally landed on something that wasn't on the menu. He was pointing at a quote on the wall. Slowly, Ed opened his eyes.

"You missed." I told him.

"No I didn't." He smiled.

"What?" I asked.

"Don't wait until the storm passes; learn how to dance in the rain." He read out the quote.

"That's cute." I smiled at the quote on the wall which had a picture of an umbrella next to it.

"Best get dancing then." He smiled.