Then I get up from the couch where I have been waiting for him to come back and dress up to meet my mother earlier than we agreed. Why would I coop up in the hotel when the weather is nice outside and it's my last day in New York before we have to go back to Chicago? Sulking about Mariano's leaving wouldn't do me any good. If he wants to be on his own, then so be it!
I strangle him in my head until his face goes purple, and then fix his hair because it got disheveled. I just hope he's alright.
I meet my mother at an Italian restaurant a few blocks away from NYU, my alma mater. They have the best spicy rigatoni that I always get whenever we come here. I love this place. It's never crowded because it's reservations only, and it's also a walking distance from my mother's high-end clothing store.