Briley

The sky was too black for it to be five o’clock in the afternoon. The sky rumbled a threatening sigh as she rushed to get to the motel before the rain cut loose. She pulled into the Super 8 motel parking lot and turned off her car. The sky flashed a warning, so she pulled her keys out of the ignition, grabbed her bags out of the back seat of her beat-up ’62 Chevelle, and locked the doors before dashing to the motel’s main office to get her room for the night.

The clerk looked at her with blood shot eyes and mumbled something incoherent. She tapped her feet and sighed as she waited for him to get her key to her room so she could go get food for the evening. She was starving. He kept talking to himself. It was really starting to aggravate her. Finally, the stoned clerk gave her the key, and she breathed out as she walked out of the office.

Now she She wasn’t going to walk across the street to the diner. She got to the diner and almost laughed. It was the biggest cliché she had ever seen. It was like a nightmare based in the 1950s. She took a small table in the back and looked at her menu that was water-stained. She felt as if someone was staring at her, so she looked up. A waitress with the name of Bernice took her order. As Briley waited for her burger and fries, she glanced around. There was a police officer who looked too similar to someone she knew back in Kansas.The officer noticed she was looking at him and smiled. Briley winced. He looked just like Adam, her ex boyfriend. She looked away quickly, knowing that it was so rude of her to do that.

Her food arrived to the table but she could honestly say that she wasn’t hungry anymore. But she had already paid for her food so she would eat it. She ate her food slowly trying not to look back up at the officer who looked so much like her ex.Adam was the ultimate reason Briley left Kansas. He broke her heart so badly. She couldn’t stay in the house they had shared. She couldn’t sleep in the bed they had slept in together so many nights. So, her best friend Adriana told her, “Briley, I love you, and I don’t want you to just waste your life away pining for him. Go somewhere. Travel. I would totally go, but dude, I have a baby. No way I am going anywhere with him.”

Briley didn’t know where to go until her friend who had moved to New York City to go to college called her. Her name was Haley, and she and Briley had known each other for years. So, Briley asked her. And Haley was totally cool with it. And this is why she was on her way to New York City.

That night, Briley didn’t sleep. Adam was on her mind. She remembered the night she and Adam had met. And how he was so sweet. She fell in love at first sight. He was tall, strong, and hansom. He was too good to be true. They had dated for a year and a half before she found out he was a liar. He had been cheating on her with her best friend and his best friend’s wife.

She told him to burn in hell and packed up his belongings and kicked his sorry butt out. Every day for a month, he called her, texted her, drove by the house just trying to apologize. But she wouldn’t take him back. Briley’s best friend tried to apologize too and she told her that she was a hag that deserved him. She hated them both.As she lay in the motel bed, she kept thinking about how good he was to her otherwise. He was sweet, and kind, and she loved him… She still loved him…

The next morning Briley woke with a start. She jumped out of the bed, her hair a disheveled mess, and her clothes wrinkled from sleep. She went to the bathroom and took her shower. She let the water run down her body, allowing the heat to sooth her. After her shower she stared in the mirror and suddenly realized, She was better than this. Briley glared at her reflection and said, “I am going to go to New York, hang out with Haley, and have the best time of my life. I am much better than him. I will not miss him…”

Briley felt relieved as she entered New York City’s outer limits. She was almost to Haley’s apartment and she couldn’t wait. This was going to be great. She slowly inched her way through the city’s traffic and could see the Statue of Liberty. She stared in awe at the beautiful thing.She got to Haley’s apartment and locked up her car. She was not going to let her car get stolen. It was too important to her.

Briley walked up the stoop to the door and buzzed the intercom. Haley’s voice greeted her, “Buzz off if you aren’t Briley.”

Briley laughed, “Hales, its me. Let me in!”She heard a snap which meant that Haley had let her in. Briley grinned from ear to ear and dashed up the stairs to Haley’s apartment, Room 21B. She had barely got up the stairs when Haley had bounded out of her door and knocked her down with hugs. Briley laughed again at her pixie-like friend. Haley had a button nose, black spiky hair, green eyes, and she was tiny. Like short and really skinny. Briley loved it.Compared to her, Briley felt like an ogre. Haley was 4”9 and 105 pounds. Briley was 5”7 and 130 pounds. Though Haley was really tiny, she could kick anyone’s butt. Briley loved hanging out with her. She was so much fun. So sarcastic and tough, it was cute.Briley had brown hair, with natural red tint, and brown eyes. She had been called pretty, but never really saw it. Haley embraced her cuteness. She was very confident.

Haley helped Briley up off the ground and smiled, “We are going to have the best time ever!”She helped Briley bring her bags up from her car, and got her settled in the room with her. Haley kept blabbing away about how much fun they were going to have, how she was going to take Briley to the Statue of Liberty, they were going to have picnics and go shopping. Haley was so excited she was bouncing. Briley nodded and laughed with her and acted as if she were into Haley’s conversation with herself, when really, Briley was in her own little world. As much as she loved Haley, and couldn’t wait to start her adventure, she felt a little pessimistic.

Briley couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was going to happen and it bugged the heck out of her. Haley was still babbling when they heard a knock on the door. Haley called out, “Who is it?”

A man’s voice said, “It’s me. Erick.” Briley immediately saw Haley’s smile fade away. Her stomach turned. This wasn’t going to be good…

by Taylor

Briley - Scenario II

Erick… Haley was so upset when she heard the sound of his voice. It scared Briley to see her friend that way. She had never seen her friend that way before and it gave her the chills. After about thirty minutes of him yelling through the door and yelling at Haley to open the door, he finally left, and Briley saw Haley physically relax. Briley could tell that this wasn’t going to be fun if it involved this Erick guy.

Briley looked at Haley, “Hey. Why don’t we go out? You know, introduce me to The Big Apple. Come on. It will be fun and it will get our minds off things. How about we go to a museum? That was the first thing I wanted to do when I got here and now is the perfect chance.” Briley paused to look at her friend, “What do you say?”

After a moments pause, Haley smiled again and agreed. Briley gave Haley a hug and they left the apartment, making sure that the door was secured.



The Metropolitan Museum of Art was HUGE. Briley stared up at the building that consists of two million square feet. It is known as the “Museum Mile” in New York. It contains over two million pieces of art, and is divided into nineteen curatorial departments. Briley was in awe. Never had she seen such an amazing art gallery.

Haley was quiet the ride on the drive to the museum. It kind of scared Briley, but she knew Haley wasn’t up to talking after that little incident. Instead, Briley pulled Haley into the museum. She paid the toll to enter this phenomenon of a building and led Haley to the paintings.

They saw many pieces of work by American painters; Winslow Homer, George Caleb Bingham, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and many more. Briley gazed at the sculptors of famous war veterans and presidents, and the sculptor of David. Briley’s breath was taken by all the different pieces of art that lay beyond the walls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Haley made noises of acknowledgment that this was cool, but Briley could tell she wasn’t feeling up to doing this. Briley sighed, “How about we go out to eat? I am starved and you are looking a little pale.”

Haley followed Briley reluctantly to a coffee shop on the corner. They ate bagels and drank cappuccinos before heading back to Haley’s apartment. Haley barely said anything the entire time.

By Taylor

Briley and Scarlet Scenario III

Briley left Haley’s apartment that Monday morning to get a coffee and bagels from the coffee shop on 32nd street, which was a block or two from the apartment. She didn’t want to waste her gasoline, so she just walked, enjoying the view. It was surprisingly a good neighborhood and in the few days she had been there, she had made a few friends in the apartment and in the neighborhood its self.
She was day dreaming about the lovely fellow from apartment B4 who had the most adoring green eyes when she came across the quaint coffee shop. Briley smiled as she walked into the shop encountering new faces, as she did everyday. At the counter was a tall brunette wearing a pink coat that stood out miraculously.
Briley stood behind the girl and waited patiently for the girl to order her coffee. The girl with the pink coat said, “I’ll take a coffee, black please.”
Briley watched as the girl paid for her coffee and stepped back right into Briley, spilling her coffee all over her beautiful pink coat. Briley exclaims, “OH MY GOSH!!! I am so sorry! I was standing too close and I wasn’t paying attention and…” She stopped looking at the girl and just started to cry, “Oh no, its no problem. I should have been more careful to watch out where I’m going. I’m Scarlet by the way,” the girl in the pink coat said.
“ I am so sorry. I will pay for the coffee or I will pay for the dry cleaners or whatever… Just let me pay you back somehow. I am Briley. And I am so sorry.”

After walking for what seemed hours she decided to stop at a coffee shop on 32nd Street and warm up. She walked up to the counter and took a look at the menu. All the different types of cappuccinos and espressos were just a little too much for the small town girl to handle. As she approached the cashier she said, “I’ll take a coffee, black, please.” As she stepped back she bumped into the person behind her and spilt the scorching hot coffee down her bright pink coat. “OH MY GOSH!!! I am so sorry! I was standing too close and I wasn’t paying attention and…,” exclaimed the girl behind her as she looked up at Scarlet tears welled up in her eyes. “Oh no, its no problem. I should have been more careful to watch out where I’m going. I’m Scarlet by the way,” she introduced. “I am so sorry. I will pay for the coffee or I will pay for the dry cleaners or whatever… Just let me pay you back somehow. I am Briley. And I am so sorry,” answered the girl.

After Scarlet agreed to let Briley pay for the coffee, they sat at a table, where Briley finally calmed down.

“I am so sorry, by the way. I also didn’t mean to burst into tears like that. I guess I am just really emotional lately,” Briley laughed.

“It’s okay. I am really emotional too. I just moved here and I have no one. All my family live in Oregon,” replied Scarlet. Scarlet was a pretty brunette with warm brown eyes. Briley felt at ease with this new stranger.

“Really? I just, well, sort of moved here from Kansas. I am rooming with my friend Haley. I had to get away. Hence, the emotional roller coaster ride,” Briley blushed as she said this and then laughed, “But Oregon. That’s interesting. What’s it like there?”

“Um… well I lived in a small town. It wasn’t anything big. There was a movie theater but that’s about it. The only thing I miss is my family,” Scarlet said, sipping her new coffee that Briley payed for.

“That’s cool. I didn’t really have family. I lived with my…EX boyfriend for a year and a half. Then I just moved here. A fresh start if you will.” Briley smiled at Scarlet, “Any emotional reasons for you to move to the Big Apple?”

Scarlet paused for a moment, trying to think about what to say. Then she nodded, “Just to be my own person, I guess. Nothing drastic like a break up,” Scarlet laughed at her own comment, causing Briley to laugh too.

“Briley Jamison. That’s my full name. What’s yours?,” Briley asked Scarlet.

“Scarlet Benochi. It’s Italian,” Scarlet smiled.

“An interesting name at that,” Briley smiled and drank her iced cappuccino.

For an hour or so, Briley and Scarlet sat and talked about where they lived and other things. Then, after exchanging numbers, they went there separate ways; Scarlet going off on her walk again and Briley going to Haley’s apartment with her coffee and bagel as promised.