Day 1
It was his first week back in New York after his two years teaching English to kids in South America, he was finally back home. He had gotten a job as the HR for the newest headquarters in the city for an organization he discovered during his travels. It paid enough to keep the lights on and the water running, life here was expensive. Two years ago he had sold his car to pay for a ticket out of New York, now he relayed too much on the subway system to move around, especially when his office was 5 stops, one line change and three other stops away from his apartment.
It wasn't all bad, you never know what you might find down here. A person dressed as a cow, a man wearing nothing but a Speedo on February, some guys playing jazz, a street dancer, ten bucks on the floor, a guy screaming for salvation, a rat, a beautiful blonde...
A beautiful blonde.
His eyes followed the girl who had just walked in, pulling him out of his thoughts. She was wearing a black jean skirt, with some dark red army boots and a cute top. Attached to her hip was an old Discman, he hadn't seen one in years. She sat in front of him, focused on her music. He knew that he was staring, but if she wasn't the prettiest woman he had seen in his life, he'd be damned. Her golden mane fell straight to her sides and even under the unflattering flickering fluorescent lights of the train, her eyes stole whatever brightness the cart had.
He forced himself to look away to avoid becoming the creep on the subway, but he still sneaked in a look or two. The third time he cocked his head on her direction, she was watching him.
One of her eyebrows went up, she had clearly noticed him staring before. He smiled and tapped at his belt, she looked at her CD player and nodded with a smile on her face. This was what subway interactions looked like, a brief courteous encounter between two strangers that will never speak to each other, busy enough with their own thing. He returned to his social feed until the girl stood up and walked to the door, preparing for her exit.
He looked at her legs, traveling slowly to the trim of her skirt and all the way to her ass, when the train began to break he wanted to look at her face one more time, only to find her eyes were waiting for him, a smirk on her face. His cheeks felt like they were on fire, she winked at him and melted into the entering crowd.
Is there a more hurtful heartbreak than seeing someone so beautiful just once, knowing that there is no chance in hell that he'll see her again.
The girl with the long legs.
Day 7
He was in the middle of the train, tired of being in his ass all day. He caught a glimpse of a blonde mane in the platform, maybe it was her, maybe she was in another cart. Hope is not lost.
The girl with the blonde hair.
Day 11
He found her again after a couple of days of trying to enter different carts, she was hiding in the back of the train. She sat a couple of benches away. His heart stopped when she connected her eyes to his, she tried to hide a smile by pulling her hair behind her ear, but he managed to sneak in a look.
Before he could stop himself he was walking towards her, he couldn't miss his opportunity this time. A name, at least.
His courage drained from his feet when he noticed something in her hand, he got down of the train five stops before his, to avoid the embarrassment that awaited him.
The girl with the engagement ring.
Day 12
Of course, she had a fiancee, girls like her are always taken, the window of opportunity with girls like that was very limited and he had missed it, now that window was closed and not only that, it had a lock too.
She was officially out of his reach, but still, he entered the last wagon, hoping for a glance.
This time she paid no attention to him, she was heavily working on what it seemed to be a drawing, her fingers were black from the graphite. She was biting her bottom lip, unconcerned by her immediate surroundings.
The girl who can draw.
Day 21
It was a hot summer day, and it seemed like every person in New York had decided to take the subway at the same time. To pile up, the train was late, it shouldn't shock him that the metro system in the city was trash, but he was tired and sticky and desired nothing but a cold shower.
He saw her a few people further down, her hair was up in a messy bun, the shorts and the boots were back. She was moving her hand back and forth fanning her face. She saw him staring and smiled knowingly.
He wondered if she thought of him as a commuter or maybe she thought of him as the creepy guy from the metro. She always smiled at him, it wasn't a trick from his imagination, at least she didn't hate him.
He would even go as far as to consider her like a friend, her subway buddy, even though he didn't know her name or they had never spoken to each other, he felt like he knew little bits of information.
When the train finally arrived it was a pushing war if you didn't want to wait for the next train to arrive. Somehow he was pushed next to the blonde girl, he towered over her.
Her smell hit him immediately, a delightful mix of cherry blossom and a faint hint of sweat, her essence was a beautiful gift among the heavy smell that settled in the city (especially in small spaces) on summer time.
With the train moving he tried his best to keep his distance, he didn't want to be one of those guys who pushes hip first against everybody. Although when the breaks screeched and they all thought they were going down, he instinctively placed his hand over her hip to keep her from falling.
His first reaction was to take the hand away, she turned to look at him and he couldn't help but wonder if her cheeks were red because of the heat or for his unexpected touch.
The girl with the incredible smell.
Day 39
He brought a book today, a coworker had recommended Life is a Dream to him and he decided to pick it up. The blonde girl lifted her eyebrows when she saw him, she sat right in front of him and stared at him for most of the trip.
It was a good thing he could hide his blushing face behind the book.
The girl with the crystal clear eyes.
Day 41
Lucas was a little disappointed that he hadn't seen her that day. Was it too crazy to consider that they understood each other through looks?
The day he was wearing different shoes she pointed it out with her eyes and she had snorted. Also, on May 4th, he pointed at his Star Wars shirt and she had rolled her eyes. They had a non-spoken language.
When he got up to leave, he noticed that the blonde girl was on the cart next to his, she was sitting, talking to a pretty brunette. As he left the train, he saw her tapping her friend and pointing at him, they giggled as the subway disappeared from the station.
The girl with the pretty friend.
Day 47
Everything had gone wrong for him that day, he had stepped on dog shit trying to take a shortcut through the park, his pen had spilled inside of his briefcase and all over his case files and when he tried to print them again the printer got jammed. The milk he added to the coffee had gone bad and he almost threw up in the office kitchen. He stapled his finger by mistake and to top it all off he had forgotten his umbrella the day a storm hit.
He was dripping when he entered the train, he was not in the mood, the ink that he had spilled earlier had washed down to his grey blazer and the button shirt he was wearing. He was so mad that he took them off at the bathroom before the train arrived, left in his soaked undershirt he was brooding in his seat.
He could feel small droplets of water falling from his hair to his lap. The blonde girl took her usual spot near him, their eyes connected and she pointed to the umbrella she had on her hands, he couldn't do anything but shrug, knowing that it was his own fault for not having an umbrella with him, she gave him a pitiful look and put her headphones on.
Tired after the long day, he stretched his arms and pulled them behind his head for support as he rested his eyes for a while. She bit her lip as she stared at his arms, not really trying to hide it, he smiled knowingly, thinking how maybe his day hadn't been so bad after all.
The girl who is always prepared.
Day 53
She brought her Discman again, the train was pretty empty when he got in, the blonde girl was laying down, taking a whole bench. Her eyes were closed, as she hummed to a song. Lucas closed his own eyes, enjoying the sound that filled the cart. When she began singing, he couldn't stop the smile of surprise in his face.
The girl with an incredible voice.
Day 59
Was it so bad to feel so connected with a stranger? Or maybe he just felt guilty over the fact that she was engaged. But why would he feel guilty if they had never spoken a word, just a few glances exchanged, some laughs shared. Like the time there was a man trying to rap the Bible, quite unsuccessfully.
Maybe they had found in the train something he had forgotten he needed. In a big city like New York, he was surrounded by people for the most part of his days, but he had never felt so alone until he moved here. Everyone in the city is either searching for meaning in their lives, working towards their goals or trapped in a routine that they once feared. No one has time to care for others while they are trying to work on themselves and it can be a lonely, crowded town.
What Lucas found was maybe another lost soul that was craving the same company he needed. They didn't have to talk or be friends, they could be strangers riding the subway together. He just knew that he didn't feel alone anymore.
The girl with sad eyes.
Day 74
When she entered the car that morning she looked disheveled. Her shirt was only half tucked in, her hair seemed nesty, she was trying to put all the items in her bag. Now that he thought about it, she appeared to be in a rush.
She sat on the opposite side of the car, he frowned. Maybe she didn't want to interact today, we all have bad days and this definitely seemed to be going sideways for her.
He stared at her, not caring by this point if she noticed. He changed his seat to be a little closer making sure he wasn't too obvious in his intentions. She was cleaning her nose with the edge of her sleeve. Was she crying? Lucas felt overwhelmed with concern, he couldn't just sit there. He had already seen people cry in the subway, but they were random people, she wasn't. She was the girl on the subway, they were kind of like friends, they just didn't know each other completely.
His other part was trying to remind him that they were, in fact, strangers and that he had no business meddling in her life. It wasn't until she pulled her hair up in a bun that he saw the clear bruises on her forearm. He threw every argument he had made up out of his head and he stood up.
"Hey," he called out. She looked at him like she couldn't believe that sound had come out of his mouth. He could now see the eyeshadow smudged around her eyes and just above her left eye another bruise. "Are you okay?" He asked. She didn't reply, she just looked more nervous. "Are you hurt?"
"No, I just fell, thank you." She tried her best to put a smile on, but he just knew she was lying.
Her uneasiness grew, she stood up with her bag over her shoulder. That's when Lucas noticed something else, something that was enough for him to be more than suspicious that she needed help.
She wasn't wearing her engagement ring anymore.
The train stopped and before the doors were completely open she was out of there. He followed her, something in his gut telling him that he had to help her somehow.
"Stop!" He yelled, she looked behind her surprised to find him there. Yet he kept going, he thought he wouldn't be able to catch her until she bumped into someone and dropped her bag, her things spreading in the floor like water. "Wait!" He said, almost reaching her.
"Just leave me alone!" She told him before grabbing her wallet and leaving everything behind.
He had a chance of catching up with her and leaving the bag on the floor or taking the bag and find another way of tracking her.
Lucas went for the bag.