E.L. James owns Fifty Shades of Grey and all its characters.
The idea for this one shot actually came to me after reading a post on My Journal a few days back. Hope you enjoy…
It's two in the morning, and after twenty minutes of waiting for the 4 on the Uptown Platform at the Union square, the train finally arrives, Christian tiredly shuffles into the last car, surprised to find only two other people on the other end of car. No matter what time of the day, the 4 always seem to be crowded.
The couple at the end of the car didn't even notice when Christian steps in. At least they gave no indication that they saw him. They continue to make out without paying any attention to him.
Christian sneers at the lovesick couple and jams his headphone in, tuning the music as loud as possible. He wants t drone the noise of the spit swapping.
Christian hates the working the closing shift at his job, especially on Sundays. It means that he has to spend several hours after cleaning up the storefront, making sure everything looks neat, and that all the new displays ordered by the corporate are up for the following week. As the assistant manager, it's also his job to make sure the register balance is copasetic before the manger arrives on Monday morning.
His job was relatively easy. It involves walking around the store, folding things that customers haphazardly throw around, and occasionally tending to customers at the register. Mostly, he makes sure whether everyone is doing their job correctly or not.
He likes his job. He like's it's in the heart of the downtown, and he actually gets along with all his coworkers. The train ride to the work is what sucks the most.
While most of the coworkers either live somewhere in the city or are NYU students, Christian goes to Fordham up in the Bronx. This means that the trip downtown takes about forty minutes without counting all the walking up to the train and back to his student housing.
That in particular is what sucks most about closings. During peak hours, the 4 runs express, skipping most stops in the city, but after midnight, it goes local. For almost two hours, the train stops and start 25 times before Christian can get off, and that's not taking into account if there is construction going on during the night. Then the trip becomes even longer.
Christian spends most of these late-night journeys uptowns, listening to music and dozing off against the metal bar along the corner seat. However, on a few rare occasions when Christian finds himself alone in the car, he stay's awake.
Whenever the car is empty, Christian sings out loud, mainly because he can.
It makes the trip pass by faster for him. He belts out anything that the shuffle on his iPod decides to play. It doesn't matter how ridiculous the song might be.
Some of his favorite songs to sing are 80's power ballads and anything by Queen. However, he pretty much sings anything with a real, stadium vibe. The acoustics in the train are great for it. It's like being in the shower, only far less clean.
Christian is two songs into his playlist when the couple gets off at 33rd Street. They make almost no sound as they walk off. Christian takes notice that no one gets on the train after them.
He can barely contain the smile that forms on his face. He's alone, but the next stop is Grand Central. He knows that people always get on Grand Central, but it doesn't stop Christian from skimming his iPod for a song to sing. He's undecided by the time the train arrives at Grand Central.
He waits anxiously to see if anyone will get on the train, but once again, he's the only one in that car.
Christian smiles as he presses play on"Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)," by Journey.
He closes his eyes and begins to sing along with Steve Perry. He even begins playing air guitar along with Neal Schon.
With the eyes closed, Christian allows the movement of the train to tell him when the train stops. He presses pause on the song when he reaches the next stop and opens eyes.
Noticing that he's once again alone, he presses play. He looks down at his watch and tells himself that it would be strange if anyone got on train at this hour, especially the last car. So, throws caution to the wind and continues to sing even as the train stops at 59th Street.
Christian doesn't see that someone walks into what he thinks is an empty train car. Even as the song ends, he begins to sing the song that comes right after.
"Empty spaces – what are we living for? Abandoned places – I guess we know the score," he sings loudly. It isn't until the train stops again that Christian opens his eyes and notices the stranger smiling towards him.
Quickly, he pulls the headphones from his ears and apologizes for disturbing her. He notes that the train has stopped between two stations, but he doesn't know which.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize someone got on."
"It's alright," the brunette replies. She smiles and slides down the row, so she's sitting across from Christian. "You sing really well."
Christian chuckles nervously and begins to twirls the headphones wire in his hands. He's mortified. It's not the he's been caught singing on the train, but it has never been by someone like her. The stranger has a young face and bright, powder blue eyes along with rosy cheeks caused by the cold.
She's beautiful in a gauche way, and exactly his type.
"Still. You're probably tired form work or whatever. I'll shut up now."
The train starts up once more and stops at 68th Street.
"No. Go ahead. The show must go on." The stranger jests and Christian laughs with her.
"You know what I was singing?"
"Well, Queen isn't exactly an uncommon band."
"Most people wouldn't have recognized it just from a first few lines."
"Well, I grew up listening to all that stuff. It was all my dad played in the car."
Christian nods uncomfortably. Conversations with strangers always made him nervous. He goes to put his headphones back in place, but the stranger continues talking.
"Are always made him nervous. He goes to put his headphones back in place, but the stranger continues talking.
"Are you coming from work"?
"Yeah. I work around Union Square. How about you?"
"Same. I work at H&M on the 59TH," she answers. Her smile is contagious and Christian couldn't help but smile in return.
"So where are you getting off? I promise I'm not some crazy stalker. I'm not gonna follow you home." Christian laughs at the rushed conclusion of her question.
"Fordham."
"Do you go to college?"
"Yeah. How about you?"
"I got to hunter, but I live around 125th."
Christian nods his head and watches to see if anyone gets on the 96th street station. He counts off the next stops in his head. He has his beautiful stranger with him for the next four stops.
"You're lucky. Your trip is pretty short compared to mine."
"Very true. It would be even better if I didn't work the closing shift. Then the train would have zoomed all these stops."
"Totally," Christian adds. "I hate working closings because the train runs local. It's so slow, and with all that construction going on late at night, it's even worse."
"I know. It takes forever to get anywhere. What's the point of public transportation, then? I might as well sit in the traffic."
Christian nods and smiles at the beautiful brunette, how animated this girl is. She's interesting and a nice departure from his daily routine. He ticks off another stop on his mental list. Three more stops before this beautiful girl gets off and thirteen more before he can.
"Are you from New York?" Christian asks the girl, and she nods her head enthusiastically.
"Born and raised in the city. I love New York. I can't imagine how differently my life would be if I had been brought up somewhere else," she answers passionately. "I'm taking it that you're not, though. Right?"
"I'm from Seattle. "
The train skips over the next two stops due to construction. Christian finds himself slightly panicking once they arrive at 116th street station. The next stop is the beautiful brunette's stop, and he's honestly enjoying her company. He doesn't want to stop talking to her. The thirteen stops after she gets off are going to be incredibly dull in comparisons.
"Can I ask you for a favor?"Christian is secretly hoping that she wants his phone number because he's too shy to ask for hers.
"My coworkers gave me this crazy, old Polaroid, and I really want to see if it works. Would you mind if a take a photo of you?"
"Why not take a photo of the train?" Christian asks. The stranger shakes her head no.
"I want to take a photo of something nice, and you're very nice to look at."
"Um," Christian stammers after she compliments him. He can feel the heat in his cheeks. He knows that he is probably blushing like a school girl.
"Please?" she pleads with a wide stare that makes Christian wonder if anyone has ever told her no before. The look is devastating. He's give her the moon if he could with that look.
"Sure. Why not."
The brunette smiles and stands up. She sits down beside him and pulls the camera from her bag. Christian is momentarily dazed by the scent of freesias and strawberry wafting from her. She smells incredible.
"When is that from?" he asks, pointing at the ancient camera.
"I have no idea. I don't even know if it works. My coworker said there's film in it, though."
The two keep quiet as the train stops between 116th and 125th. Christian silently rejoices the blunder of MTA. He likes how comfortable he feels around this girl, even though he doesn't even know her name.
"How do you want to do this?" he asks to break the silence.
"I'm just gonna take a picture of the two of us. I'll click at it twice, that way; you can have a copy as well."
"I'd like that." Christian says that and immediately holds his breath. The brunette has wormed her way into his arms and was pointing the camera towards them.
"Smile," she says as the train once gain begins to move.
Before Christian can say anything, she snaps two photos.
The brunette turns her camera around and yanks the two photos from it and scribbles something on one and hand it over to Christian. They shake each one of their instant film and wait a few minutes for the photo to develop.
In the photo, Christian is sporting a nervous smile, but the brunette's face is bright.
"You know what the best part of this picture is?" the girl asks as she pulls away from him. She's still sitting thigh-to-thigh with him.
"You."
"No, but that's really sweet. The best part is that it will never change."
Christian stares at the girl bewildered. He smiles without knowing why, and she begins to explain.
"In ten years from now, I'll no longer be the girl in the picture. Yet, every time I look at it, for that brief moment, I'll be the girl who kissed a stranger without knowing his name. I'll smile. I'll probably giggle. I'll wonder what the hell possessed me, and I'll wonder what happened to him, they boy with the gorgeous, grey eyes. Then I'll put it away for another day."
"We haven't kissed," Christian pointed out. The charming stranger smiled knowingly. She grabs his face with both hands along his jaw line and pulls him forward her. She places her lips gently on his, and Christian lets her guide the kiss.
It's sweet, delicate kiss. It's such a contrast form the vivacious person he's kissing. Christian sits slightly stunned as she pulls apart from him.
"My name's Christian," he mumbles. He doesn't want to lose the feeling of her lips on his.
"That's nice," she remarks and stands. "It was nice meeting you, Christian."
"You're not going to tell your name?"
She shakes her head and steps out of the closing train's door.
"Please?" Christian pleads as he runs up to the trains closing doors.
The stranger smiles and shakes the Polaroid in her hands and waves as the train takes off from the station.
Christian sigh in frustration and goes back sits on his seat, once again. He looks down at the photograph, the beautiful brunette who he might not ever see again. He sighed once again, and turned the photo. There was it. ANASTASIA. She had written her name at the back of the picture along with her phone number.
"Anastasia," he says the name out loud. He likes the way it sounds. It's exactly what her name should. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.
He smiles to himself once more as he lays out on the long row of seats in the middle of the train car. He puts his headphones back on and begins singing. Again.
He still has ten more stops before he gets home, but now, it doesn't bother him.
Thank you for reading. Please do give a review.