author's note:

For Eclipses Riddle. Posted 22 June 2016. Re-using a story link, don't mind me.

That would be quite the embarrassing first impression.

we were built to fall apart (then fall back together)

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Teddy checked his wristwatch yet again making it the fourth time in half as many minutes. Watching the clock didn't make time speed up; if anything, it slowed down with each anxious glance. But he couldn't help himself. After seven months of filling out job applications and waiting by the phone for call backs that would never come, he had finally secured a real job. The bartending gig he'd had since his days in university was nice and all, but he hadn't planned on investing four years and his entire life savings in an accounting degree only to be drowning in student loans so that he could play drunk therapist to his hometown.

Without meaning to, his eyes searched out the timestamp on the ARRIVALS schedule board. 8:53. Good. He still had enough time to go grab some coffee and a bagel from the Costa kiosk he had passed on his way in, pick up the daily paper, check his Instagram feed, and maybe swing by the men's room to re-tie his Windsor knot all before the 9 o'clock morning train to London arrived. Or perhaps he should skip the paper. Sometimes the train was early, and the next one wasn't due until 9:15 which would put him exactly ten minutes off-schedule. He absolutely could not afford any delays. There were heaps of newspapers abandoned on the train most mornings, anyway. So what if they were a day or two stale? Teddy would gladly take any news he could get since he was too poor to replace his ancient telly set from the 90s and the pub he worked at only broadcasted football matches or the weather channel.

At the very least, he knew he was prepared for the wind and light afternoon showers headed his way at 5 o'clock.

8:55. Drat. Now he had to skip the paper and the coffee. Teddy frowned. He was banking on that pick-me-up cup of caffeine to soothe his jittery nerves. He forced himself to look on the bright side that it was probably for the best that his new boss wouldn't be greeted with Teddy's coffee breath first thing this morning. That would be quite the embarrassing first impression.

He took out his folder with the directions to the firm to double-check his route. He wanted to make sure that he would avoid the bottleneck of traffic around Canary Wharf as he entered the City of London. Already, in this little station way out in the suburbs, he was bumping elbows and muttering "pardon me, please's" to the other commuters as they all buzzed about on their way to work. He clutched his briefcase tighter with the purpose of being punctual. It was much too early to be tardy.

Just across the platform, the train going in the opposite direction of him pulled into the station. The cool gust of air it brought with it was a refreshing jolt, although it did carry the smell of dirty Overground and cigarettes. Very few people got off, he noted. With a glance around, he saw that most were on his side of the platform heading towards London too. He would be very lucky to even snag a seat for the commute. And he figured he might as well disregard his hopes of picking up someone's abandoned paper while he was at it -

Suddenly, Teddy's vision was obstructed by a white fluttering thing. After a moment of initial confusion, he peeled it off, curious to see what had hit him out of the blue. Before he could get a good enough look at it, though, he saw a quick flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Much to his surprise, a woman was running straight at him.

"Oh, thank you!" she exclaimed, stopping a mere few centimeters in front of him and beaming brightly.

Teddy stared. Despite her random appearance and clear disheveledness, she had to be the most radiant woman he had ever seen. "I, er," he stuttered rather intelligently. "This yours?" He offered the piece of wayward paper that had blown into his face to her.

She accepted it with so much relief and enthusiasm that Teddy almost thought he had gifted her the Prime Minister's itinerary. "Yes, thank you again!" she said as she clutched the paper tightly in one hand. Her voice was almost drowned out by the approach of a new train in the station. Its thunderous arrival brought about a new gust of wind that dislodged the set of directions that he had been holding, and suddenly she was the one who was wearing paper on her face.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" Teddy apologized profusely as he peeled it off of her. He paused, though, wonderstruck as he revealed her face of crinkle-eyed laughter.

Her giggles made her shoulders shake. As her mirth faded, she flipped her platinum blonde hair over one shoulder and wiped delicately underneath her eyes. "Bugger, I think I smudged my mascara. Oh, but I ruined your paper with my lipstick!"

"Huh?" He reluctantly took his eyes off of her to look at what she was talking about. It takes him a few seconds to see the fresh red kiss amidst the black-and-white directions telling him to depart at Liverpool Street. "No, don't worry about it -"

Teddy looked up, expecting to see her dimple that he had the briefest moment to catch sight of earlier when she ran up to him, only to see the back of her retreat into the depths of the train car. He watched, his mind working rather slowly, as the train doors closed and she sat down in a vacant window seat. As the train left the station, she turned back to look at him and gave him a wistful half-smile.

He stood there, lipstick-kissed paper in hand, for a good few minutes longer, still trying to comprehend what had just happened and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he had missed along with the 9 o'clock train.

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part one of three. to be continued...

based on the Walt Disney Animation Studios short film Paperman.

Written for the Inception prompt on the Cinema Competition II: "You're waiting for a train." Inspired by Taylor Swift's song "Out of the Woods."