The November breeze embraced my body tightly, kissing my cheeks, ears, nose, and neck with its cold lips. I shivered, pulling my wool pea jacket around me tighter. I hurried through the path of leaves that crunched beneath my feet. The sun was setting and a crow cawed in my direction. I glanced up at the hideous bird and it tilted its black head at me. I turned away in contempt and continued along quickly, hoping to catch the last train to the East Side. I sighed as I slipped through the heavy iron gates of the park and rushed across the street to the stairs leading to the underground railway. I hurried down the stairs and ran to the exchange booth. "One way fare, please," I said, taking out several coins. I paid the attendant and slipped the shiny fare into the coin slot. I squeezed through the turnstile and hurried to catch the train I was expecting. I frowned, watching it glide down the sleek tracks. "Damnit," I whispered, sighing. I turned around to see a blonde man running down the steps. He looked up and down the tracks and sighed.
"Excuse me!" he called, waving to me. He jogged to me gracefully. The way his muscles flexed underneath his shirt and leather jacket told me that he was an athlete or obviously kept himself in good shape. "Did Train Six already leave?"
"Yeah," I said, looking back at the tunnel the train had just gone into. "I got here just in time to watch it leave." He sighed and ran a hand over his face.
"Thank you," he said with a slight growl in his tone. "Is there any other way I--we--could get to the East Side?"
"Not unless you want to pay eighty dollars for cab fare."
"Damnit," he grunted. "How far away is it from here?"
"Oh, about five miles.."
"Five miles?! Ugh, I'm not going to walk that far. It's too cold outside."
"There'll be another train at ten.." I suggested with a shrug.
"I guess you and I will be waiting here a while," he said. "I'm Jason." He held out his hand politely.
"Allyson," I repsonded back, shaking his hand gently. "Nice to meet you."
"The pleasure's all mine," he replied, his deep blue eyes sparkling. "Say, d'you know any good places to eat around here? I'm starved!"
"There's a nice little restaruant around the corner. Not very expensive."
"Would you care to accompany me?" Jason asked, holding out his arm.
"I'd be honored to," I smiled, sliding my arm through his. We climbed the stairs leading out of the underground station and the chilly November breeze hit us again. I shivered.
"When did it get so cold?" Jason asked as we hurried down the sidewalk to the restaruant I mentioned earlier. He opened the door for me. "After you," he said with a slight smile.
"Thank you," I whispered, entering the cozy building. I took off my jacket and hung it on a coatrack near the entrance. Jason hung his under mine and we sat at a booth. "So where are you from?"
"I'm actually staying with a friend on the East Side. He's helping me find an apartment and offered for me to stay with him."
"That's kind of him," I smiled, taking a menu from a waitress.
"Yeah, so what about you?"
"I've got my own little apartment on East Forty-Second. My uncle is the landlord, so I get a discount on my rent."
"That's really neat," he replied, looking over his menu.
"What would you like to drink?" the waiting waitress asked politely. I opened my mouth to speak, but Jason shook his head.
"Two coffees, please." The waitress scribbled that on a pad and went to get us our drinks.
"Thanks.." I replied in astonishment.
He must have read my expression, as he answered back, "You look like the coffee sort of person."
"Well," I said with a smile, "I've never thought of myself as that."
"Me either. Most people think I'm the beer kind of guy, but in actuality, I'm not real fond of drinking."
"You look more like the soup and sandwich, coffee with milk and no sugar kind of guy."
"You read MY mind," he chuckled. I smirked and shrugged.

I smiled softly as Jason emerged from the shabby gift shop. "Find anything worthwhile?"
"No!" he laughed. I slid my hands into my pockets and walked along beside him. I looked up at him and admired his strong features. He kind of resembled a puppy.
"Ah, it's only nine-thirty!" I gasped, looking at a clock in a store window.
"Only a half hour left."
"Only.."
"I never asked you, what do you do?"
"Well, I'm a secretary during the day, a musician at night, and a writer on the weekends."
"That sounds fun! How can you find time to do all that?"
"I don't go out as often as I should."
"So you keep holed up in your apartment?" he asked as we crossed the street.
"Not holed up exactly..I open a window sometimes." He laughed and I smiled. "So what do you do?"
"This is going to sound nuts, but I'm a professional wrestler."
"So what do you do during the day?" I asked intelligently.
"That's what I do...twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, around two hundred eighty days a year."
"So why are you with me now?"
"Vacation time."
"I see," I said with a nod. "So you're trying to get me to believe that you are, in fact, a wrestler."
"Yes, I am."
"Where do you wrestle?"
"All over. We travel three days a week, sometimes four."
"Who are you with?"
"You may have heard of us..the World Wrestling Federation."
"Ah yes, I've heard of you."
"I'm glad you have."
"A friend I once knew used to like it."
"And what about you? Were you ever a fan?"
"Not really," I replied, looking at the ground in the dusk. "I didn't care much for it."
"Oh," he said in a dejected sort of tone.
"When is it on?"
"Mondays at nine, Thursdays at eight, and Sundays at seven."
"I'll catch it sometime," I replied with a smile. He returned the smile and then turned to glance at his watch.
"It's quarter to ten," he said. I took his hand and began walking quickly towards the stairs to the station. We hurried down the steps and paid for the fare. I went through the turnstile first, and Jason followed suit. I raced to the platform and smiled, seeing the train's headlights come from the other end of the tunnel. "Did we make it?"
"We made it," I said, looking up at him with a smile. The train crawled to a halt and steam let out as the brakes unclenched themselves. The doors opened and a breeze pushed my hair back. I stepped onto the car and sat in a seat. Jason sat down next to me and sighed, some of the hair in his blonde ponytail shifting on his shoulder.
"Finally. We get to go home."
"Yeah," I said as the train lurched forward. I looked at the gray floor of the car. The train made several more stops and people piled on. Jason gave his seat to an elderly woman and stood in front of me. I looked up and smiled at him. He smiled back and tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ears. I blushed a little and looked at my hands. We made a stop before the half-hour crawl back to East Station, our destination. All the people on our car got off and Jason sat down next to me again.
"Can we keep in touch?" he asked, taking my hand.
"Of course we can," I replied, looking into his eyes.
"Allyson, please tell me that you wouldn't like to leave this train."
"Jason, I would never leave this train if you were here." He leaned down and kissed my lips softly. I kissed back and his strong hand took the elastic out of my dark mane. He ran his fingers through the hair and then his hands rested on my cheeks. My tongue slowly slid into his mouth and he gladly accepted the change. I ran my tongue over the roof of his mouth and down the sides. His tongue was doing something similar in my mouth. I pulled away and gasped for air.
"Wow.." he whispered.
"I'm glad we met today, Jason."
"Me, too," he whispered, hugging me. I hugged back and the train crawled to a stop at East Station. I pulled from the embrace slowly and stood. Jason stood as well and took my hand. We left the car and bounced up the steps leading out of the underground platform. I walked across the street and stood in front of my building.
"I guess this is where we say goodbye," I whispered sadly.
"Not exactly. This is the building my friend lives in."
"Really?" I asked brightly.
"Yeah!" He grinned and I smiled. I went inside and stood in front of the elevator. He pressed the up button and I tapped my foot. I looked up at Jason as he watched the numbers above the elevator. I smiled and etched the moment into my mind, remembering the last ride on Train Six as a single woman.