My Short Story-Love In The Subway

It’s half past two. Not many people are roaming around the subways at this time of the night. Well, not the “normal” kind anyways, especially in New York. There is one man in particular, though.  His name is Landon. He’s a young, up-coming lawyer who gets barely enough pay to keep his lights on. He hopes to get a bonus after the late night at the office he just had. Normally, he takes a cab home, but for some reason there were no cabs when he got out of the office. So he has to take the subway. He hates the subway. The way it smells, looks, and mainly the hippies and hobos who have ruined their lives due to alcohol and drugs. He sees his reflection in the windows of the subway train as it passes by and wonders, “Am I just like them?” Sure he was a nice looking guy with a clean shaven face, wearing a suit that makes him look more prestigious than he really is. That was only his outward appearance, though. On the inside he was like those hippies and hobos in the sense he was addicted to something. Not to alcohol, drugs, or porn. He was addicted to finding true love. He grew up with brothers and sisters who found love early in life and are living happily with their nice houses and cars and children who make straight A’s. Normally, this would make someone happy, but for Landon this makes him angry. Only because that’s what he longs for most in life. All of his life he has searched for the one just knowing and believing she would be coming into his life any day. Now, he was nearly 30 with nothing more than his dog, Ferrari, to keep him company. As he contemplates all of this in his mind, he turns to put his briefcase down and there she is. The most magnificent of a being he has ever seen. Images shoot through his mind of them together. All of the way from dating, to marriage, to having a family, to growing old together. Even though it seems ridiculous to even imagine those things, he can’t help it. He has this feeling inside he has never felt before; a longing for someone. He begins to study her from a distance. Her long blonde, slightly curled hair, her v-neck t-shirt that fit her body just right, her jeans that formed around every curve, her western boots that seemed to be worn in, and best of all is that she’s alone. He doesn’t notice a ring on her finger either. He isn’t close enough to get too detailed pictures of her face and height, but he wants to. Just as he is about to make his way closer to her, the subway train pulls up. He prays she gets on. She picks up her bag and walks onto the train. He hurries on, trying to sit close, but not too close so she doesn’t notice him looking at her. She takes out her iPod and beings listening to some music. Slowly, his mind begins to wonder and he then starts to daydream about her. He imagines her horseback riding or surfing or even cooking a meal for the both of them. He finally comes back into reality and has this profound confidence to go and sit by her. Right as he’s about to, she gets a phone call. She sets her iPod down and talks for almost 20 minutes. He knosw he is getting close to his destination and fears he doesn’t have much longer with her. The intercom comes on and announces the next stop. He feels like his heart is in his stomach. There was maybe a minute left before the stop. He prays like he’s never prayed before. He hopes she’ll at least get off the phone long enough for him to catch her name. Instead, she continues to keep talking. The train stops, she gets up, grabs her bag, and walks out the door. Just as the door closes she gets off the phone, turns around, and looks him straight in the eyes. He feels frozen. He doesn’t know whether to wave or look away. He then notices a distressed look on her face. The train begins to move again and all he can do is sit there and watch everything that could’ve been become smaller and smaller. Landon began to wonder, “Why did she look so distressed?” What was going through her head as she was staring at me?”  A million questions are running through his mind. Then, it hit him. He looked over and saw her iPod laying there on the seat. He walks over and picks it up. It was a fairly new one with a blue cover on it. He notices his heart is beating out of his chest. He can’t believe he actually has something that could draw them together. But how?  iPod’s don’t have names and phone numbers in them. He starts fiddling with it anyways looking through all of her music, account, and some pictures here and there. There’s a leap in his heart when he sees different artists that he too likes. She has a picture of her and an older woman he thinks to be her mom. Her teeth are beautifully straight and white. Her face is flawless and her eyes are as blue as the sky itself. After minutes of finding nothing to link him to her, he decides to take the cover off. He feels something rough on the back. He flips it over and there it is. Property of Lily Buchanan was etched in the metal of the iPod. He can’t believe his eyes. Her name is just as beautiful as she is. He knew this had to be it. Everything is linking up some perfectly. He normally wouldn’t say he believes in love at first sight. His view has been drastically changed. On a night that seemed impossible to be happy with, he believes he finally found the one thing he has looked and waited for his whole life. True love.