The Space Between Two Seats

He caught her eye right away.

So naturally, she pretended not to see him and sat two seats away. Almost immediately the seats between them were taken by a couple of chirpy girls. She sighed, unsure why she was sighing.

The train began to move.

Something about the man was pinching her curiosity with a special kind of insolence. She peeked at him, wondering in the back of her mind if he might sense her stare. There had been a time when his tattooed arm and an earring would’ve put her off, but they were having quite the opposite effect right now. She wondered at this change.

His eyes shot up to meet hers.

She forced herself not to look away, holding his gaze for longer than would be otherwise expected. She stretched her lips into a smile. Then, finally, she glanced away and let her eyes drop. It probably looked like a challenging smile though because a moment later her lowered eyes spotted a pair of feet approach and stand in front of her. Someone cleared a throat. She had to remind herself to breathe before looking up and trying to give herself a nonchalant expression. She had actually invited this contact initiation! It was so uncharacteristic of her, yet she couldn’t back down now.

“I might be completely off here, and if I am, I have zero problem with you telling me so outright, but could it be possible that you might care for a chat?”

His face seemed to be mirroring the nonchalantness of hers, and she just hoped that hers did an equally good job of that.

She didn’t miss a beat, “I might indeed. What would you like to chat about?”

His eyes flickered. “Oh my, why do I feel like this is a test?”

She let her eyes widen in response and gave him her most innocent smile, “A test?”

He chuckled. “Okay, okay, let me see.” His eyes grew serious. She could almost feel the tracing of those eyes across her face. “How about your top three favorite things?”

Whatever emotion her face betrayed made the man cringe in something close to self-mockery, as he chuckled yet again, “Wow, I’ve managed to disappoint you already - that must be a record!”

That was a perfect reaction on his part, even if she wasn’t going to tell him that. But she did give him an encouraging smile, “I’ll bite this time, but I have a feeling you can do better. Okay, three favorite things. Hmm, maybe instead of all-time-favorite things, I’ll just share the first three favorites that come to mind? No, wait, too many things have already come up.”

“Too many favorites? You must be a happy person.”

She bit her tongue. Literally. Trying to not grunt, she poked carefully, “Huh, is that how that works? You’ve just given me something to think about.”

The train stopped then. His eyes posed a question, as he stepped slightly to the side, giving her an opening.

She shook her head. “Not yet - next one.”

He nodded and casually eased into an Asian squat in front of her.

Her eyes posed a question of their own. He shrugged, “It just doesn’t feel right to loom over you.”

“You’d rather be loomed over?”

“You’re not exactly very looming.” He winked at her. He actually gave her a wink. She coughed to hide the giggle that escaped her throat at that ridiculous little act.

She recollected her thoughts back to the task at hand, “Anyways. That question of yours. How about I just go for three recent favorite things - something that has truly caught my favor this year even if it might have been in my life for a while? The first one would have to be that warm glow with which the evening sun touches crowns of the trees and grass about an hour before the sunset - it’s the epitome of basking in the light. The next one… Oh, I know! A hundred of fireflies dancing around bushes and little trees in a bog at night right after the rain - the way their glow gets mirrored and reflected from all the raindrops on the leaves makes it feel like you’ve stepped into a live-action Ghibli film. And the last one… Let that be a coconut curry ramen.”

“Not the coconut curry ramen!”

She burst out laughing, caught completely off guard by his protest. Still laughing, she asked, “What’s wrong with the coconut curry ramen?”

“It’s a point of contention that can never be reconciled.” He smiled. “I mean seriously, if it wasn’t for the ramen, I think I would be in danger here.”

“Danger?” She cocked an eyebrow.

“Yes, because the first two things were… just too good.”

She gave him a lopsided smile, “Your turn.”

“I think it’s your stop,” he remarked with a serious face.

The train came to a halt.

Her lips pursed together as her face twitched between indignation and disbelief.

“It happens to be my stop as well.” He grinned and quickly rose to his feet. “Shall we continue this chat outside?” He offered her a hand.

She shook her head.

Then her hand gently tightened around his, letting him pull her up and out.

P.S. The image is from my illustrated poetry book “Ode to Hope and Despair.”