Hey Stranger

You’re looking at me.

I know you’re watching me from across the train car without me seeing you. I can feel it. Every hair on the back of my neck stands as every pore on my body kisses the air trying to get closer to you. The music from my headphones goes silent as the beats from my heart drop a melody of bass. My chest hurts and I realize I haven’t been breathing.

Hey stranger, I know nothing of you but those piercing eyes. Your jaw line cuts through the reflection in the train window glass. The veins in your neck curve around your well built muscles into the nape of your neck. I imagine my nose brushing gently into that nook… inhaling deeply. What do you smell like? Like honey dripped sweet sweat I bet. Are you ticklish? …doubtful.

Your shoulders, well built, expand outwards and up. Your arms look like they can carry the world. Can you hold my world in them? Or would you let it drop? Or maybe you wouldn’t even pick it up... but my dear stranger, I’m afraid you will pick it up. You’ll hold it up and then tight against your chest. I’m afraid I will feel safe against you. What then? What will I fight for?

Hey stranger, what do you taste like? Do you kiss softly or slobber like a dog? You know those first few seconds when time moves through molasses and the nape of our noses inch closer together? Little beads of hope build on my upper lip. My face flushes. My silence keeps my composure but I cannot lie to you. The pores on my face cannot contain the excitement. Oil from my skin oozes and dances for you to see. My eyes tell you everything as I glace into your reflection, giving myself away. You look dead at me.

I hold my breath as if that will make me invisible for just one more second… to recompose myself. Like children playing hide-and-seek who have just been found, but cover their face in possible hopes you didn’t see and it will hide them again. I grow taller in my seat. I shift uncomfortably. I’ve been sitting here now and studying you for over 20 minutes feeling just fine. But all of a sudden, I can feel my dress tight against my body, sticking to my legs. Were these plastic train seats always this hard and uncomfortable to sit on? I’m sure I would sit just fine on you. I would fit you like a glove.

Dear stranger, your dark hair curls to the joys of life. Your stature defies gravity. Your temperament is unknown. If I bit your lip, what would you do? I think you would enjoy it. How many hearts have you touched with those handsome hands of yours? I bet they’re gentle enough to caress my naked soul and tough enough to fight battles of passion, passionately. You shift your weight and tilt your body towards me. I smile.

I jerk forward. My crossed legs suddenly come undone as I try to rebalance myself. The doors close. I look back up but you’re no longer standing there. I search the sea of people. On the opposite side of the glass, you stand.

Our eyes meet. The train pulls away. But you, dear stranger, still ride it with me.

RY