Hesitant but Assured
She sits on a bench, all by herself.
Round spectacles, tortoise shell design, perched upon a wrinkling nose. The bitter cold of winter is making her numb. Her hair sits loosely against her shoulders; softly golden locks hidden beneath a crimson red beret. She folds her arms into her chest, legs crossed.
If only she had woken up a little bit earlier, she thinks to herself, then maybe she wouldn’t be sitting here, freezing on this train platform. She’s as studious as she is lazy. Two weeks into a new internship at her favorite fashion magazine and she may already be late.
Her life had always been like that. Quiet but scattered; subtle but always on the brink of drama.
The muted rumbling heralds the train closing into the station. When she looks up, a young gentleman, unknowingly as shy and self-conscious as herself, looks the opposite way, but a quick glance in her direction confirms her suspicions.
An unintentional smile escapes her numbing face, which she promptly buries into the woolen scarf wrapped around her neck. She’s seen him here before, but the two have yet to even acknowledge each other’s existence.
On cue, she grabs her bag, filled with loose papers and her laptop, drapes the battered strap around her shoulder and heads off to the approaching locomotive. But she stops.
She turns around, and the young man again noticeably turns his head.
Mustering up all her courage, she smiles, waves gently, carefully, and heads off.
Round spectacles, tortoise shell design, perched upon a wrinkling nose. The bitter cold of winter is making her numb. Her hair sits loosely against her shoulders; softly golden locks hidden beneath a crimson red beret. She folds her arms into her chest, legs crossed.
If only she had woken up a little bit earlier, she thinks to herself, then maybe she wouldn’t be sitting here, freezing on this train platform. She’s as studious as she is lazy. Two weeks into a new internship at her favorite fashion magazine and she may already be late.
Her life had always been like that. Quiet but scattered; subtle but always on the brink of drama.
The muted rumbling heralds the train closing into the station. When she looks up, a young gentleman, unknowingly as shy and self-conscious as herself, looks the opposite way, but a quick glance in her direction confirms her suspicions.
An unintentional smile escapes her numbing face, which she promptly buries into the woolen scarf wrapped around her neck. She’s seen him here before, but the two have yet to even acknowledge each other’s existence.
On cue, she grabs her bag, filled with loose papers and her laptop, drapes the battered strap around her shoulder and heads off to the approaching locomotive. But she stops.
She turns around, and the young man again noticeably turns his head.
Mustering up all her courage, she smiles, waves gently, carefully, and heads off.
♠ ♠ ♠
Limited "Type" selection here. I wrote this while on a train observing a young women in in late teens...Thought maybe next time we will talk...We never did.....