Ellis Island

It was late and Elle wasn't there beside me. Maybe it was early, then. She was downstairs, lying by the fireplace, her feet so close to the flames I wasn't entirely sure they weren't on fire. There was no acknowledgement on her part as I came around the coffee table, and sat down next to her on the floor. I would've thought she was sleeping if not for her wide open eyes staring, unblinkingly, at the ceiling.

I laid down on my side, propping my head up so I could look at her. It wasn't late, but it wasn't early, either. She sighed loudly, frustrated. "I couldn't sleep." She turned onto her side, eyes darting around my face like she was maybe looking for something specific.

I said slowly, "I could make us breakfast?"

Her front teeth were in her bottom lip, pressing hard enough that a white spot formed, and her eyes were still roaming my face like they were completing one of those connect the dots puzzles. "I was just thinking about how I wish we were different people..." I pressed for more without saying anything. "Like what if I played the violin on a street corner and you owned a little Italian restaurant?"

I smiled at that, carefully though because I didn't want to break the moment. "An Italian restaurant?"

She smiled back with nothing but her eyes and the wrinkle of her nose. "Yeah," she said quietly. "How else would I meet you? You'd own this little Italian place, and I'd play on your corner and at the end of the night I'd pool my tips to buy a big bowl of pasta."

I decided to enthuse her, because that's what I always ended up doing. "And then what?"

She looked up, her eyelashes fluttering against her brow bone as she did. "And then... one evening you'd happen to be passing the window as I was getting mugged. And you'd run out, and punch this guy right in the gut. All knight in shining armor like. I'd be all 'my hero' like I'm Princess Peach."

I interrupted her with, "Oh, so we're like really different people, then. In this world you not only let me be your knight in shining armor, but you like it, too."

She rolled her eyes, ignoring me. "After the guy ran off, you'd turn to me and you'd say, 'Why don't you come inside for a tiramisu on the house?' I'd be flustered, and a little shaken, stopping in the middle of picking up my things. 'Oh, no that's okay,' I'd say. 'Thank you, though'."

"Okay, so really different doesn't even cover this alternate universe. You're turning down free food, too? This is quickly becoming science fiction."

Now she was glaring at me. "I would turn to leave, and your voice would halt me. 'I'd like to offer you a job inside' you'd say. 'I've been looking to get a live performer'."

She stopped. I waited for more. I raised both my eyebrows requesting it. She pursed her lips, looking down between us. "And yeah, I guess I just thinkin' what if we weren't who we are, but we still ended up here, anyway."

"If we were going to end up here anyway, what's it matter if we aren't who we are?"

"I don't know. Maybe it'd just... be easier."