Cameron

Anne stood with her forehead against the glass, looking down at Times Square. Thirty stories below, the entire city was sprawled beneath her both in glittering illuminations and black corners. There were the marquees on which she would never be. There were the margaritas she would be drinking if she weren't so hungover. There were the tourists she once was. There were the New Yorkers she now was. She knew that he was changing clothes behind her and she didn't dare turn around.

With her thumb, she rubbed the smudge her forehead had made on the window.

Click.

He was safely in the bathroom. She walked around his bedroom (a cubicle made almost entirely of glass), running her fingers over every object. There was an Eliot novel on his shelf. She sat down on the edge of his bed and tried to imagine him reading Middlemarch. She couldn't! Lying back, she tried to imagine her head on his chest and his hand in her hair. That she could imagine. Oh, what in the world was she doing in his bedroom!

Thud.

The sight of a recumbent Anne on his bed with her eyes closed made him extremely nervous. But she was on her feet before he could entirely process the feeling. He pulled on his navy suede shoes.

On the subway downtown, they held onto the same pole. He looked down at her, she up at him.

In the movie theatre, they sat close together, almost touching. It was like being in Jr. High again. She could feel the heat off his sweater and she didn't dare move her elbow. He never shifted to his left, she never to her right. Several times he spoke to her and kept his eyes on her as she remained glued to the screen. "Are you alright, too scared?" he asked.

As the credits were rolling, she accidentally touched his shoulder. It was almost painful to withdraw her hand.

He suggested they walk across town. Her sensible shoes and the welcoming night air agreed with his plan. As Broadway and 5th Avenue and Madison were conquered and left behind, her dread of his feelings, fears that he might not like her, melted away. The buildings were beautiful, the sky was beautiful, sidewalk detritus and the Kmart window display were beautiful. Talking to him was simple and funny and even joyful.

She whirled away out of the night and down the subway stairs before he had a chance not to kiss her.