Running on River

Chapter Two

There are plenty of reasons I despise the subway, but at the top of the list is the fact that anytime I'm anxious to get somewhere it decides to all go to hell. I ran out of the office, desperate to tell my dad some good news, lord knows we both needed it. So naturally the trains were delayed and running locally, doubling my commute time.

I glance around the car for probably the thousandth time, but it's no use. Sighing I watch as the Columbus circle lettering passes by in a blur

Not even out of Manhattan yet, you've got to be kidding me.

However the grumbles in my head were interrupted when l registered someone sitting next to me.

I'll never understand the people that plop right down next to you in an otherwise sparse subway car. Just what I need, a stranger in my personal space while I'm already a nervous wreck.

Breathe aurelia. In and out.

There are worse things in the world than human connection you silly girl, like lack there of for instance.

I decide to take a peak at the subject of my inner monologue. However as my eyes slowly scan up they lock with a set of green ones already trained on me.

While mine widen, his shine, a gleaming smile to match.

I feel frozen. Petrified, like a tree in a forest. A green forest. Green eyes. Gorgeous eyes.

What is wrong with you Rey...
I somehow find the will power to awkwardly glance back down at my lap. Wishing I could just disappear and sighing aloud as I realize that's one wish that definitely won't be coming true, guess I'll have to settle for the last 35 minutes of the commute home instead. Joy.

"Something wrong?"

His voice is so soft I half thought I'd only imagined it.

"Sorry?"

"Well I hardly see a reason to apologize, do you?"

My lips involuntarily turn up.

"A jokester. I suppose you're not from New York."

"You'd suppose right..what gave it away?"

He runs his fingers through his hair, eyes showing how amused he was by my response.

"It's always the tourists striking up conversations with strangers. Everyone here is usually just zoned out waiting to get from one place to the next."

"Well that seems pretty bleak. After all the fun part is the journey, not the end result."

My head quirks to the side.
"I suppose that's true. So chicken noodle for the soul, where are you from that produces boys with that kind of an outlook? The guys at my school certainly don't use any brain cells going further than the surface level."

"Chicken noodle for the soul?"
A grimace passes over his face but I blink and it's gone. Great, aurelia. Remind yourself next time you want to be funny, to not.

"I guess you could say im from here"

I furrow a brow

"There"

"Let me guess, everywhere?"

"Bingo"

"Sounds exhausting."

He turns his smile away from me finally, taking a second to watch the blur of underground Manhattan through the window.

"I guess you could say that"

"River"

"You're from...a River?"

"My name is River"

And just like that his lopsided grin is directed toward me once again and I try to ignore the tightness in my stomach.

"It suits you" I mumble before my brain can stop it.

"I like to think so. Most people tend to give me shit for it. Hippie parents, what can you do"

"Well most people aren't worth it when it comes to their opinions."

He takes a thoughtful second.

"I don't know. I think we're all worth it man. We're all worth millions of planets and stars and galaxies and universes"

"I guess I get the hippie comment now" I can't help but giggle

"I guess so." He shrugs,

As corny as the comment was, what intrigued me was who it was coming from. And how you just inexplicably knew he believed every word of it.
After a beat.

"I'm aurelia...by the way"

"It suits you"

We share a smile.

"Pretty name for a pretty girl. I dig it"

Suddenly my shoelaces are the most interesting sight in the world as I curse in my head over the sudden heat in my cheeks.

"Thanks"

Desperate to get the attention back off of me I backtrack

"So why River? What made the hippie parents settle on that?"

"They were pretty hard into sadartha when my mom got pregnant. I guess it was a pretty unanimous decision and well, here we are"

"It's no aurelia though. It means golden one right?"

I tense up a little at his words, but one glance over at that smile somehow relaxes me again. God, does this dude ever stop smiling ? If he didn't radiate genuineness I'd think he was living in a new car ad or something.

"Uhhh, yeah. It does. My mom calls-called me her little golden one while I was growing up"

"That's beautiful"

We share a smile then, silence overtaking us and for once I feel like I understand the concept of a comfortable silence.

However it's broken by that obnoxiously familiar robotic voice alerting me we've made it to my stop.

Queens already? The anxiousness to get there as soon as possible now long gone and replaced by a negative feeling I couldn't even explain. At least at the time.

I stand abruptly

"Uhh this is me. What stop are you waiting for?"

"125th"

I'm halfway out the doors now

Before I turn to him curious and slightly alarmed

"But that was so many stops ago"

"I suppose it was huh? But it allowed me to talk to you, didn't it? I'm in no rush, I prefer to see where life takes me. Better get going before you miss yours though"

One last smile passes between us

"Goodnight River, I hope you get where you're going"

As I start walking away from the hauntingly familiar and totally zany boy I hear a faint.

"You too, golden one, you too"

Safe to say nothing could've wiped the silly smile off my face on my now less hectic journey home.

My cheeks aching as my head hit the pillow, telling myself I'd inform my dad of the good news in the morning. Not ready to allow anything but the boy with the long blonde hair and green eyes take up space in my mind.

It was with the thought of that face and soft voice that I finally drifted off to.