(Boy) Man Next Door

chapter 2

Stepping off the bus, and onto New York City streets for the first time in about twelve years was going to be Sam's start at independence. The ride had been a long one, and she had managed to fall asleep only half way through the journey, only to be woken a few shorts minutes later by a baby crying. The bus was awfully hot, and the infant clearly fussing over the heat hadn't been all that shocking to Sam. But, the scare of being woken so surprisingly by wailing had jeered her a bit. Instead of thinking about it she thought of the approaching city. She remembered the last time she'd visited NY; to see the Mets game at the stadium with her dad. And that had been one hell of a memorial day; The Mets winning 7 to 5 against the Cardinals. Now she was about to start making her very own memories from scratch and all on her own as an adult and she couldn't help feeling extremely excited.

The bus made a loud hissing sound behind her as she rolled one of her bags off the loading area. Sam carried her carry-on bag, and her handbag in one hand and with the help of the bus operator she dragged two medium sized luggage bags off the bus safety compartment. She smiled, thanking the operator who simply smiled half-heartedly in her direction before moving on to clear another customer beside her. New York was the city of rushing, she remembered. Sam was fully aware of it, she just had to catch up on it, was all. Barely managing to drag everything out the bus terminal and out into the busy streets of Manhattan, she tried her best to get into the grove of the speed of the people.

The first thing that met her as she rolled the luggage awkwardly out of the terminal and onto the city sidewalk was the loud noises that hit her ears. Traffic littered the street; cars, trucks, bikes and other such vehicles slowly moving forward in the Manhattan streets. Not mention hundreds of people, faces and faces merging mingling together of all sorts of colors, shapes, sizes, and fashions. Delaware hadn't been all that culturally filling, truth be told, and the city was a montage of color. All kinds.

It was almost six in the evening and the sun still had a little life but, the brightly colored signs, and traffic lights still bared a brilliant distraction for her. The smells of food, gas fumes, and some garbage as well collided with each other and her senses. It took her a moment to become unbewildered, long enough that she even managed to drop a carry on and had to bend down to retrieve it, struggling as she did so. New Yorkers walking up and down the street wordlessly ignored the young girl and she marveled at how quickly they all rushed by her. Up until that moment she hadn't noticed how different her little town in Delaware was. Or maybe she just hadn't wanted to see it.

She looked out onto the street spotting at least ten different cabs, all honking or parked double along the bus terminals front steps, collecting passengers and or dropping them off. There were yellow, green, and a few black taxis and her choses gave her head another swimming sense of vertigo.

"I've got to catch a taxi but, how do I do this?" She wondered out loud momentarily waiting by the curb. Her cousin had told her to catch a cab right outside of the terminal and direct the driver to her cousin's house. Sam had managed to write out the address on a small paper which she folded and slipped into her back jeans pocket. The traffic of cars honked and squealed before her in a noisy mess of sounds, Sam couldn't help feeling somewhat jumbled. She pulled the small paper out, then and checked the numbers for a moment, staring back up as she heard a shrill piercing whistle and the sound of screeching tires braking.

A cab hailed a few feet from her, right in front of a young man holding a large duffle bag. He spotted Sam and her luggage surrounding her, eyeing her from the corner of the curb and a small smirk crossed his face as he leaned down in the window of the cab and spoke to the driver for a second before turning back to her. Perhaps the handsome stranger had seen her look of helplessness or she seemed even more out of town then she imagined herself to look. He signed, trying his best not to distract himself with how pretty she was. Nodding in her direction, he gestured for her to approach as he opened the taxi door and spoke.