Made His Day

Jem was getting late.

He snatched his coat from the top of his bedroom door and dashed to the living room, stumbling through the packets and boxes of eatables and bottes that lay scattered around the floor that had been there since the last time his mom had visited him and cleaned the wretched place he called home. Blankets draped over the floor like carpets and the couch was shoved up against the wall, all the decorations that adorned this room. He admitted he was not particularly an orderly person, he liked storm and chaos and his home was a testament to that. But at times like these, which were inumerable, he wished he could get rid off that habit.

"Goddamn, where's my cell phone..?" He shuffled through the mess frantically. The DVD player showed 8.25 AM. Late, late, late.

His BB flashed from within the the popcorn bowl. Holy shit, what was it doing there?

Cursing, he grabbed the phone hastily and hurried out of his dingy apartment, locking it up and running out to catch a cab.

"Subway station. And dude," he tapped the driver on his shoulder with a faintly beseeching expression, "make it as if your life's dependent on it. Uh, mine is anyways."

"Got it."

The cab driver made it in record time and Jem tossed a few notes without bothering for change. Then he dug around and began his struggle to rush through the crowd. Ignoring the escalators, he dashed towards the stairs and hopped two at a time. By the time he made it towards the security check, he suspected he had burned a week's calorie, not to mention sweated more than he had in his last workout a couple of weeks ago.

The display screen next to a glittering shampoo ad showed a train in 3 minutes. Elbowing, pushing, squeezing, apologising and swearing, he crawled through the prime time crowd.

"Hey watch it you!" A woman shouted, ushering her child away who had bumped into him.

"Sorry!"

He reached the line. The queue was very long, so long that it was not possible that he would be able to climb this train. This day couldn't have kicked off worse. Dejected, he stood at the end of the line and waited. It was then that she caught his eye.

Standing on the opposite side of the platform at the front of the line stood a woman. Her casually styled hair fluttered with the breeze of the departed train, her petite figure neatly wrapped in an overcoat and a phone glued to her ear. She was frowning and arguing when she saw him looking at her. Her dusky bronze complexion highlighted her chiseled bones of her face and made her dark eyes as black as sin as she stared back at him.

The light overhead played beautifully over her features and for a moment Jem was mesmerised.

She finally broke into a hesitant smile and nodded at him.

The guy infront of him doubled back and confusedly pointed to himself in question. 

"She means me." Jem muttered.

He waved back, struggling not to let his awe show on his face.

The tension, the board meeting, crowd, all faded away for him leaving him unexpectedly relaxed.

The train pulled on his platform and people began pushing and pouring out of the train. She was lost from his view. At that moment, another train arrived at the opposite platform. The noise, people talking, speakers blaring, horns sounding all peaked.

When the trains departed, Jem was left alone on the front admist the racing winds that wreaked his suit while he stared where she had been standing. The feeling of peace had not left him, infact hope flared.

She must live in this city, judging from her formal wear which indicated she worked here and so Jem would find her. The woman who had made his day.