Just One Night

Chapter 4- Her

I seriously can't believe that I agreed to spend the night with a complete stranger...in the City...alone. Yeah this is going to go over so well with my brother. He's already texted me five times asking how everything is. I haven't responded to him and I know that drives him crazy and makes him anxious and worried, given our living arrangements, but I can't respond. If I respond I'm going to feel guilty for leaving. If I respond I'll get right back on that train and get sucked back into my shitty reality. If I respond I won't get to spend just one night pretending with this incredibly cute stranger.

"If we're really going to do this there need to be some ground rules." I tell him as we make our way out of Penn Station and onto the streets of New York.

I love the City. I love the environment and how magical it feels. It's like its own little fast paced world and it's so calming to me. I breathe in the New York air and I can already feel myself calming down and buzzing with excitement at the same time.

"What kind of rules?" He asks.

"Like we don't get too personal. No going into too much detail about our lives. Let's just leave it at stranger territory."

"Well how personal is too personal? Can we at least exchange names?" He asks.

"No. No names. We leave stranger territory if we know each other's names." I reply.

"Ok fair enough. Are there any other rules?" He asks clearly amused.

"Yes, there are. We spend the night tourist style. I don't care how many times you've been to New York tonight is your first night. You have to do at least one thing you've always wanted to do but never got the chance to. No thinking just doing. The City is all about being true to yourself, so that's what we're going to do. Be ourselves, our true selves. And finally, no falling for each other. If we fall for each other we'll want to know more, be more, but that's not what tonight is about. Tonight we're just a couple of strangers who met on a train spending just one night together." I explain.

I give him a minute to think things through, which given the expression on his face he's really thinking about everything. I was a little presumptuous with that last rule but that was more for me than him. He's really cute and from the little time I've spent talking to him he seems to be very upfront. He says everything that's on his mind and I really like that. I can see myself getting attached to him the more time I spend with him, hence the rules. I can't risk falling for a guy that A) I may never see again. B) Is way out of my league. And C) Could end up leaving me in a situation similar to the one I'm already in with my brother.

"Ok I can agree to all the rules except the last one. I can't make any promises on the last one. I already told you, you interest me. I can't guarantee that that feeling won't magnify by the end of the night." He says.

Well damn.

I have no idea what to say or do so we kind of just stand there in an awkward silence for a while. He breaks the silence first.

"Ok well if we're going to do this tourist style I say we start off big. I'm thinking Toys R' Us." He says with a big cheesy smile on his face.

"Toys R' Us? Seriously?" I question.

"Hey you said no thinking just doing. Besides it's a tourist attraction, and it's something I've never done before but have always wanted to. It falls within all the rules." He replies with that cheesy smile still plastered to his face.

"Your right. Toys R' Us it is." I say smiling back at him.

"Let's make it more interesting. When we get there we each have to pick out a toy we always wanted as a kid but never got, and ride with it on the Ferris wheel." He says.

"I highly doubt there is anything you didn't get that you wanted." I snort looking him up and down to prove my point.

"Careful with assumptions you don't know me." He says in a low tone and I can tell that I've struck a nerve.

"Isn't that what tonight is about? Getting to know each other without actually getting to know each other? Strangers make assumptions about each other all the time." I point out.

"Haven't you ever heard the saying 'don't judge a book by its cover'?" He asks.

"I don't believe in that saying." I tell him.

"So what you just going around judging people based on how they look?" He asks angrily.

"No. I judge people on how they act. I judge books based on their cover." I clarify narrowing my eyes at him.

"What?" He asks confused.

"I take that saying literally. I know most people view it as a way for others not to be so quick to judge each other, but I view it literally. If a book has an interesting cover it immediately catches my attention and makes me want to know more about it, but even before I read the synopsis I already know whether or not I want to read it based on its cover. I guess the same can be said about people but when I think of that saying I think about books." I explain

"But you did judge me by my cover. You saw the expensive suit and shoes and automatically assumed that I'm some spoiled rich kid that gets everything he wants when in reality that couldn't be farther from the truth." He says anger still clear in his voice.

"Calm down geez, I'm sorry ok? I didn't realize thinking someone was rich was such an offensive thing." I tell him holding my hands up in surrender.

"I am rich. I have a trust fund worth more than I am. It wasn't your assumption that I'm rich that pissed me off, it was the one about how I get what I want." He explains his voice softening.

"I'm going to stop you right there. We are headed into too much info territory. And that would be breaking the no getting too personal rule." I tell him hoping it would calm him down.

"Yeah I guess we are." He says in a defeated tone.

We start to head to Toys R' Us and I can't help but think, what in the hell have I gotten myself into?