Run into you

A man runs into his former lover at the most unusual place. Will they talk for hours or will they make it up? All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Or are they?

 

“The question of my heart came to my mind:

If I go on with you by my side,

can it be the way it was when we met?”

-       The Killers, The Way It Was

 

1

 

He was not late, for a change. His flight would not leave for another two and a half hours. “Great, at least I can have a smoke.” He lighted up a cigarette and felt the cold breeze of April being inhaled and the hot tar smoke being exhaled to the air repeatedly, until he threw the butt out in the nearest ashtray.

He then made his way through on the crowded airport to the check-in counter.

“Hello sir, good afternoon!”

“Hi. I know my flight doesn’t depart in a while, but can I check-in now?”

“Yes, of course you can. But would you like trying to anticipate your departure?”

“Huh, not being late really does pay off”, he thought. “Yes! Yes, I would. How can I�"“

“Well, there’s a waiting list. I’ll just fill your name in. In case we have an empty seat and you fit into this flight, you’d have to be very fast checking in and dispatching your luggage, ok?”

“Ok, I’ll try to.”

“Alright… Name?”

“Adam Parker.”

“Date of birth?”

“June 1^st, 1987.” �" He said the date with a certain dread. He would be getting a year older �" and none wiser �" in a few weeks.

“Destination?”

“Paris, France.” 

“ Alright, Mr. Parker. Check with me again in an hour to see if we were able to squeeze you in on this flight. “

“Ok. Thank you so much.”

A breath of relief. He would leave that city, the city he hated so much, an hour and a half ahead his planning.

But he was hungry. He had been working for six hours straight without even having a snack, and he had already noticed he was walking in a sluggish way.

“Well, at least I have time to look for something to eat”, he thought.

While walking around, he could not stop thinking about his destination. Paris! He could not wait to see the lights, the lights with big promises of good times. Good times in which he would not have to think about anything or anyone he was leaving behind. Anyone, including…

He did not even remember he was starving anymore, for there he was. Wearing his familiar pair of orange pants and a navy blue long-sleeved shirt, with his perfectly messed hair. Sitting with a plastic bag on his lap, reading something on his Kindle while scratching his beard.

“But of course”, Adam thought ironically.

 

 

“Hey, how was your date?”

“Do you even have to ask? Hey, you got a haircut!”

It was a warm July Friday afternoon. Adam had just left the campus cafeteria and was making his way to the library, when he was spotted by a glasses-wearing girl, sitting on a bench next to the Anthropology office. His best friend, Anna, who indeed had gotten a haircut. It was now shoulder-lengthened.

 “Yeah, my hairdresser messed up again.”

“Well, I liked it.”

“You’re my friend, you must like it.”

“If you say so.”

“So, the date?”

She was sitting next to someone, someone he did not pay much attention at first, but he was a little wary of giving details of his personal life when a stranger was there, listening.

“Ah, just awful. He talked way too much, and not in a good way.”

“Oh, no… I’m sorry.”

“I just didn’t know that not being single would be so complicated.”

“It isn’t. It’s complicated for us.”

He laughed. It was a painful laughter, but still.

And someone else laughed along, and it was a beautiful sound. When he noticed where it was coming from, it was from a guy sitting next to Anna. He was wearing a pair of orange pants and a black shirt. His hair was short and very dark.

Adam’s conversation with Anna took many directions, but none of them took Adam to getting to know the guy sitting next to her. And every time Adam looked at him, he got even more handsome, despite his wardrobe choices.

“Hi, I’m Adam.” �" He streched his arm into the handsome man’s direction trying to get a clumsy handshake.

He smiled and reached for his hand.

“I’m Steve.”

“You’re kinda cute”, Adam said unexpectedly �" even for himself �" “Nice to meet you.” �" he said, while thinking “who is this Adam talking? Why am I sounding so… edgy and confident?”

“Oh… Um… Thanks. Nice to meet you, too.” �" Steve seemed embarrassed, and, somehow, smitten. Adam could even swear he saw him blush.

“I must go, I have to return some book at the library. Do you have classes today, Anna?” �" Adam said, always trying to have a glance at Steve.

“ No, I’m just here to see if my professor has accepted my final work’s theme.”

“Ah, so you will graduate despite all your expectations! Good luck!”

“Thanks! See you, dear. Don’t be too upset.”

“I’ll try. Bye, Steve.”

“Bye.”

Adam was making his way to the library, thinking about the awful date he had had the night before, the many more he had had before that one and the even more awful ones that were to come. However, a moment before reaching the gates of the campus library, he thought of Steve, and how he seemed nice. Very nice, actually. And smart. And handsome. And hot.

Adam left the library after returning his books with his decision already made: he would ask Steve out.

He made his way back to the Anthropology department, but only saw Anna sitting on a bench reading one of Phillip Roth’s books.

“Hey, you.”

“Hey, you’re back already!” �" she said taking her eyes away from her book.

“Yeah, the library was nearly empty. Where’s Steve?” �" he asked, a little sooner than he wished.

“Oh, he had a class to attend to.”

“Oh.” �" Adam said, not being able to hide his disappointment. - “But what are you up to?”

 

 

2

“I cannot believe it.” �" Adam said while strolling his suitcase on a bench’s direction �" the empty one, right next to Steve.

“Oh, wow! Hi. How are you?” �" he said smiling, and at that moment, Adam completely forgot that he was about to faint in starvation. Steve was as handsome as Adam could remember.

“I’m good. You?”

“Just great. Where are you heading to?”

“London, visiting a friend. What about you?”

“Paris, a four days vacation.” �" Adam had been working way too much at his “crappy, but good enough to pay the bills” job. He needed a rest. Especially after last November’s incident.

“How cool. And what have you been up to?”

They talked, and talked, and talked. And laughed. So many things came to their minds, just like it used to be. Just like it used to be when Adam used to think “maybe this time”.

“Well, Steve” �" said Adam after a forty-minute talk �" “truth is, I’m starving. I’m going to go look for the food court.” �" he then looked at his watch. He was supposed to check back at the check-in counter whether he could take that early flight in half hour.

“Actually, I think I’m gonna go with you, I’m a little hungry too.” �" Steve said, standing up and adjusting his handbag on his shoulder. “Why are you carrying your suitcase? You can’t dispatch it yet?”

 

He was running late, as usual. “Good way to cause a good first impression, Adam, you idiot”, he thought as he drove as fast as he could on his way to the movie theater. Suffering to find a parking spot, he had finally made it. Steve was already waiting for him.

“Hi, I’m so sorry I’m late.” �" he apologized as he went for a clumsy handshake.

“No problem” �" Steve said smiling while going for a clumsy hug.

“So, what should we watch? I really want to see that one about illusionists who rob banks, it seems cool.”

Halfway through the session, all the awkwardness that seemed to rule both of them turned into a not clumsy at all kiss. In fact, Adam had never kissed anyone whose kiss matched his so perfectly.

Later that evening, after lots of matching kisses, Adam discovered that other things they did matched, too.

And all the clumsiness was gone as he held Steve tightly, stroking his hair and feeling his breath against his chest, falling asleep gently.

 

 

3

The smell of French fries invaded Adam’s nostrils, the sound of silverware being used entered his ears, and his stomach complained with even more hunger.

“I didn’t notice I was that hungry.” -  Adam said, looking at the many food options he had on the airport’s food court. “I think I’m in the mood for Italian, what about you?”

“I’ll go with that, too. Maybe we can get the big portion and share it, what do you think?”

“Sounds good to me. Just don’t put any guacamole in it and I’ll be fine.” �" Adam said with a grin.

“You haven’t changed.” �" Steve replied, shaking his head and showing a beautiful smile that made his eyes sparkle a little. Or maybe they did not sparkle, and it was all in Adam’s fixture of fantasy.

He had fifteen minutes to see if he could fit in that early flight.

 

 

“Oh, wow, thanks for not waiting for me.”

The campus’ cafeteria was crowded, but Adam did not care. He felt forgotten and worthless. Steve was there with his friends, Anna included, when he had warned him he would meet them for lunch �" ten minutes earlier and when there were six of them, making it harder for them to find seats for all of them to sit together, but still. His plan of having lunch with his friend had fallen through and he wanted company for lunch, but he was so mad he sat by himself, with his back turned to Steve.

It took a long time for Adam to realize how stupid and irrational he had been.

 

 

4

“God, that’s good pasta!.” �" Adam mumbled, for his mouth was full, chewing and swallowing the last of what was on his plate.

“It really is. I can make better pasta than this one, but still, it’s very good.”

It was true, Adam remembered eating Steve’s homemade pasta when he visited him on a Sunday afternoon. He also remembered the fairytale he lived on that day: eating homemade food, watching a trashy movie and falling asleep on the couch, having after-nap sex, going out for ice cream.

But then, Adam remembered that that day had been his last day of happiness with Steve.

Every fairytale comes to an end at some point.

“Do you want some ice cream?” �" Adam asked, even though he only had two minutes to check on his early flight. He thought, what the hell, I’ll just catch my original flight. One hour more doesn’t seem so bad now.

*

“Well, I should board now.” �" Steve said �" “and you should, too.”

“You’re right. It was very nice seeing you here, you know.” �" Adam said, in a foolish way.

“I thought so, too.” �" Steve replied, making Adam feel not so foolish anymore. �" “Have a safe flight, and I’ll see you when we get back.”

“You too. Take care in London.” �" Adam said, going for a not clumsy hug. Steve hugged him, and if he did not know better, he would say he felt Steve sighing while releasing his arms from around Adam’s body �" “see you around!”

Adam made his way to his gate, then, to his seat. His flight to Paris would last around 30 hours. It sure was a good time to be spent on thinking.

On thinking about why he met Steve then and now. What did it mean to see him at the airport on the same day and at the same time he would leave the country? Was the universe trying to send a message? A Casablanca moment? “Of all the fucked up people’s lives in the whole campus, in all town, Steve walked into mine!” The universe can play pranks on us sometimes. But Adam did not think Steve would ever be a prank on him.

He sat on his demarked seat and waited for the plane to take off. While waiting, he tried to distract himself listening to some music on his iPod. The funniest thing was that Steve’s favorite song was the first one chosen to be played by the shuffle function.

Adam smiled.

He smiled because it would never really be over. He would always love Steve, no matter what. They would always go back. Back from Paris, back from London, back to each other’s lives. They would always run into each other in that city Adam hated so much. But that thought made him happy. “I’ll run into you again. And it will be different.” Adam said, while the plane was lifting off.

He would come back.

****

EPILOGUE 

 

 

August 16^th 2013

 

Dear Anna,

 

Can you believe it? Me, married? I know I can’t! I’m so happy that if I had met myself, like, five years ago, I would have shot me!

I’m just writing to let you know everything is ok, Hawaii is beautiful. People are so nice and it’s incredibly sunny. Seriously, here there is no such thing as enough sunscreen. We both are already tanned and I’m honestly scared since we’re staying here for five more days.

I also wanted to thank you for helping us organizing the ceremony, it was all so beautiful, just like a fairy tale. And I found my Prince oh, so Charming. And you also gave a lovely speech! <3

Well, I must go now, my *cough* husband is coming out of the shower, we’re going out for dinner tonight.

Can’t wait to see you when I get back.

Wait for the photos,

Adam x