Tube Talk

On the tube this morning there were four people reading the Metro. There was a woman reading 'Anna Karenin'. There was another woman reading 'Lies, and the Lying Liars That Tell Them'. Sounds like a lighthearted read, then.

Last night at about eight thirty I got on the tube and found a seat. The carriage wasn't packed but all the seats were taken and there were perhaps two or three people standing.

I glanced around the carriage, scanning the faces of the other passengers. As I looked around I caught a man looking at me. I looked back at him, feeling somewhat brazen thanks to the three glasses of wine I'd had. We held eye contact until he smiled slightly at me. I smiled slightly as well, looking down at my lap quickly. Glancing back I noticed he was still smiling at me, amused by my sudden coyness. I smiled into my scarf, trying to force my face into seriousness, but as I stole a quick look at him his smile made me lose control of my own and I burst out into a grin, turning my face away from him as he laughed gently at my embarrassment.

As the train pulled into a station someone opposite me stood up and left, and the man stood up as well. He sat down in the recently vacated seat, smiling somewhat shyly at me.

"Hi. What's your name?" he said in accented tones.

"Léonie. What's yours?"

"Leonardo. Where are you from?"

"I live in London. Where are you from?"

"Brazil. I've lived in London for three years, though. I'm a hairdresser. And a masseuse."

He was very goodlooking. Not too goodlooking, though. He looked down at his hands every so often as he spoke.

He was returning a laptop he had borrowed from a friend in Finchley.
I was on my way to a party.

The person sitting next to him got up and left the train, and he gestured to me to come and sit next to him, raising his eyebrows as he motioned to the seat next to him. Still smiling. Still a little shyly.

As a girl got up to leave at Euston she caught my eye and grinned at me, winking.

We swapped numbers, after he offered to cut my hair on Saturday afternoon. After five sometime.

'Cut my hair'. Said with a smile.

At Camden I stood up to leave and we kissed on both cheeks.

"See you soon, then, Léonie."

"See you soon, Leo."

I stepped off the train and stood on the escalator, going up, and still smiling.