Page 1 of Only After We Met
Part 1
Meeting. Friendship. Chance.
“Baobabs start out by being little.”
The Little Prince
1
Ginger
When you meet a person, there’s no way of knowing all at once that they’ll turn your world upside down. In the blink of an eye. The way a soap bubble pops. The way a match catches fire. In the course of our lives, we meet thousands of people: at the supermarket, on the bus, in a café, in the middle of the street. Maybe the person who’s meant to shake things up for you is standing there in front of you at a crosswalk or grabbing the last box of cereal off the top shelf when you’re out buying groceries. Maybe you’ll never meet that person; maybe you’ll never even exchange a word. Or maybe you will. Maybe you’ll lock eyes, run into each other, make a connection. It’s just that unpredictable. That’s where the magic lies, I guess. For me, it happened one freezing night in Paris when I was trying to buy a ticket for the subway.
“Why aren’t you working?” I moaned to the machine. I pushed the button so hard it hurt my finger. “Stupid piece of trash!”
“Are you trying to kill it?”
I turned around when I heard a voice that spoke my language.
And I saw him. I don’t know. I don’t know what I felt just then.I don’t remember clearly, but there are three things I can’t forget: the collar of his jacket was turned up, he smelled like spearmint gum, and his eyes were a bluish gray like the London sky on one of those leaden dawns when the sun tries to break through the clouds but can’t.
That’s all. That’s everything. And that’s all I needed to start shivering.
“I wish. But for now, it’s winning. I can’t get it to work.”
“You’ve got to choose what kind of ticket you want first.”
“Where…uh, where do I pick?”
“On the start screen. Hold on.”
He stood beside me, pushed the buttons to get back to the main menu, and looked at me. And it was intense. Like when someone arouses your curiosity, but you don’t know why. Or when you wake up in a cold sweat.
“Where are you trying to go?”
“Well…actually…” I was nervous, and I tucked a strand of hair that had come loose from my ponytail behind my ear. “Downtown?”
“You’re not sure?”
“Yeah! No! I mean, I don’t have anywhere to stay tonight, so I was thinking, like, I’d get to know the city a bit. Any place you recommend?”
He leaned against the machine and arched his eyebrows. “You don’t have anywhere to stay?”
“No. I just caught the first flight out.”
“Just like that, throwing caution to the wind?”
“Yeah, basically. Like that.”
“All by yourself…?”
“So what?”
“No, I get it. I do the same sometimes.”
“Great, congratulations. So, getting back to the ticket…”
“What’s your name?” he asked.