I think you forgot something
I had one thing on my mind, checking into the hotel as soon as the Lyft got me there. In 30 minutes I’d be seeing her, and I’d give her the silver key necklace I had bought the week before, she’d know what it meant, we’d kiss, and the rest would be a blur. I just had to get my Lyft ride and start the way towards my week in New York, but first I needed a cigarette.
I checked my phone, the last message from her was that she was having breakfast. Great, I thought, plenty of time. My nerves were racing, or maybe it was cold, I reassured myself I couldn’t possibly be nervous.
I dug around in my coat for my pack of cigarettes, Chunghwa, the brand doesn’t matter. I didn’t waste any time lighting it and taking a deep drag, there’s nothing quite like that first cigarette when you get off a plane. My attention was affixed to a dispute unfolding between an airport attendant and a chauffeur driver parked in the pickup lane in front of me.
I won’t lie, I wanted to see a fight break out, and I kept glancing at my phone to see how far away my own Lyft driver was. 5 minutes, great, something interesting could definitely happen here in 5 minutes.
I took another drag, the airport guy is now banging on the car window yelling “Sir!” in an accent I can’t quite place. I’m sure the look on my face was filled with curiosity more than anything else.
And then there was a voice from behind me, “Um hey, I think you forgot something”
I turned around to a bouquet of flowers in my face, I almost stuttered “No I’m sorry those aren’t mine” and then our eyes met. She had tricked me and met me at the airport. She was every bit as beautiful as I remembered her from what was too many weeks before.
That’s when I really knew she was in love with me.
Don’t get me wrong. I had a feeling, I had felt it the last time we saw each other. I had seen that look of pain on a face before as I said goodbye, but maybe I didn’t want to believe it. I wasn’t sure I would ever see her again when we last said goodbye, but I knew I wanted to.
No, maybe I’m remembering the wrong details.
I know I fell in love with her when I saw her run across the street ahead of me as I stood like a tourist at a crosswalk staring bewildered at a “Don’t Walk” sign flashing in front of me. I’ll never forget that look she gave me as she turned back, her hair flowing down in the breeze. She didn’t know it yet, but I wanted to follow her to the end of the world at that moment.
An hour later we were standing at a street corner after dinner, our lips inches from each other, we both felt it, but neither of us would make a move and the moment was gone. I don’t remember how it began, there was an undeniable energy in the air between us, but she shook her head, “Nope, I said I wouldn’t like you!” and ran off down the street without me in that playful way that told me the moment was gone, but the night wasn’t over.
Now it’s a month later, she’s standing in front of me with a bouquet of flowers at the airport and my mind is racing trying to remember a moment quite like this one, I’m coming up blank. This is one of those moments that is going to be cemented in my memory for the rest of my life.
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