Facade

25|| butterflies

Song : Hurt Me - Suriel Hess

~ Alejandra ~

The one true thing about the city is that it never sleeps, especially the Lower East Side.

Multi-colored lights beam in the streets from the lit signs outside stores, but not only those. Bodegas, smoke shops and family owned restaurants light the path down the streets Gabriel and I run.

Some people are perched on porches outside of buildings, others sit to eat on the sidewalk outside their chosen restaurant. Few city stragglers simply walk wherever they're heading, letting the lights guide them just as we are, all happening at the same time.

We run and run, dodging whoever is in our way, not slowing down for anything.

Everytime we take someone by surprise, I offer an out of breath, "Sorry!" as I continue sprinting after Gabriel.

Limbs pumping, heart racing, lungs filling, sprinting through the night.

He's ahead of me.

Not by so much that I can't see where he's going, but far enough that I have to pump my legs harder and harder to keep up with him.

We continue from well lit streets, turning corners onto ones that are sound asleep, the fragrance of weed and foreign food occasionally wafts past as quickly as we run.

Once we turn onto a familiar, main road, Gabriel sprints straight down the stairs leading to the only train station within our neighborhood.

He doesn't even look back, confident that he knows I'm following him.

Shooting down the same flight of stairs, I reach the bottom to see him jump the turnstile with ease.

I'm huffing and puffing from the run while he turns back to look at me only slightly out of breath. He smiles before turning around and continuing straight, directly up the stairs that lead to the train.

"Wait!" I yell to him, but he doesn't listen.

I carefully duck under the turnstile without checking for any MTA workers.

They really don't get paid enough to care.

Once I'm on the other side, I follow up the stairs, really not liking the physical activities.

Finally reaching the top, I search down both ends of the platform, seeing this lunatic just waiting for the train.

His breathing is even, like we didn't just sprint all the way over here. I, on the other hand, approach him, struggling to catch my breath.

"I really didn't like that." I huff, bending over with my palms on my knees to regulate my oxygen intake.

He checks the arrival time for the train that's one minute away.

"Come on."

Without even looking, he just grabs my hand and leads me to the very end of the platform, moving between and around anyone in our way.

Once we get to the end, he looks down the tunnel, waiting impatiently. I don't even think he realizes that his hand is still holding mine.

Looking down at our joined skin, something rushes in my stomach.

He's holding my fucking hand.

I'm holding his fucking hand.

We're fucking holding hands.

The tunnel starts to get louder triggering that smile making its way back onto Gabriel's face.

I've never seen him so excited. It's kind of... cute?