It's Only Temporary

Chapter 15: A Lazy Saturday Morning (Part 1)

"Penny!"

It had been raining three days straight, and the pedestrians of New York City had to step carefully as they walked to avoid the ankle-deep puddles. That's why Penny was looking down at her feet, instead of straight ahead, as she rushed across Eighth Avenue on her way to the standardized testing center.

She didn't see David, waiting on the opposite curb, until she was standing right in front of him.

"Penny! Hi!"

A month had passed since she left her job on Wall Street, and her thoughts had been turning to her former boss less often. She'd poured herself into her MCAT preparations instead. That needed to be her focus now - not a guy who had never been hers and never would be. A guy who probably hadn't thought of her in weeks.

On the subway ride this morning, she'd forced her attention one last time to the organic chemistry formulas she'd written out on a stack of pink notecards. Only for a moment did she allow her mind to flash back to a different set of notecards. A different set of notes....

"I see two butterflies and a unicorn."

He'd looked so fragile that night. She'd helped him into bed and straightened the covers around him, and for a moment he'd looked up at her with anxious eyes - a little boy afraid of the monsters under his bed. He'd tried to cover it up by making fun of her handwriting, but she'd seen it in his eyes. She'd sensed that he was just trying to drag out the conversation before she left him there alone.

"Do you need anything else before I go?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

He'd tried to smile, but she hadn't smiled back. She could see the way his hands were gripping the edges of the notecard, clenching hard enough to turn the knuckles white.

"You're not OK."

"I'm fine."

"Should I stay?"

Maybe she'd made a mistake, using the pink ones for her MCAT preparations. It seemed silly not to use them. She had a whole stack of unused 3x5 pink notecards that she'd taken from the supply closet at her old job. But maybe she should have splurged on the $2.50 at the drugstore for a pack of notecards in a different color.

Too late, she'd thought to herself, as she sat on the downtown C train this morning. She'd stuffed the notecards back in her bag and looked up anxiously at the messages scrolling across the subway car's digital display:

8:41 AM...

The next stop is...

Canal Street...

8:42 AM...

Stand clear of the closing doors, please... 

8:43 AM...

She should have left herself more time. It had been foolish to cut it so close. She'd meant to leave 15 minutes earlier, but she'd realized at the last moment that she couldn't find her pencils. She could have sworn she'd put them in her bag the night before, but they hadn't been there when she checked again this morning. She'd spent 15 minutes ransacking the messy hotel room before she found them at last, wedged inside one of her review books.

By the time she reached her stop, she only had a few minutes to spare to traverse the three long city blocks to the building where the test would be administered. Her eyes had been on the ground and her thoughts focused on dodging puddles, when the sound of David's voice slammed into her. 

"Penny! Hi!"

She looked up in disbelief. She'd nearly walked right into him. David. Here. Now.

Today.

Today of all days.

He looked good, she couldn't help but notice. It was a Saturday morning, and he looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. He wore a t-shirt and a faded pair of jeans. His hair stuck up wildly on top of his head, slightly damp. From the shower? Or from the drizzle of light rain? Either way, her fingers itched to smooth it down.

"Penny," he said her name again. "What--I  mean- "

David knew he was stammering. He'd seen her from across the street, and he'd just stood there in silence, paralyzed with shock, until she'd nearly barreled into him. He reached out and put his hand on her elbow now to hold her in place. "Penny, I-I wanted to-where are you headed? We should-do you want to get some coffee or something?"

Coffee, Penny thought. Coffee with David. There was a time when she would have killed for a chance encounter like this one. A chance to be something other than a boss and his secretary. Just David and Penny. A guy and a girl. A guy and a girl who had just rolled out of bed, chatting over coffee on a lazy Saturday morning....

The pressure of his hand on her elbow held her, hypnotized. Maybe it was a sign, running into him like this. Today. Maybe the test could wait. She could push it back, couldn't she? It would be offered again in a few weeks. Maybe that would be smarter anyway. Give herself a little more time to study. Afew more weeks... another month... another year...

"No!" she shouted silently to herself.

"I have to go," she said out loud. She jerked her arm out of his grasp. Then she spun around blindly, back toward the street she had just finished crossing.

The light had changed, but Penny was too rattled to notice. She didn't see the traffic bearing down in her direction as she stepped off of the curb. She didn't see him jerk after her, reflexively - reaching out an arm to stop her. She didn't know how close he was behind her until she felt his arm lock sharply around her waist.

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