Page Five: The Subway Stud

I made it a personal goal to wedge myself into the same car of the A train as the Subway Stud. I made sure to sit across from him and I made sure to be careful to not stare too much. Good grief, this was the first normal looking subway riding boy I'd seen yet...obviously I had to meet him.

I don't know, maybe my glance-sneaking was too much or maybe it was just right. I haven't really figured out the subway etiquette yet. Do you sit in between two people? They're obviously not wanting to be up close and personal or they wouldn't be seat-splitting, right? Do you talk to people? Do you say hello to whoever you sit next to? Do you actually have to save the front seats for the disabled? Do people think you're selfish if you don't give any change to the Mariachi guys or the kids that break dance?

All of this is to be determined, I guess.

Anyways, after 3 intentionally missed Central Park stops of awkward starring, I got off at Port Authority...and so did he. And his name is Derrick and he is, in fact, normal and he walked me all the way to my destination (that I had to pull out of thin-air pretty quickly).

He told me he knew that I wasn't from the city because I didn't look mad or like I wanted to kill someone. I'll take that as a compliment. I never want to look mad. Besides, subways are still a novelty to me. Actually, public transportation of any kind is a novelty to me. It took about 7 trips on the cross town bus before I figured out how to put my metro card in the slot without any help from the bus driver.

I haven't decided if giving your number to a person you meet on the subway is an OK thing to do...

I guess I'll find out if he calls.