Metro (Part II)

Kritvik Bhatt

It was damned crowded, man. The train compartment was filled with people of all colors of skin and clothes. Everyone was touching each other a little, no doubt. There were even some people who were sitting on the seats which were on each of the two edges of the train, facing each other. And between them, a crowd of people stood. Some were chatting in their low voices, some were scrolling some social media stuff on their phones, and some were just standing silently for some reason.

Sana and I stood beside the door, which was sliding open every five minutes at each station, obviously. We were so damn close to each other, man, because there were just so many people. My chest and her breasts were just inches away. We both held onto the rod on the right edge of the door. She was scrolling her Campfire account on her phone, maybe, and I had my eyes turned to my left at the window on the door—my body facing her, obviously.

The train was obviously fast, for some reason. I looked at the closer buildings coming and leaving my sight in just seconds, man. Suddenly, the scenery was out of sight as the station arrived. Just about a dozen of people stood on the whole platform as the metro slowed down and the doors opened in front of them. The door in front of me opened too, and for some reason, there was no one in front of my door.

I then turned my head to Sana. “What’re you doing, man?”

“Campfire, you see,” She replied, her face glaring at her phone. She suddenly turned off the phone and moved her head to me. Her eyes were just some inches close to mine. “I can’t wait now, K.”

I smiled, “It’s only been three stations, man. It’s gonna take a damn lot of time to get there.”

“How much?” She asked.

The door beside me slowly closed. There was an announcement in the background where a robotic feminine voice said something blurry, for some reason.

“How many stations are there to the JenCon?” I asked back.

“Like, about fifteen or twenty…” She turned her head to her phone again. “If we estimate that each station takes, like, five minutes. Then it’s about…”

“One and a half hour at least,” I replied.

Her face turned to a slight smile as she turned to me. “Yeah yeah. It’s a lot.”

“It’s a damn lot, no doubt,” I said with a smile.

“That’s sad.”

I nodded as I turned my head to my left again, looking at the metro speedily leaving behind all those buildings.

“Whatever,” She turned her head to her phone again. It turned on with a click. Then, I heard some more clicks from her phone as she tapped her fingers on it, and then, for some reason, they stopped, and she simply flicked her fingers upward after every five seconds or so. Maybe she had started scrolling Campfire again. She then suddenly spoke, “Like, we got a lot of time, you see.”

“Hmm,” I nodded. “No doubt. We’ll get there by twelve-thirty or one, maybe. Until then, we have plenty of time.”

“Yeah yeah.” She suddenly turned her head to me again. “Let’s chat about something other than JenCon or anime or games.”

“Huh?”

She smiled. “I need to distract myself, you see.”

I smiled and chuckled a little. “Damn, man. Okay. Let’s talk about…”

She waited for a reply and continued to glare at me as I stood there silently after that for a couple of seconds. “… Yeah?”

“… Dunno, man.”

She chuckled as she turned her head to her right at the same window. “Well, I feel that Jenshin and anime are all we talk about, right?”

“Yeah, maybe,” I replied as I turned to my left too.

“And, those dumb jokes.”

“Yeah, that too.”

There was a small amount of silence between both of us. There were still indistinct whispers around us as the train was smoothly running through those shops and buildings on our side, leaving them behind in seconds.

It was brightly sunny that day, for some reason, and everything was lit up just perfectly.

She took a deep breath in and exhaled out. “You see, K, this… is the first time that I am going somewhere so far without my parents.”

“Me too, man.”

“And, I feel kinda excited about all of this. Even though… we’re just two, but, well, it’s still a different feeling, you see.”

“Yeah, I feel it too.”

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. My heart pounded.

“Sana, I… I’m not excited about this JenCon, for some reason. What I’m more excited about is that… I’m going out with a friend for the first time… without my parents. I’m more excited about the stuff we could do together.”

She smiled. “Like, I feel free.”

I smiled too. “Me too, man.”

***

The doors of the metro opened. Sana’s boot stepped out on the white and gray platform shining brightly because of the sunlight coming in through the giant windows. She hurriedly went for the staircase right in front of us, some steps away. I was following her back—looking at her bag being jerked up and down, obviously—as she ran.

“Hey, wait!” I shouted at her.

She turned to her right at the staircase and started to run downward, “Quick. We don’t really have time, you see.”

“We obviously do, man!” I told her as I turned to the staircase and ran down, a couple of steps behind her.

“That’s sad, emo. But be quick.”

She turned right at the end of the staircase, hurriedly walking toward the barriers. I turned in the same direction, following her, and sprinted a couple of steps to get beside her. I caught up in a second and switched to a hurried walk. “Damn, man. Wait,” I was panting, inhaling and exhaling deep breaths through my nose.

It was a wide hall-like place with a few windows and turned on tube-lights, for some reason. There were the barriers at the front, about two-three dozen steps away, and a counter on its left. It was filled with three or four groups of people spread here and there in the wide hallway, and most were obviously walking around us. But, no doubt, there was much distance between people now, after all.

She took out her phone and was finding something on it, for some reason. “Lemme just check again which exit we need to get out of.”

I frowned. “There are more than one exits?”

“Like, every metro station has two to three…”

“O-Okay…” I shyly replied as I continued to walk beside her. We soon arrived close to the barrier. I moved my hand inside my right pocket to find my metro card. Sana had her card in her hand already, for some reason. We both moved to the parallel barriers, and I softly tapped my card on the scanner while she, for some reason, slammed it hard.

Slap!

Both the barriers opened at the same time and we went past them. She then turned her head up from her phone and looked at our left. She moved her left index finger up. “There.”

I turned my head to my left and noticed the exit on our left, some steps away. Bright sunlight was coming in from the exit, no doubt. We both turned to out left and hurriedly walked to the exit.

“Finally we’re here, K. I can’t wait now, you see,” She said in a quick tone.

“Damn, man. Slow down.”

“I’m trying to slow down, but you see, I just can’t. I’m so excited for it, and like, we’re finally here.”

I shook my head with a smile. “Okay. I get it, maybe.”

We both turned to our right outside the platform and started to descend down the staircase outside. On our left was a hotel that was covered with some black tiles, for some reason. It was just in front of the highway, and had a narrow street on its left, just beside the hotel. We stepped on the ground just in front of that street. “Now where?” I asked her.

She continued to walk straight hurriedly, and so I blindly followed her, obviously.

The pavement, lifted some inches above the highway, was filled with types of people, mostly young adults and big teenagers, walking to the front with bags behind their backs.

There was a fat girl, obviously bigger than me in height too, who wore some tight denim leggings and a white sweatshirt, and had a black color bag. She was with another girl, who was in a black jacket and tight black jeans. She too was bigger than me in height—or maybe around my height.

I moved both my hands inside my pants.

I suddenly smiled, for some reason. “Man, I… have never even played Jenshin Impact. But…”

Sana suddenly broke into laughter and covered her mouth with her right hand. “Ahahaha. Really, that’s sad, emo.”

“But I’m still here, huh?”

“You really are.” She chuckled.

I turned my head to my right and looked at her face. I then noticed that she had her black mask still on her face. “Get that mask off today, man.”

“What? Why?” She asked as she turned her head to me and smiled beneath her mask.

“You… It’s so hot, man.”

“Man, I was literally about to say that she looked better without that! I… I could never say something like that, obviously. Good that I didn’t. It’s… embarrassing, after all.”

She smiled at me as she turned her head to the front and nodded. “Well, I really should.” She then moved both her hands to her ears, and… softly took out that mask. It moved down slowly in her hands toward her neck.

My gaze was fixed on her face as she revealed her smile. She had such light-colored lips, her porcelain skin, and her little nose which seemed just too perfect, for some reason.

She turned her eyeballs at me and quickly turned them to the front again, blushing. She chuckled.

I gulped down and moved my head to the front too. “D-D-Damn…” I said, my cheeks turning pink.

And we continued to walk beside each other.

“She… looked so damn pretty, man. She looked just… great. Obviously, she’s Sana, after all. She always looks so pretty, for some reason. But, that day, she… I just can’t put my feelings into words, for some reason. Y-You just feel it, man. And, I felt it too. It was like… Maybe… I-I just wanted to look at her smiling and chuckling all day long. It’s that feeling. It’s kinda embarrassing, man. But, it’s such a lovely feeling, man. I was so happy. And I wanted to be that happy forever.”