This is my nineteenth contribution to:
The 750 Word Project 2024
Eden had been coming to the same park bench every lunchtime for the past two weeks. It was late Spring and the unseasonable warmth meant that she was comfortable in her yellow Summer dress.
Her first year in grad school was nearly over, and Eden felt proud of what she had accomplished. She had impressed her supervisor with her ability and dedication. Things could not have gone better.
Her personal life had also been great. The co-op apartment her Aunt had loaned her was amazing. As, she had found, were many of its residents. Then there was the city itself. NYC in all its splendor, glitz and squalor. It was enough to turn a Pennsylvanian girl's head. And yes, she smiled to herself, there had been lots of head, along with many other experiences.
So why the park bench? It wasn't far from campus, and there was a good deli a block away. The park itself was lovely, taking up a whole block and managing to fit in a tree-lined lake, grass lawns, and a formal flower garden. But it wasn't the park itself that had Eden regularly return. It was him.
She'd seen him the very first day. Her bench was at the narrow end of the lake, where it was at most thirty feet wide. While she sat in full sun, the far bank was shaded by Callery pear trees. Beside, or rather behind, one of these Eden had made out a figure standing. A figure whose eyes were clearly on her.