"Problem?"
She was looking directly at me when she spoke, and she looked pissed.
"With you or with me?"
Her jet-black eyebrows straightened when she made a face, looked to her left, then to her right.
"What?"
She asked like I was toying with her.
"I don't know. You said "problem" and I asked you a question in return."
Yeah, she was definitely rattled. It almost looked like wanted to stab me, but something was keeping her from doing so.
"Stop staring at me, jerk."
"Sorry to deflate that overly inflated ego of yours, but I didn't even notice you. I was reading the delay schedule behind you."
The metal chains on her leather jacket rattled against the metal and glass as she spun to look behind her. The red lights of a digital read out were clearly telling us of an impending delay with today's subway service.
Maybe I should back-up just a bit.
I was headed downtown via NYC's famous subway system and at that time of the day, there is usually a less than normal number of riders. Today was not the exception. I found a seat facing the aisle and set my briefcase on the seat beside. The girl sitting a couple of seats over and across the way was what most would refer to as a Goth Girl. Overly dark make-up on her pale face. Black lipstick. Jet-black hair and leather everything else, including the mandatory Doc Martens.
There was no doubt that she was an attractive girl...to someone, just not me. Way too skinny, and way too many piercings and tattoos for my liking. It was obvious that she was going after the "Lisbeth" look from the movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and it seemed that she had hit the nail on the head. But I wasn't about to judge her, simply because I didn't care.
When she looked back toward me there was a surprised look on her face, but nowhere inside of her was there an apology for her accusing me of staring at her.
I smiled at her to show no ill will before lowering my head back down to my printed agenda briefing. Today would be the lightest workday of the week. My company likes to call it a convention. I like to call it a sale's "boot camp" and "torture chamber". While we were here wining and dining, corporate would hit us with upped quota's, upped regions to cover, then drop the bomb that they had to drop our sales commissions to help keep the company afloat. Afloat? We are a publicly traded company. Anybody with eyes and half a fucking brain could see that we were doing well. But this was all part of the game. And I play it well. I know every possible expense loophole and tax break that will help me. And being in the top 2% of sales nationwide, I was never questioned about my expenses, not once.
The subway car brightened as lights came into view as we started to slow for the next stop. For the first time since I had looked away from "Lisbeth" I raised my head to look around. It wasn't my stop. I actually had 3 more to go before I got off.
The Goth Girl was on her feet. Her chain dangling while waiting for the car to come to a complete stop and for the doors to slide open. She caught me trying to check out her skirt covered ass as she stepped onto the platform and shot me the finger. I couldn't help but grin, and she couldn't help but continue holding the finger up as she passed by the windows in front of me.
Now that I had zero need for concern, I stared out the window into the darkness of the tunnel, but the only thing that I saw was me. The sad reflection of a lonely man.
I tried to remember the good old days or at the very least some better days. Days when I was still married. Days when my kids still talked to me. Days when my daughter would send me a picture or a short video of my grandchild on a daily basis. But those days were long gone.
My eyes were drawn to something as the subway once again started to slow. On the seat where the Lady in Black had recently sat, was a cell phone. It was black, hard to believe, and when I picked it up, I could see that someone had painstakingly taken the time to paint a picture of an old tombstone on the case and painted on the slab of stone was the name Amy Boven. With D.O.B. May 13
th
, 2000 and D.O.D. = UNKNOWN?
There was no possible way that this didn't belong to the crazy finger bitch.
I don't know why, but maybe it was because common sense had fucked off right out of my head, but I grabbed my stuff and darted between the doors of the subway, just as they started to close. Standing on a platform where I had never set foot before, I looked for an exit.
One of NYC's finest cabbies was waiting curbside for his next fare. Unfortunately, he probably assumed that it would be further than the last stop. Imran, or so said his name plate, didn't bat an eyelash when I told him. He just hit the meter and put the yellow beast into gear.
The odds of finding her would be slim at best, but other than time, I had nothing to lose. Scanning both sides of the street as we drove, I didn't notice anyone that even resembled her. I tried to open the phone, but it required a security code. So, when Imran pulled up to the curb, I handed him some cash and got out of his taxi.
Had I been looking for a shawarma, a taco or some burgers, I would have been in luck, but there wasn't an over abundance of leather clad girls.
I went down the stair to the rails, then back up the other side. Maybe she had stopped to report it as being lost. No luck.
45 minutes later she was still nowhere in sight, so I called it a day. I looked for my good friend Imran, but like Goth Girl, he was nowhere to be found. But some luck was on my side, because when I held out my arm, 1 of the 3000 taxis that were passing me, pulled over.
"Dream Downtown, please." Not Imran, but perhaps a cousin.
The meter hadn't even reached the $5 mark when I let out a small scream. My "needle in the haystack" was walking in the opposite direction that the car was headed. My driver scoffed, but pulled over, I tossed him a $10 and jumped out.
She was walking at what some might call a jogging speed. There was no way that I would or could catch up to her unless I ran, and I certainly didn't feel like running.
"Amy." I yelled it loud enough, but not a single person turned around. What the fuck was wrong with this city? "Amy, I found your phone."
Really? She didn't even flinch. I had come this far, why not a few more steps. It was either this or I toss the phone in the trash, or maybe throw it at her. What did I have to lose?
"Amy Boven."
That was the one that did it. My black leather girl spun on her Doc Martens and looked directly at me. Her teased and hair-sprayed jet-black locks bounced only slightly as she made her way back toward me.
Nothing had changed in the past hour with her. She was still looking emaciated and no less a bitch than when she gave me the finger getting off the subway.
"Problem asshole?"
"What?" But it actually came out, "What the fuck?".
"Do you have a problem?"
"Yeah, I got lots of problems, and now apparently you're one of them." The unforgiving crowd pushed us closer to the street and out of their way.
"Look, tell him to leave me alone. Or tell him that you couldn't find me. I'm not a baby anymore. This is where I want to live. And if you bug me again, I'm going to kick you right in the nuts."
She pointed to her combat boots to show me that she meant business.
"Who?" She gave me a look that made me feel stupid. "Who the fuck am I supposed to know that you would know?"
"My father."
"How the fuck, would I know your father?"
"I saw you get on the train. You got on and looked for me. How much does he pay you? What's your name?"
"Calm down, I..."
"You calm down. If you weren't following me, how did you know my name?"
"It's on your phone."
"My what?"
"Jesus Christ, is everything a fucking question with you? You left your goddamned phone on the subway. I picked it up, but you were gone. I got off at the next stop, not my stop by the way, and 2 taxis later, I tracked you down to this exact point. And my name is Bob Miller. Happy?"
There was a very long pause before she answered, "What do you think?".
"I think no. I bet not too fucking much in life makes you happy. So, I can't help you." I handed her one of my business cards. "If you want the phone back call my cell number. Shit. Call the business number. They will verify who I am and that I don't even know your old man."
I made 4 steps before she spoke.
"Where are you staying? And how am I supposed to call if you have my phone?"
"Honestly, that gets old really fucking fast. That's at least 3 questions since I told you to stop asking me questions."
For the first time since I sat across from her on the train, she smiled. It surprised me that she had all of her teeth.
"Wow. You swear a lot." Another smile after she said it.