Random Intimacy

I had a strangely tender encounter this morning on the way to school.

Anyone who's taken the NYC subway system during rush hour understands that you temporarily give up any notion of personal space for the duration of your trip. The train ride this morning seriously tested this mutual understanding. We were jammed in so tight I thought I was in a soccer riot.

By chance, I was facing a rather attractive Indian girl just as we got slammed with a new wave of incoming suits. She only came up to my chin, so I can't say we were face to face. We shuffled and squirmed as people shoved their way through the car.

That's when the strangest thing happened. She put her bag down and just rested her head on my chest. At first, I thought she was shoved that way. But that wasn't the case. We were pressed close enough together that all she needed to do was move her head to the side, and simply rest it. Anyone who knows me knows that I generally don't like being touched by strangers, but this totally took me off guard. I could smell the fresh shampoo in her hair and I could feel her breathing in deeply. I occassionally wear cologne, and I had put some on this morning. I could tell that she smelled it.

We didn't move for three stops, and simply stood there, breathing each other in. Then my stop came and I lifted my bag. She looked up and we both said in unison, "Uh, bye."