We were ready to set fire to the world that night. We would have too, but then we met each other.
I had just left from another wasted night at a bar. She had just closed the door on another hopeless romance. At the end of the day, there was nothing left. In our own corners of the world, she and I contemplated an escape from the mundane.
I packed up a bag to leave. Anywhere would do, I would just get on the next train and go wherever it took me. She was already packed and ready to be on her way to nowhere. I wanted to start anew. She wanted to get away from the present.
Small surprises of destiny can often topple civilizations. We didn't bring anything down. We did, however, burn our loneliness down to ashes that night.
I took a cab to the station and she drove. We arrived within seconds of each other. I went through the main entrance and she made her way up from the parking lot. As I walked up from the ticket counter, I caught a whiff of something. It was delicious. It smelled like coffee, Burberry Weekend, and a thousand burning desires. It was all too familiar.
Curious, I looked around. She was a mess. The hair unkempt, the clothes crumpled, the scarf all haywire, tangled with her bag.
As I stared, she noticed. I am surprised that I didn't just run to her and kiss her right there and then because her smile stopped my heart and then rushed it into a drum solo. I forgot to breathe, she knocked the air out of my lungs with just that one smile. Again.
I couldn't let her get away from me. Walking up to her I simply said, "Hi!," and proceeded to fix her scarf and untangle it. If she thought that was weird, there was no indication of it on her face.
"Thanks!," she said. Her half-lidded eyes were burning me up.
"Would you believe it if I told you that I have been waiting for a while for you to show up?," I asked her.
She smiled. "You kept me waiting too, you know."
"Is it time yet?," I asked, whispering, as I leaned in for a hug.
"It has been. For a long time now."
She was melting in my arms, and I could feel her warmth seep into my cold body. She whispered, "Far away from the maddening crowd, yes?"
"Yeah. I guess I am not burning down the world tonight."
