Do you believe in love? I try to believe in it, deep inside I want to. But reality has shown me that love is far from the fairytale in a book or movie. Love can be excruciatingly painful and often doesn’t have the ‘happily ever after’ ending. I’ve seen enough of bad endings, with family, friends, and even myself. I thought I wasn’t destined for true love, the love where you walk with your head in the clouds all day, where you can’t stop smiling because butterflies are tickling the inside of your stomach, until on one October morning things would change.

It was one of those dreary mornings where I look out of my bedroom window and all I see is one solid grey sky. The sun was completely hidden from view and the only thing I wanted to do was crawl back into my bed, throw the sheets over my head, and fall asleep again. But instead I had to force myself to get ready for work. I live and work in a fairly big city and for me the metro is the easiest way to go to work. While not my favorite way to travel, it's reliable, most of the time, and I don’t get stuck in traffic jams.

The three metro lines, or subway as they call it in most places outside my province, Quebec, are the veins of the city. A lot of people like me use it every day to get to their destinations in the morning, or evening. And because so many people use it as their main way to commute around the city, it can be very cramped at times. When I’m in the metro I like observing my fellow passengers. While there is a lot of diversity in skin color, hair color, size and style of clothing, I noticed most passengers have that same expressionless look on their face, tucked away in a book or newspaper or just staring into the nothingness in front of them. There’s always a lack of acknowledgment of their fellow commuters as they shuffle around, reluctantly making room for one another while they hide in their own little bubble, listening to their iPods or just look passed each other.

It wasn’t different on that gloomy Thursday morning when I sat in the metro, lucky to have a seat. People in front of me were uncomfortable moving around to let new passengers in while the metro stood still at another stop. I was looking around when two sunflower yellow sneakers caught my eye. I don’t know why, but it was something cheerful amidst brown, black and grey shoes, and curious to whom they belonged to; I followed the jeans, which were connected to the shoes, upwards. But because of the mass of bodies huddled closer together than most people are comfortable with in a normal situation, I couldn’t see the face that belonged to the yellow sneakers. The metro came to a halt at the university stop and the yellow sneakers disappeared from the metro.

Probably a student then , I thought to myself, and while the metro continued its journey, the yellow shoes were forgotten and my mind was occupied with tasks that had to be done that day at work.

A few days later I was on my way to work again; all seats were occupied when I got in so I was leaning with my back against the side, staring aimlessly down, deep in thought when I saw them again, the sunflower yellow sneakers. They were standing in front of the door, not far from where I stood. Although all seats were occupied, the metro wasn’t overcrowded and curiously I looked up to see more of this mysterious person this time.

I noticed it was a girl but unfortunately the girl, to whom the shoes belonged to, was standing with her back towards me. She wasn’t tall, about 5'2" and her brown hair reached to just a few inches over her shoulders. She wore a dark brown jacket, in contrast to her yellow shoes, and black pants. For some strange reason, there was something about her that fascinated me. Her demeanor, her appearance, or maybe just her yellow sneakers, I wasn’t really sure. But I knew I wanted to know more about her.

But it would be a bit strange to tap a stranger on the shoulder, someone I've never talked to before, and say: “Hey, those are some nice shoes, I just wanted to know what you look like.” So I did nothing. And when the metro reached the University stop, I watched her step out, hoping to catch a glimpse of her face as she turned to walk to the exit. But she didn’t turn enough for me to see her face and when the metro pulled away, she disappeared out of sight.

The next few days I was paying extra attention to spot the girl with the yellow shoes. I had never seen at what stop she got onto the metro and I was getting very curious, or maybe a little bit obsessed, about this mysterious person. Days passed without a glimpse of the yellow shoes. Until, on a sunny Friday morning I was sitting in the metro again on my way to work. For some reason it’s always less crowded on sunny days, or maybe it was because it was a Friday, or maybe a mix of both, but there were enough free seats available, even next to me.

It was only the second stop after the stop where I get in when the doors of the metro opened and a pair of yellow shoes were standing and waiting on the platform. I quickly looked up and there she was, my mysterious person. Finally I could see the face of the mysterious owner of the yellow shoes, and what kind of a face. Her shapely face, framed by her medium brown hair, was more beautiful than I had imagined. Her sweet brown eyes looked aimlessly forward, as if deep in thought. But it must have been pleasant thoughts, because the corners of her soft pink lips were curled up into a smile.

Suddenly she looked straight at me, her eyebrows arched in a questioning look. Then I realized what I was doing. I was sitting there staring at her, with the look on my face of a child looking into the window of a toy store. I quickly looked the other way, while I cursed myself for my dorky behavior. She must have thought I was some kind of weirdo for staring at her with a strange look on my face.

To my surprise I saw her coming towards me in the reflection of the metro window, and actually sat down beside me. I was thinking hard about what to say to her to explain me staring at her like that. I could say something funny to make her laugh and various comical comments popped into my mind, but were soon dismissed as too cheeky. Then I remembered what a friend of mine once said, when we were in a discussion about similar situations like this, the stranger part, not the staring like a weirdo part. She said that sometimes a simple "hello" was more than enough. Not knowing what else to say, I decided to try it. If it wouldn’t work I could always blame my friend. Tell her she was wrong.

I turned my head to the girl and said: "Hello."

"Hi," she replied softly. I was still thinking about what to say next when she spoke again. "It may sound a little strange, but you just looked at me as if you recognized me from somewhere. Do you recognize me from somewhere? "

Okay, so she saw me staring at her, but fortunately she thought it was a look of recognition instead of a creepy look.

"Your yellow sneakers," I said without thinking. As soon as the words left my mouth I was cursing to myself for not thinking before actually saying something.

"My yellow sneakers?" She asked as she giggled softly. "How do you know my yellow sneakers?"

I couldn’t help myself from smiling, thinking about how strange that must have sounded, and I decided to confess to her.

"Well, it may sound a bit strange, but a few days ago I saw you in the metro, well I saw your yellow sneakers. But it was so crowded, I could only see your sneakers and I was curious about the person who was wearing those yellow sneakers."

“And you still remembered that, even a few days later?" the girl ask, grinning at me.

I wasn’t really sure how to answer that. It did sound a bit silly. I looked her in the eyes and winked. "There are some things I just don’t want to forget."

"Well, aren’t you the charmer," she said, a light red blush adorning her face.

We laughed and the ice was broken. Soon we were swapping funny anecdotes about the metro and things related to it. And it was all too soon that her stop was nearing.

“I have to get off at the next stop. It was nice meeting you…”

“Tom,” I said quickly.

“Meggie,” she replied holding out her hand.

“It was certainly nice meeting you, Meggie,” I said while taking her hand into mine.

The following weeks we ran into each other in the metro regularly. Those ten minutes we spent together sitting or standing next to each other were something special, our little thing. Bit by bit we got to know each other. We talked about my work, her studies, little things that kept us busy or big things that were important to us.

There was always this sexual tension between us, the playful punch she gave me when I made another one of my bad jokes, the pat on her leg I gave her when we had to laugh when she said something silly. Those electric touches that lingered through our bodies but we both didn’t want to admit they were there.

It was early December and the first snow had fallen. The city was covered in its first white of the winter and it always has something magical. I decided I wanted to do something about the relationship with Meggie. She seemed to be in my head more often than not and I could no longer deny that I had feelings for her. On the occasional day that I didn’t see her in the metro, I felt disappointed. Luckily those days were few because she knew which metro I always took to work and would be ready and waiting on the platform to get in on that same metro.

On that first snowy day Meggie came in and sat next to me. We said our hellos and of course the snowfall was our conversation subject. After a while I changed the subject.

“Meggie, we never talked about this, but I have a feeling there’s more between us than we both want to admit.”

“That could be possible,” Meggie said with a mysterious smile.

“Well possibly, would you go out to dinner with me sometime then?” I asked, looking into her sweet brown eyes.

“Well, possibly, I could say yes to that.”

“I could possibly even cook for you,” I said, while winking at her.

“That’s possibly even more interesting,” she responded, staring somewhat dreamily.

“Tell you what. You know when I take the metro so we’ll do this. Next week, if I see you in the metro on Monday, I take you out for dinner. If I see you on Tuesday, I’ll cook for you at my place. If I see you on Wednesday, we’ll never talk about this ever again.”

Meggie thought for a moment and then smiled at me. “Okay, deal.”

-----

The next Monday I was standing a bit nervous in the metro. I wondered if Meggie remembered what we had agreed on. Or maybe she had started to doubt over the weekend and would not show up any more at all. But I didn’t believe that, she would show up, the question was when.

When the metro stopped at ‘her’ stop there was no sign of yellow shoes. No dinner in a restaurant then, I thought to myself. I couldn’t help but to feel a little disappointed, but there was still tomorrow.

The next day I was more nervous, if she wouldn’t show up this time, we would never talk about it again. Nothing would ever happen between us. Her stop was fast approaching and I could feel my hands getting a little sweaty. The metro stopped, the doors opened and there she was, a warm smile radiating from her beautiful face. She spotted me quickly and walked over to me, but just when I wanted to say something she stood up on her toes, leaned into me and pressed her lips on mine. It was so unexpected that it took some time for me to react while she kissed me.

Just when I started to react by wrapping my arms around her, she broke the kiss. Meggie snuggled her face within my neck as if she was a little embarrassed at what she had just done. We stood there for a while in a loving embrace, not talking, her arms around my waist, and my arms around her shoulders.

The following days I was walking around with my head in the clouds. It is strange how things can look so different when you’re in love. The rain didn’t bring me down, work seemed to be less of a drag, and I saw the good things of life instead of grumbling about the bad things. On one of those days, when I saw Meggie in the metro, I gave her my address and we agreed that she would be at my apartment on Friday at seven in the evening.

That Friday evening I was nervously running around my apartment, making sure everything looked neat and clean. My apartment is located in one of the more popular areas of the city, not far from where I live there are a lot of bars and restaurants, yet my street is reasonably quiet. I live on the top floor of the three story building. In the back I have a big balcony, where I like to sit in the sun or barbeque, although it’s not very useful in winter. There are wooden floors all throughout the house, except for the bathroom. And I’ve decorated everything so my apartment has an antique feel to it, you can even hear it when you walk around and the floor creaks beneath your feet.

The dinner table in the living room was all made up, plates, cutlery, and candles of course. Some easy listening music was softly playing in the background. I’m reasonably tall, about 5’11” and for the occasion I’d put on black dress pants and a white shirt. I had contemplated to wear a tie, but I threw that idea away and just left the top two buttons open. I’m not the greatest cook; I’m the first to admit that, so I prepared a not too difficult meal, chicken with spicy sauce and rice with some salad on the side. I was just putting the last touches on the meal when the doorbell rang.

Looking at the clock, I saw it was already seven and I hurried to open the door. There stood Meggie, more beautiful than I’d seen her in the metro. She wore a strapless dress and as she walked in and took off her jacket, it showed more skin than I’d ever seen in the metro. The smell of a clean, refreshing perfume reached my nostrils as she passed me.

“My, you look stunning tonight. But where are your yellow shoes?” I smiled, looking at her black heels.

“You don’t look bad yourself,” she laughed, “I didn’t think yellow shoes would be appropriate for the occasion.”

I took her coat and showed her around the apartment before we sat down for dinner. Meggie and I never really had a long talk, since the metro ride only took about ten minutes before it reached Meggie’s stop, so I was a bit worried about how it would be to have all evening to talk to each other. But as the dinner progressed, it felt so natural and easy to talk to each other, like we knew each other for years. It was not hard for us to find topics as we both love to travel.

We talked and joked and laughed. I couldn’t resist making a teasing comment once in a while, which made Meggie blush. The air was charged with sexual tension. The innocent touch as my hand brushed hers was almost electric. Unnoticeable and sometimes obvious we were looking each other up and down, yearning for what we secretly wanted to do to each other. After we finished our dinner, we both leaned contently back in our chairs.

“So what’s for dessert?” Meggie asked.

I thought for a moment, realizing I had totally forgotten about dessert.

“Already? Haven’t you had enough food yet?” I replied, trying to joke my way out of it.

“It was great, but there’s always room for dessert.”

“Okay, well for dessert we’ll have to move to the couch,” I said, buying myself some time.

“The couch? What kind of dessert is that? That it needs to be served on a couch?” Meggie laughed as she stood up and walked towards the living room.

“You’ll see.”

I quickly went to the kitchen and looked around. Of course there was nothing in the fridge I could use as dessert and I had never bought new ice-cream after I ran out at the end of the summer. Other options would take too long to prepare. Then I saw the bowl of white grapes on the kitchen counter. I had bought the grapes two days ago and now they looked juicy and ready to be eaten. Oh well, this will have to do, I thought, picking up the bowl.

When I walked into the living room, Meggie was already sitting on the couch.

“Grapes? That’s our dessert?” she laughed, looking at me while I walked towards her and put the bowl on the coffee table.

“Yes, don’t you like them?”

“I love them, but I had expected something… different.”

“Well sometimes, Meggie…” I said, sitting down on the couch next to her, “… sometimes simpler is better.”

I picked up a big grape, put it between my teeth and leaned in towards her.

Anticipating what I wanted her to do, she moved her head towards me and I felt her soft lips on mine as she gripped the grape with her teeth. Looking at me with a twinkle in her eyes, she bit down, causing the grape to burst and the sweet juices trickled in our mouths. She sucked the grape in and broke the kiss while she chewed and swallowed the grape.

“Mmm, maybe you’re right,” she said, taking a grape from the bowl and bend towards me, her teeth clenching the grape. I put my lips on hers and bit the grape, making it burst and sucking it in.

We fed each other grape after grape this way until I had an idea. I grabbed Meggie’s legs, lifted them up, and placed them down over my lap. Meggie laid down on the couch, giggling softly, wondering what I was going to do. I took a grape between my teeth and leaned forward, just above her collarbone. Then I bit down and the nectar dripped down on her skin. I quickly ate the grape, before moving my mouth over her collarbone and neck, sucking the grape juice from her skin, tasting the sweet fluid. Meggie softly purred at the touch.

I picked up another grape and this time hovered above the cleft of her breasts before making the grape burst and juice dripped down between her breasts. I ran my tongue over her soft skin, licking up the watery substance. I looked at her as my hands gripped the top of her dress and pulled it slowly down, exposing her perky breasts. Meggie didn’t protest. I picked up another grape, my teeth taking hold of it and hovered above her left breast, making the grape juice drip down onto her nipple and around it. I started licking up the juices from her breast, moving towards her nipple. She gasped when my tongue touched her nipple as I made sure I licked up every sweet drop. I sucked her nipple for a moment before pulling away.

I did the same with the other nipple and Meggie moaned softly at the attention her breasts were getting. When I wanted to pick up another grape, Meggie stopped me by grabbing my arm.

“Now it’s my turn,” she said with a seductive smile.

She stood up from the couch and turned towards me. The dress hung down her stomach and I marveled at her shapely breasts bouncing freely as she moved. She bent forward, slightly grinning, pushing her breasts in my face while she tugged the shirt out of my pants, not bothering with the buttons. I kissed her soft, delicate skin which being pressed into my face.

She pulled the shirt up and over my head and threw it aside. Her hand pushed on my chest, indicating I had to lie down. I watched Meggie pick up a grape as I laid down on the couch. Kneeling next to me, she bit the grape and I felt the fluid drip onto my chest, just below my collarbone. Not long after it was followed by her warm, wet tongue licking it up, kissing my chest a few times before she reached for the next grape.

The next grape was placed lower as she pressed her lips on my skin to suck the grape juice off. Lower and lower she went until she had burst the next grape over my belly button and after licking up the drops of juice, she moved her face up. But instead of taking a new grape, she started to unbutton the top of my pants, and slowly undid the zipper. She looked at me, licking her lips seductively as her hands grabbed the waistband of my pants and shorts and pulled them down.

“Mmmmm, now there’s my real dessert,” she said, looking at my erect member. The sight of her half naked body, the teasing with the grapes, the kissing and licking, it all had made me extremely aroused and my rod was hard and pointing slightly upwards.

Meggie picked up another grape and locked it between her teeth, she moved her mouth over my shaft and I felt drops trickle down over it as she bit the grape. I watched her moving her head down and I let out a low moan as her warm tongue touched my rod, feeling it lick up the length of it.

She did the same with the next grape but this time her fingers wrapped around the base of my shaft, picking it up as I felt her tongue lick its way up and dart over the head of my rod. She looked at me with her brown eyes, the sexual hunger apparent in it. Her lips surrounded the tip and with a moan the head disappeared in her mouth. The feeling sent a shiver down my spine. Slowly, teasingly, she lowered her mouth, taking in more of my rod while she flicked the underside with her tongue. It felt so good, my breaths became shorter and I let out a soft moan.

I watched her beautiful face, her lips around my shaft while she sucked it, her fingers stroking it in the same rhythm.

“Oooooh that feels so good,” I moaned, closing my eyes, taking in every sensation she was giving me with her mouth. How I longed for this, all the times we saw each other in the metro there was this sexual tension, during dinner that tension was almost unbearable and now it was hard to believe it was actually happening, we started to give into it.

I opened my eyes again and saw Meggie bobbing up and down my cock, clearly enjoying herself as she moaned and looked towards me. It was all too much and I had to stop her, I didn’t want to cum just yet. I sat up, grabbing her arm, pulling away as she held onto my shaft with her mouth, sucking it hard before it left her mouth with a plop.

“Now I want my dessert,” I said, standing up from the couch, my pants dropping to the floor. I stepped out of them while pushing Meggie onto the couch. She sat down and I reached for her legs, sliding my hands under her dress. Gripping her panties I pulled them down her legs, removed them entirely. She bit her lower lip as she watched me moving between her legs, spreading them as I kneeled.

I picked up a grape, put it between my teeth then pushed her black dress up to her waist. I looked lustfully at her shaven pussy, moving my face towards it. Her labia were already glistening with her arousal. The grape burst above her mound, the juice dripped down, mingling with her wetness. I lowered my face further, swallowing the grape then licking the places where the nectar had landed. I softly licked close to her pussy lips. Then I pressed my tongue on them, licking slowly over them.

Meggie moaned at the touch of my tongue licking up her juices as I tasted her bitter sweet taste. Her hips started to move slowly in respond as I was hungry to taste more. I continued to explore every crease with my tongue as her moans became louder; her hand was gripping my hair. Closer I moved, to that little knob I knew was up there, which was most likely craving for attention. I looked up, seeing her chest rise and fall quickly, her hand was massaging her breast.

My fingers played with the entrance of her tunnel, while I pushed my tongue up under the hood, touching her clit. Her whole body shook at the touch as she let out a loud moan. “Oooooooh gosh.”

She was already incredible wet when I pushed two fingers in, feeling them slide in easy as they were surrounded by her abundant juices.

“Ooooh shit,” she shouted as I flicked her swollen knob harder and faster with my tongue, making her hips grind faster. I had to put one hand on her belly, trying to steady her as I worked my tongue over her clit. My fingers were pushing deeper inside her warm, soaking wet cavern.

Her pussy muscles were gripping my fingers tight as I moved them in and out her slick folds. She must have been as aroused as I was, maybe even more as her body started to tremble heavily, she was closing in on her orgasm hard and fast. Her hand gripped my hair tighter, pulling it, her moans louder, irregular. I stopped licking, wrapped my mouth around her clit and sucked.

“Mmmmmmmmm, oh my gooooooshhh,” she shouted as she started to cum. Her hips were bucking wildly, I had trouble holding on but I kept sucking her clit into my mouth, flicking my tongue over it. A stream of her girl-cum dripped down my fingers, down my hand. “Ooooh, baby, that’s so goooood,” she purred as her climax subsided.

I was so turned on now, I just had to have her, had to feel her, my manhood was painfully erect. Her body was still shaking when I pulled my fingers out and flipped her over on the couch. I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her light body up on her knees as I stood up. Without hesitation I positioned my lance at where I wanted it to go and thrust hard inside her love tunnel.

“Aaaaaaahhh,” she screamed, the sudden penetration waking her up from her post-orgasmic slumber. Her pussy clenched my rod as it penetrated deep without resistance, it was soaked. I pulled out slowly before slamming hard in again. I grunted at the feeling of her hot, silky pussy around my shaft. Again I pulled out slowly, then pushed in hard. But I couldn’t contain my desire, my lust, any longer. I increased my rhythm as my hand gripped her shoulder. My other hand swung back and forward, hitting her ass hard.

“Oooooh my…. shit,” she shouted, feeling the sting on her ass. It was a shout of pleasure. Again my hand hit her ass hard while I thrust my hips forward, my cock already coated in her love juices, glistening as I pulled out only to smash in hard again.

“Aaaah… slam me… fuck me… hard,” she panted, looking back at me, her eyes filled with lust, her body glistening with sweat. I groaned, slamming my body hard against hers, pushing her against the couch, her hands were gripping the back of the couch as she moaned loud, screamed. I fucked her hard, deep thrust after deep thrust alternated with a hard slap on her ass which was starting to glow bright red. My whole body was about to burst, my fucking became irregular, wild and another slap on her ass was starting to send Meggie over the edge again.

“Aaaaaaaah fuck, I’m cumming again… baby… damn…” I felt her pussy clench around my cock as she came again. I was balancing on the edge and this sent me over it.

“Shit… Meggie… oooooooohh fuck.” I pushed in deep one last time, then held my cock there as my cum spewed inside her. My whole body was trembling, my knees were getting weak, I leaned forward, gripping Meggie’s hand on the back of the couch as both our orgasms were thundering through our bodies.

“Holy shit, baby.” I panted, my head resting on her shoulder, regaining my breath. Meggie’s eyes were closed, moaning, purring, bathing in her own afterglow. When I had regained my strength, I pulled my flaccid member out of her. Picking her up I carried her to my bedroom, lay her on the bed as her arms hooked around my neck, pulling me into a soft long kiss.

“Mmmmm, that was a wonderful dessert baby,” she smiled at me satisfied.

“It certainly was,” I said, crawling on top of her. “But the evening is not over yet.”

-----

The next morning I woke up with a wet kiss on my mouth, Meggie was already dressed and sitting beside me on the bed.

“Tom, I’m so sorry, but I have to go. I’m supposed to go to my parents this weekend and I really have to hurry. I wasn’t expecting to stay over.”

She looked me deep into my eyes and smiled. “Maybe hoped for it a little.”

“Ok, Meggie, you do what you have to do, but we’ll do something together next week, ok?”

“Yes for sure. I was hoping we could repeat an evening like this many more times.”

“As many times as possible,” I said, putting my hand on the back of her head, pulling her towards me for a long kiss.

“Mmmm, I really have to go now babes. I’m already running late,” Meggie said, pulling away reluctantly. She stood up and walked away. In the doorway of my bedroom she turned around and blew me a kiss. Soon after I heard the front door close with a click.

The whole weekend I couldn’t stop smiling. I didn’t care that it snowed, or that the sky was grey, or that it was freezing cold. The memory of that night kept me warm. Meggie was all I could think of and I started to think about all the things we could do, where we could eat, and of course what else we could do in the bedroom having the experience of that night with her. I couldn’t wait for Monday to see her again, to feel her again.

The next Monday I was sitting in the metro, waiting for Meggie. I was excited to see her again. I felt I had missed her even only for these few days. But when the doors opened at her stop and I saw her standing there, I knew something was wrong. She didn’t smile her beautiful smile, but instead she had a sad look on her face. She avoided my questioning look as she sat down next to me and pecked me on the cheek.

“Hey, Meggie. What’s wrong? You don’t look to happy.”

“I eh… Tom I have to tell you something… and it’s really hard for me, I-I can hardly tell it.” Meggie still didn’t look at me as she continued. “Not long before I met you, before this, I had a boyfriend. But our relationship seemed to go nowhere so we split up…”

“And?” I asked, not sure where this was going.

“Well… I kinda still love him. I still have strong feelings for him. And Sunday, yesterday, he showed up at my parents’ house and he… well he said he missed me incredibly and… and he asked me to marry him.”

I looked at Meggie with disbelieve, her eyes were cast down. My heart sank into my stomach. I didn’t want to ask it, but I had to: “W-what did you say?”

“I… I didn’t say no. I was confused, I am confused. Tom, you make me feel so special, I have strong feelings for you too, but I’m confused, I just don’t know.” Her hand gripped mine, squeezing it hard.

I was dumbfounded; I just didn’t know what to say. All that I had felt the previous days were flushed away, replaced by something very painful, something indescribable that made it hard to breathe, even harder to think. I could only stare at her.

“I told him I need time, and I’m telling the same to you now. It’s not fair to him, or to you. Please understand. Please,” she said, still looking down as a tear dropped from her face and landed on her jeans. I had troubles fighting my own, not sure what to think of all this, struggling with the overwhelming feelings of sadness, disappointment. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“I… Ok.” I said with a sigh, pulling her close to me, kissing the top of her head. She buried her face in my chest and cried softly.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t know what to do. I need some time. I’m so sorry,” she murmured, clenching my jacket in her fists.

“It’s ok baby. It’s ok.” I said. For the rest of the time we sat in silence, her face hiding in my jacket, my arm around her. When the metro slowed down for her stop, she looked up at me. I felt a sting in my heart at the sight of her tears-covered face, the sadness in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered again her face close to mine. She pressed her lips against mine for a moment and I tasted her salty tears on her lips. Then she pulled away and stood up. I looked at her as she walked away, her head bend down, not looking back as her yellow shoes stepped on the platform, the doors closing behind her. I could no longer hold baack a tear as it rolled down over my cheek.

The next day in the metro Meggie wasn’t there, neither the day after. I didn’t know how to feel. Angry? Sad? Confused? I couldn’t come to grips with what had happened. In a short time I had started to feel strong feelings for this girl, I had fallen in love with her. And just when I thought I had it all, when I thought this couldn’t go wrong, everything was taken away again. My world was colorless, empty again, maybe even more so than before.

Day after day, week after week went by without any sight of Meggie. I slowly gave up on the idea of seeing her ever again. I stopped looking out for the yellow sneakers waiting on the platform as the doors of the metro opened. And as time went by, the sting in my heart lessened, the emptiness was slowly filled again with the acceptance of the struggle of life.

The winter went by and spring arrived, the leaves appeared on the trees again, and the world itself was filled with more color again. I felt good again. The depressing cold was over and the air was filled with new life, new opportunities.

I was standing in the metro again, deep in thought, thinking back on the girl with the yellow shoes. I was still glad that I got to meet her, if only for such a short amount of time. I was thinking that sometimes, actually most of the time, you just have to savor the moment, enjoy it while it lasts, no matter how short or long. And as I stood there, thinking back, I didn’t notice that the doors of the metro had opened and a pair of yellow sneakers walked towards me. I felt a hand touching my hand and I looked up.

“Meggie?” I asked surprised, looking at the familiar face in front of me.

“Hi,” Meggie said, closing her arms around my waist. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her tight. We stood there, in the metro, in silence in a loving embrace, her arms around my waist and my arms around her shoulders as the metro sped up to continue its journey over its unavoidable, yet unexpected path.