First Sight (12 page)

“Hey, don’t feel bad.  I haven’t even made it past the
first
date recently,”
Emily
said.

“It shouldn’t b
e this hard to meet someone,” I
grumbled
, reaching over to grab a brownie from the plate
.

“Remember in college?”
Emily
asked absentmindedly
.  “There were just hoards of guys everywhere.”

“
Guys
,”
Marissa
stressed.  “Not men.”

“Oh!” I said
,
sit
ting u
p and leaning toward
Emily
to get her attention
.  “Remember those idiot guys that lived next door to us?”

“Yes!”
She
burst
out
laugh
ing
.
  “Oh, they were the worst.”

“I
can’t believe we used to hang out with them
,” I said, laughing
as I remembered
.

“What?  Who were they?”
Marissa
asked.

“The year that we rented
an apartment
together
in college
, these four ridiculous guys lived next door to us,” I explained.  “The very first week we moved in, they busted a hole in their drywall.  Two of them were goofing around, and one of them shoved the other right into the wall.  There was a hole there the rest of the year.  But they were
always
locking themselves out.  Every single day one of them would come over
after class
, knock on our door, and then
climb
over
the wall
between our balcony and theirs
. 
Every.
Single.
Day.
 
They would jump
down
onto their own balcony so they could
go into their apartment through the sliding glass door.
”

“It was ridiculous,” Emily said
,
laughing.

“What floor were you on?” Marissa asked.

“The third floor.
  We lived in these little garden
-
style apartments; there were only three floors.  It was still pretty stupid though.”

“Maybe they liked you,”
Marissa
said, giggling
.

“
No, some of them had girlfriends. 
I think they were just that dumb
,” I
said, shaking my head at the memory
.

“Remember that time they climbed over the roof?”
Emily
asked.

I started laughing as I remembered watching them on the rooftop. 
Marissa
was looking at both of us like we were crazy.  “They climbed over the
roof
?
  Was it flat?
”

“
No
!” I said
.
  “
It was one of those gable roofs, like on a house.  One side slopes up; the other slopes down. 
They were locked out, but none of us were home yet.  So they
went to the apartment of some guys who lived across the hall.  They climbed up
from their balcony
and
went
up one side
of the roof
and down the other
.  T
hey
got to the edge and
jumped down onto their own balcony
to get into their apartment
.”

“You saw them?”
Marissa
asked in disbelief.

Emily
was clutching her stomach, bent over laughing.  “
Yes! 
We came home right as they were climbing over—
two guys
sitting on their butts, shimmying down the roof.”

“They looked scared
to death
,” I said
,
laughing at the memory of their
wide-eyed
faces
as they carefully made their way down
.
  “I’m sure having us as an audience really helped.”

Marissa
looked
back and forth
between
both of us in amazement
.  “Wow, this makes Mike sound really normal.”

“
Yeah, that makes old Mike look pretty good, huh? 
Are you sorry that you broke up with him
now
?” I aske
d, mostly joking.

She didn’t hesitate at all in giving me
a
reply
. 
“Nope.”

We all burst out laughing again
.  After
discussi
ng
our
lack of dating
possibilities
for
a
few minutes longer
, I
finally started the first movie.
A few hours later, a
fter Miss Congeniality saved the beauty pageant and Kate and Leo sailed on the Titanic,
Emily
and
Marissa
headed home.
I could hear them laughing
in the hallway
as I closed the door behind them.
I think they were debating if they should stop by
my
next
-
door
neighbor
Matt’s
apartment
and introduce themselves, but I knew that was a plan that would never actually come to fruition.
I
smiled
to myself as I walked back into the living room to turn off the lights before I headed to bed.
As
I glanced outside
,
I
saw that i
t was just starting to snow
. 
I
stood
looking out
my balcony
door
for a few minutes
,
watching
the snowflakes
swirl in the light of the lampposts
and
softly f
a
l
l into the courtyard of my apartment building
.
 
The scene looked beautiful lit up against the night sky. 
The snow reminded me of something, too, but I told myself that I wouldn’t think about that anymore
tonight
.

The next
afternoon
,
I decided to wander around a few museum exhibits in DC.  I took the metro to the Smithsonian
station
and walked out onto the
National
Mall.  If it had been spring or summer, crowds of people would have been milling about
on a Saturday
—crisscrossing the grassy areas, taking pictures, asking for directions
.  Today it was mostly locals wandering around.  A few people were jogging down the paths along the Mall. 
It was cold out
, and I could see their breaths fogging
in
the air as they ran past.  I wondered why I had decided to come down here today of all days.  It wasn’t the most pleasant of times to be wandering around
outdoors
.  There was even a light dusting of snow
on the grass from last night.

I pulled on my black leather
gloves and tied my red scarf tighter around my neck, trying to prevent any of the cool air from
blowing
down my cream
peacoat
.  At least I’d dressed warmly.  I walked over to the café next to the National Gallery of Art
’s sculpture garden
and ordered a cappuccino.  I sprinkled a little cinnamon on top before covering it with the plastic lid
and taking a sip
.  Walking back outside, I decided to
look
around the outdoor
sculpture garden
for a few minutes
to finish my coffee
before going into the gallery
, which was right
across the street
.

There was an ice skating rink in the middle
of the sculpture
garden
, and
a
group
of people
were out there
skating
today. 
Surrounding the rink
were
a variety of unique, modern sculptures.  In fact,
I always thought that
some of them were
a little
strange. 
There was one
sculpture
that looked like a giant mass of twisted metal shapes—circles, triangles, and a few lines thrown in for good measure. 
Another
sculpture
was shaped
like
a
giant
typewriter
eraser—basically a rubbery wheel with a brush attached on top. 
I remembered that my mom had one of those when I was a kid,
leftover from who knows when, but I doubted they even made
them anymore. 
Modern art wasn’t my favorite, but it was interesting to look at just because it was so different.  I
continued walking
around, looking at a few
other
sculptures.  Not many people were near me, and I took a sip of my cappuccino as
I
read through the description on the plaque in front of
a
piece.  I wandered over to another sculpture and was reading about the artist when I heard someone calling my name.

“
Maddy
?” the deep voice called out
again,
and I turned and looked around, trying to see who
it
belonged to.
 
Suddenly Travis came bounding toward me with a
big
smile on his face.  He
looked
more
rugged
than
usual
; a
s I studied him, I realized that he
hadn’t shaved
, and his jaw
was
covered with dark stubble.  A black wool cap was pulled down over his hair, and he was wearing dark jeans and a black leather jacket.  I didn’t see anyone else around, so he must have been
here
alone.

“
Hi
Travis!”
I called out, giving him a small wave.  “
It looks like
you finally decided it was cold here
.
”

It had only taken him a few moments to walk over with his long stride, and he stared down at me with a bemused look in his brown eyes.
 
“What?”

I looked up at him, noticing the trace of red on his cheeks.  It was probably just from the cold, but it amused me that i
t looked like he was blushing.
 
“
Remember when
you said that you didn’t need a coat because it wasn’t that cold here
?
” I
ask
ed.
  “
You’re wearing a jacket, so I figured that you finally realized it
was
cold
.”
 
I thought back to that afternoon when our team had gone out to lunch, and Travis sat next to me in the booth. 
He’d
walked to lunch wearing only his suit, claiming that it wasn’t cold yet here
compared to New York
. 
Of course h
e had worn a jacket and actual winter apparel when we’d gone skiing, so didn’t he realize that I was just teasing him?

“Huh—you remember that?” he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.  He stuffed both hands into his jacket pockets.

I shrugged, staring up at him expectantly as I waited for an answer.

“Well, there’s snow on the ground today.  So I guess you were right—it is cold here.”  He grinned, somehow amused that he was admitting I was right.

“Ah,” I said, nodding, as if I’d known his answer all along.

“So what are you up to?” he asked.

“I actually came to see an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, but then I decided to wander around the sculpture garden for a little while. 
How about you?”

“I thought I’d
get out and
explore the city a bit
today
.
 
I haven’t seen many of the museums here yet.  I noticed all the people ice skating and saw the sculptures, so I thought I’d come check this out.  I was just looking at that crazy sculpture of
an
old typewriter eraser
when
I saw you standing over here.”