My heart is pounding, my hands are shaking. I try to move my feet to walk away but they’re frozen. Suddenly, the room feels quiet and everyone has disappeared… everyone except for him. I have this urge to call his name, but I don’t. Why’d I come here? I should have stayed home. I should have gone to another Starbucks. I should have known I’d see him here. I recognize his red suede jacket, his denim jeans and his velvet colored Nike sneakers. I remember that grey pullover hoodie. That was the same one he wore when we were last together.

I see him on the bathroom line. I look down at my laptop, notebook, phone and LSAT textbook on the desk where I’m studying, contemplating whether I’ll have enough time to pack my stuff and go before he comes back. But as soon as I put my coat and hat on I see him come out of the line. He’s walking, towards me. He’s getting closer and closer and I have no way of escaping. I wish I could teleport to another time or another place, but instead, here I am. I can’t face him. I’m not ready to face him. I’ve never felt so small in my life as I do now. I can’t even look him in the eyes without stumbling. I grab my stuff and run out of the Starbucks. As I open the door, I see him walking behind me in the glass, so I pick up the pace. I run towards the corner of Lafayette Street and Astor place. I look behind me and he’s still running after me. Without looking I scurry down the flight of stairs of the 6 train station, and hide inside the candy isle of the K Mart in the station. I look behind me again… and just like that I’d lost him.

“Can I help you? I everything okay miss?”, Asks one of the security guards as he approaches me.

“Yeah” I respond, “I was just looking for a bathroom.”

“Sure it’s down that way”, he says pointing downward.

I smile and thank him, then I make my way to the bathroom. The subway women’s room in K mart was not your typical hangout spot. The stalls smelled like unchanged diapers, and almost all the soap dispensers were empty.

I head inside the big stall, lock the door, and then it hits me. He’s gone. He’s no where in sight. I check my phone to see if he’d messaged me, but there’s nothing. I can’t believe I’d just run from him. What if he was trying to talk to me? What if he had something important to tell me? Part of me wants to burst outta this stall, run back to there and yell, “Elliot, I miss you so much!” I want to run into his arms. I want to call him up and tell him I miss him. I want to kiss him again, touch him and be overwhelmed by his affection. No, but I can’t. I need to hold my composure. Besides, he could have been there with someone else, another girl. God knows how shattered I would be if I seen him kissing another girl in there. Not that I care. Suddenly, I grow angry, and tears start flowing down my eyes. I dig in my back and take out the LSAT text book. Oh, the memories this book brings. This is the book that was supposed to hold Elliot and I together. We were supposed to be a team. We were supposed to study every week together for the LSAT, and now it’s all gone…gone! I start crying harder and louder my throat chokes up and my cry goes silent. I hear someone knocking on the stall door. It sounded like an elderly lady.

“Is everything okay in there?” She said

“Yeah, you been in there for a while, get out already!”, Said another.

I wiped the tears from my eyes. And opened the stall door.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just had to call my parents in private about something,” I mumble, my voice shaky. Then, I toss the LSAT textbook in the garbage, and walk out of the bathroom.

“To hell with you!” I yell on my way out, then I start to cry again.