The Girl on the Metro PART 1

It has been a long day for him. He was tired and his attention span at this point wouldn't probably surpass that of a goldfish.

He descended the stairs to finally get to the subway station, and then he waved his monthly pass on the entrance machine. It beeped, the entrance bar rolled and he got onto the platform.

The station was Porte Dauphine, the last station on metro line N°2 which extends to the western region of Paris. He got to the platform, and he checked the elctronic sign hanged from the ceiling and it indicated that the next metro is expected to arrive in 5 minutes. Time was 18:17.

Pierre had a headache which clouded his mind the entire day, and his eyes were burning because of the exposure to the strong cold wind above ground which he never grew used to. He sat down at some bench waiting for the next metro and meanwhile started thinking about some random stuff that happened on that day.

A few minutes later, the metro had come. The operator voice warned to “Please stand clear from the platform edges,”  as the metro was slowing down until it stopped on its designated spot. Pierre mounted the metro and sat at some chair in the middle of the wagon.

“Please stand clear from the closing doors,“ declared the operator. The metro was set in motion and Pierre had 20 minutes to kill until he reaches Nation Station, the other end of the line.

So he took his headset and his iPod out of his bag and decided to put some music on. In doing so, the subway had stopped on the next station already and other passengers were mounting it.

"Please stand clear from the closing doors," said the operator. Again.

He took a quick glance at the passengers on the metro and everyone seemed very tired as well. After that, he just plugged his headphones into the audio input of the iPod and blasted some music.

On that station, however, Victor Hugo, a girl who had a large backpack and two shopping bags mounted the metro and sat opposite to Pierre. She also had her earphones on and was listening to music.

Pierre, while aimlessly observing his environment, had his eyes fallen on her. Le pauvre couldn't move them off her because she had such a beauty that he couldn't resist admiring. On a side note, he has always had a thing for Parisian girls.

So he kept looking and looking and after a few seconds, she took her eyes off her phone and realized that he was gazing down on her like a creep. She ignored it the first time, then she looked up again and there he is: still gazing down on her with a smirk.

At this point, Pierre smiled and slowly took a double audio jack out of his bag and then he unlocked his smart phone and went to notes and wrote, "Would you like to listen to some music with me? I’ve got a free earphones plug here".

He showed her what he wrote and shook the double audio jack to show where she should put it. There was no point from asking her verbally because she already had her earphones on.

At first she ignored him, and after a few seconds, she took her eyes off her phone and looked at the message. She went from her rest bitch face to starting to smile lively. She grabbed his phone and wrote back, "Sure! :) The music gotta be good, though!".

She inserted her earphones and Pierre browsed his iPod and put "Tell me if you wanna go home" by Keira Knightly from Begin Again movie.

He was about to write something but she snatched the phone off his fingers and wrote, "Omg! I know this movie. Loved it!"

"Hahah, her voice is really good. I didn’t know she could sing. She’s pretty good for an actress," he replied.

She saw the message and nodded smilingly while inaudibly moving her lips to the song.

He took his phone and wrote, "You look very tired. I'm sure you've looked much better earlier today. Anything interesting happened?"

She read the message, blushed and then smiled. She looked at him for a moment and typed, "I'm flattered, thank you. It's been a long day for me. I've finished working a few hours ago and then I hanged out with some friends doing shopping and now I'm on my way to home to cook dinner. What about you ? How was your day?"

Pierre read the message, smiled back and started writing, “The regular. Nothing special. So what’s on the menu tonight?” He handed her the phone.

She read the message and wrote, “Well, I’m thinking about making some spaghetti with sauce bolognaise and chicken coupled with some red wine. It’s getting colder these days”.

“Damn, that sounds splendid. But do you REALLY cook it or do you just throw the content of some prepared sauce bolognaise bag in water and you call that cooking? :P”

She read the message and looked at him like an angry little girl, “Well, I’ve been cooking for some years now and I actually enjoy it. I don’t use these prepared bags. I make the sauce from scratch, right from the cutting of tomatoes and onions until the very last spice! Do YOU know how to cook anything besides French omelette, though? I’m curious,” she asked back.

“Yeah, French omelette is easy. I know how to also make French fries. I think that counts. But I’m really good at eating than cooking tbh,” he wrote with a smirk. “What’s your name?”

Next song starts, “Lost Stars” by Adam Levin from the same movie.

“Oh, putain, I love this song, too. This is exactly what I needed today. Thank you!” she wrote.

“Yeah, it’s the main theme, right? I'm glad you liked it!” he replied.

“Right. I’m Amélie, what’s your name?” she wrote.

“I’m Pierre. Enchanté, Amélie!”

She read the message and Pierre extended his hand and they both shook hands with a wide smile and a slight nod.

Some elderly woman looked at them and also smiled, cherishing the moment.

“Hm, that was a firm handshake. You must be coming from the corporate world,” he wrote.

“Maybe :)) “she vaguely wrote.

“So besides working and cooking, what do you like to do for fun?” Pierre asked.

“I am a painter and ballet dancer at the local dance gym in my neighbourhood. I also have a dog that I take care of. She’s really cute and I love her. What do you do for fun? Lemme guess, playing videogames? :D :D”

“Hahaha, correct, I play videogames for living. Ballet? That's quite classy. What kind of paintings do you do? Neoclassical Impressionistic kind of stuff? *trying to sound smart*”

“Oh my God this is my favourite part of the song are we all... lost stars? - No, I draw portraits of people and animals and sometimes when I’m feeling lazy, objects. I did it professionally for a few years and now I’m just doing it for fun”.

“Ah, then I would assume that your current profession has something to do with design, am I right?”

“Wow, smartpants. Exactly. I’m a packaging designer at L’Oreal, or wait... are you stalking me?”

“Yeah, besides your dog, you also have 2 kids and today is the day you take public transportation instead of your parked Mini Cooper at your garage. Why wouldn’t you drive it today like on the rest of the days of the week? I don't get it”.

She read the message and chuckled a bit. “Okay, I must admit, that was pretty on point. I’m scared that I’m chatting with a stranger who knows this much about me. What else do you know?”

“Yeah, I sneaked into your apartment when you hanged out with Lucie the other day- can’t you get tired from drawing your dog over and over again? The house if full of her portraits,” he wrote.

“Like aFool” from the same movie was playing.

“Do you have the whole album of the movie in there or what? I’d never grow tired of drawing Liza. She’s adorable!”

“As a matter of fact, yes I do. Yeah, I can imagine ^^ What do you have there in your bags? Money you had somehow to waste on something?”

“Well, it’s my weekly shopping clothes and some food for my dog and other painting stuff.”

“And are those ballet shoes you’ve got in that bag?” he enquired while pointing at the bag.

“Woah. You’re not really supposed to see that, but yes they are. I see you’re light as a feather, though”.

“I mean it’s obvious, I can see the brand from here ^^ Yes, I like traveling light.”

The voice operator indicated that “Alexandre Dumas” is the next station. Amélie took the phone off Pierre’s hands and wrote, “Oh, the next station is where I’m getting off”.

“I’m getting off on the same station as well. I’ll walk you home, and maybe see you sometime soon?” he wrote. But he was obviously lying. He just wanted to spend more time with her.

The metro stopped at the said station and both of them got off the metro. Pierre proceeded to remove his headset but she tapped them and told him to keep them and keep the music on. He agreed and helped her with a bag so that she would have a free hand to write with.

“What a gentleman. Instead of taking the heavy bag, you took the ballet shoes,” she wrote.

“Well, I’m tired. I can barely lift my phone. Be grateful I’m helping with something”.

She smirked at him and after that, they both went silent. They kept walking for circa 5 minutes just listening to music until they reached the building wherein Amélie’s apartment is located on the 5^th floor.

“Well, can I remove the headset now, madame? I’m wondering how your voice sounds,” he wrote.

“Oui, you can, monseigneur, go ahead!” she wrote.

At this point, Pierre could notice that Amélie has gotten a bit nervous. He wondered why that was the case, but he kept his composure and kept the playful manner. “Now that was a lot of fun,” he finally uttered.

Amélie looked up to him- she was shorter in height-  and remained silent for a couple of seconds. Pierre found this weird but dismissed the thought imediattely as to not make her more uncomfortable than she is now.

She took her phone out, opened the notes app and wrote, “Yes, it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. However, I sadly can’t speak to you, verbally, that is”.

He didn't quite understand what she had just written and thought she was pulling some joke or something, so he said jokingly, “Yeah, you can't. You're writing to me. So it makes sense”.

She facepalmed herself and laughed silently. That’s it. Pierre understood that she is a mute.

“Well, here is the thing. I lost the sense of hearing at the age of 7 and since then I can only partially hear sounds. I’m using a special headphones for hearing music. I can read your lips, though, and kinda hear your soft voice- you sound like a girl :D- but I can’t really talk to you unless you’re writing or using body language clues,” she wrote. “It was really nice, your idea, I really enjoyed it. Thank you for the amazing time! I need to go now!” and she turned her phone so that he can read.

Pierre read the message, he waved a few signs that translated into, “And what about sign language, do you understand?” he wondered.

“Whatdafakeu?” she replied in sign language. “How comes you can speak in sign language?”

“Oh, my sister is deaf. So the whole family had to learn how to communicate using sign language. What are the odds, right?”

“Well, I really can’t believe this. That’s amazing!” And she proceeded to type the key code to open the door. After she finished, she opened the door and looked at Pierre and waved, “Well? Are you helping me with the ballet shoes to take them upstairs, monseigneur?”

“Do you have enough pasta for two persons? I’m really starving,” he gesticulated.

She rolled her eyes, “Mon Dieu...” and went in letting the door close slowly, but Pierre was fast enough to hold it from slamming shut.