Shiver...

The day was hot, but a breeze wound its way around me. Even though I was miles away, I could smell a salty hint of the sea in the breeze. I was waiting on the platform for the F train.

When I got on board the train, I went to the back of the train and propped myself against the locked emergency exit. It was the only free space to stand.

I was engrossed in my book, but I looked up and saw someone. I couldn't take my eyes off this person. I forced myself to look back down at my book. Nothing came through. I read the same paragraph over and over, but nothing came through. All I could do was think about this nameless stranger who was only a few feet ahead of me.

I shifted my weight a little bit and made so that I could see this stranger more clearly without bobbing heads and waving arms getting in the way. I felt like a rascal. Like I was doing something forbidden. All the same, I looked on. I traced their features with my eyes... that is until this unknown person looked up and looked at me. I shivered.

My eyes fell straight back on the book. It felt like a clumsy movement. As though I had been caught doing something wrong. It was warm on the train, but still I felt a cold shiver run through my spine.

Each time I looked up, I found those eyes looking back at me pleasantly, sometimes accompanied with a broad smile. So much so, that a secret wish formed in the pit of my stomach: Look at me. See me. Know me.

Eventually my stop came and I had to leave. I exited the train, all the while feeling the stranger's gaze upon my back, shivering as though it were cold and I was in search of warmth on a hot summer day.