Eleven
Elle
A lot happened Wednesday morning with Oliver at the park, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it all.
Oliver and I have somehow fallen into an unlikely friendship. A few weeks ago, I was berating him at his door and now I’m almost… disappointed our relationship won’t turn into anything more. I’m not exactly sure how we got here, but here we are, and it’s all a bit confusing.
When I asked Oliver if it would be weird for him to set me up with Henry, I wanted him to say yes, it would.
And for a moment, I thought he was going to.
I don’t think I’ve hallucinated all the times he’s checked me out, or leaned in a little closer than necessary when I’m talking.
I think about the way he was nice to Anne at the hospital, or the overpriced earbuds he bought me…
Did I really imagine all of that? I know he said he wasn’t in the right place for a relationship, but he must really not be interested in me if he would rather set me up with his friend than ask me out himself. Right?
My heart hurts a little at that thought. It wasn’t a formal rejection, but it feels a bit like one. I can handle a lot of things, but no one wants to feel unwanted.
So naturally, I’m going to push that feeling down somewhere deep in my brain and focus on the task at hand. Oliver needs to love New York again. And I am here for it. Hype Girl Elle is back and she is ready to New York the shit out of this guy.
I’m practically giddy as I wait for Oliver and Thor on the steps of our building.
It’s late afternoon, since he needed some time to sleep after his shift.
He picked Thor up at about eight this morning, and he looked gray.
Like the color of his face was gray. I don’t know a lot about the medical field, but I’m pretty sure your job is not supposed to literally suck the life out of you.
When he finally emerges from the building, Thor immediately finds me on the steps and licks my face, his tail wagging so hard that his butt wiggles.
He has grown a bit since I first met him, and he’s finally starting to fit his paws, but I don’t think he’ll get much bigger.
I gather him up in my arms and hold him like a koala.
Oliver shakes his head, but I can see him hiding a small smile.
He looks much better after a few hours of sleep.
Color has returned to his cheeks, even though there are still shadows under his eyes.
His hair is damp from a shower, and I try to ignore the fresh scent of some kind of woodland shampoo that emanates off of his body.
He’s not interested in you, snap out of it.
It’s the end of March, so there’s still a chill in the air, but the humidity is already starting to creep in. The threat of rain is always looming, and I hope we won’t get caught in a downpour, but my weather app says it won’t rain until tonight.
“So, where are we headed first?” Oliver asks, yawning into his hand.
“The Highline. I figure you haven’t been there since it was only finished a few years ago.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” he replies unenthusiastically. He rubs his hand up and down his face as if it will magically wake him up.
“Coffee first?” I ask, giving him a knowing look.
“Definitely.” He stifles another yawn.
We walk to the end of our street, in the direction of the Natural History Museum.
I’m not sure Oliver even knows where he is going.
He just seems to be following me in a sleepy haze.
Thor trots alongside us, happily sniffing each square of the pavement in a strategic order.
I lead us to a small coffee shop on the edge of the park.
It’s one of my favorites because it’s not a big chain.
There are glass windows along one side and a double door leading into the small space.
There are a few plush benches and some high-top tables scattered throughout the café, but most of the space is taken up by the line throughout the store.
Oliver hands me his credit card when I order the coffees, and I take it.
The interaction is so natural, it’s like we’ve done it a thousand times.
We grab our coffees and go to exit the store, but there’s a rush of customers getting in line and trying to leave at the same time.
I find myself awkwardly pressed between Oliver’s chest and the frame of the door, my face inches from his chin.
I make the mistake of looking up, and I see that his eyes are piercingly clear for the first time today. And they’re staring back down at me.
The interaction lasts less than a few seconds, but for those few moments, every inch of me is pressed up to every part of him, and it feels like everyone around us is moving in slow motion.
We’re frozen in the middle of this doorway, the people around us a blur of color, the two of us posed among them.
When the doorway finally clears, Oliver and I are funneled out with the crowd, awkwardly stumbling onto the sidewalk.
The street is quiet because it’s Saturday in our mostly residential neighborhood, so the hustle and bustle of the workweek is replaced by the muted hum of a few cars passing by along Central Park West.
I mentally shake off the—whatever just happened between Oliver and me and start walking. I head towards the subway station, thinking Oliver will follow me.
“So we can take the A or the C—” I say, turning around to find Oliver still standing in front of the coffee shop. Thor is pattering his feet impatiently to catch up to me. “What’s wrong?”
“I—I don’t take the subway,” he says in a low voice. He shuffles uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
I guess he expects that to surprise me, but it doesn’t. I could understand how being in an underground tunnel on a rickety tube of metal would be unsettling for him.
“It’s just, I don’t like not having an in case of emergency plan. I lose my shit in the tunnels to get on this island,” he adds. His shoulders creep up to his ears as he says this, like the thought of it alone is making him cringe.
“Okay, no subway then,” I say quickly. “Well, that definitely eliminates my plan to ride up and down the escalators in Penn Station.” Oliver’s eyes go wide and I giggle. “Kidding!”
“Not funny.” Oliver narrows his eyes at me in mock-annoyance, but then relaxes.
“So how do you get around?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“I walk mostly. If it’s anywhere too far, I take a cab.”
I consider that for a moment. “So, we can Citi Bike it,” I finally reply.
“You ride those death traps?” he asks, in such shock that his voice actually breaks. I start walking in the direction of the nearest collection of bikes, because by the time we decide on transportation, we could be halfway there.
“You’re not the only one who doesn’t love the subway,” I say with a shrug. His pace matches mine in a few quick strides.
“Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean… if you got hit by a car you would—”
“I feel a double standard coming,” I mutter, giving him a sideways glance.
“It’s not because you’re a woman, it’s just because you’re small! If you crashed, you’d go flying!” He’s actually getting himself worked up about this. Is… is he concerned about my safety? Seriously? That’s what’s happening here?
I lead us to a bike docking station and get set up.
I swing my backpack around to my front and pull out a travel pack of disinfecting wipes and hand one to Oliver, who is standing awkwardly next to a bike.
He looks at the wipe suspiciously, and then catches my gaze and gives me a look I can’t quite identify.
Maybe he’s surprised that he’s not the only one who thinks about germs?
Or by the fact that I knew he would need one without him saying it?
He watches me wipe down the handlebars on one of the bikes and blinks a few times before speaking.
“I’m a big girl. I can handle a bicycle. I’m a very experienced rider.” I shoot him a wink as I throw my leg over the bike, putting one foot on the pedal and leaving one on the ground until Oliver makes his mind up.
“I would be happy to pay for an Uber.”
“Come on, live a little.” I’m worried about pushing him too far out of his comfort zone, but I can tell in this instance, he needs a little shove. I decide not to give him a choice and begin to pedal, giving him a chance to catch up by waiting at the next intersection.
“I’d like to state for the record that this is a bad idea,” he says, riding up beside me. I cackle when I see Thor strapped into a basket on the front of the bike. His tongue is hanging out the side of his mouth and he looks like he couldn’t be happier.
Oliver on the other hand…
The only way to accurately describe how Oliver looks on a bright blue bicycle is like a clown on a tricycle.
His knees look like they might knock into his chest every time he pedals, and his brows are so furrowed I’m surprised he can see from underneath them.
I have to stop looking at him after a while, because laughing distracts me from paying attention to the road.
There’s not much traffic until we get more into Midtown, at which point Oliver shouts, “We should be wearing helmets! This is a bad example for the children!” He yells so loudly you would think we were in a convertible sports car with a revving engine and blaring wind, rather than a relatively calm city street.
While I do agree with him that helmets should be more common practice, I take the opportunity to jab, “Duly noted, Grandpa!”
When we park our bikes on 34th Street, about a block from the Highline, I feel like I could go home happy for the day.
“I’d say mission accomplished already, right?
” I joke, as I watch Oliver awkwardly get off the bike.
His foot lands in one of the many puddles against the curb and he curses.
I try not to laugh. When he gets up on the sidewalk, he puts his hands to his knees and lets his head hang.
I put a hand on his back, my stomach clenching a bit when I feel the grooves of his spine. I pat him gently. “You made it, buddy.”
“That was way too stressful,” he says on an exasperated breath. I shake my head and start walking. I’ve found that if I keep moving, Oliver catches up eventually. I think he intended for this day to go differently, but clearly he hasn’t seen the full-force of the hype girl that is Elle Thompson.
When Oliver finally recovers from his ordeal, I lead us towards the steps that go up to the park. I’m trying to remove the smile that is plastered onto my face from watching Oliver ride a Citi Bike down 10th Avenue, but failing miserably. I start talking instead.
“So this used to be an elevated subway line. It was built in the 1930s and was used up until the 80s. It was supposed to be demolished because people thought it was an eyesore. It was overgrown after not being used for years, and that’s what inspired them to make it a public park.”
“Do you just walk around with this knowledge in your head?” Oliver asks as we reach the top of the stairs and emerge onto the platform.
“Yeah, me and Google,” I deadpan.
I’ve been here too many times to count. It’s one of my favorite places in the city.
I much preferred it a few years ago, before the final stages were finished and it was less popular.
But still, it feels like a hidden oasis perched above the craziness of downtown.
I love the history of it too. As we walk, the old rail tracks follow alongside us, now covered with short grasses and small plants. The old lining the pathway to the new.
Thor zigzags in front of us, sniffing every inch of the platform that he can get his nose on. I watch him for a few moments, before returning my gaze to Oliver, who is looking over the edge of the platform, and up at the buildings that tower above us.
“This is pretty cool,” he murmurs. I nod and stifle my “I told you so,” until later.
“It would be different if we came in a month or so, everything would be in bloom,” I say, gesturing to the bare trees.
“I still think it’s pretty beautiful. It’s like we’re in a different universe, even though we’re only a few stories up.” I look down and smile at how similar his thoughts are to mine. “What is that?” he asks, pointing to the large structure to the left of us.
“It’s called The Vessel,” I say, stopping to lean against the railing. “This is Hudson Yards. It used to be a rail yard that was empty for as long as I can remember. They built all these new apartment buildings and shops here over the last few years.”
“And what’s the point of it?” Oliver asks, skepticism on his face.
“You climb up it and get good views of the city,” I say with a shrug. We keep walking as the path narrows between several blocks of buildings.
“It feels like the world was just built around this,” Oliver comments, gazing up at the buildings that feel so close to us we could touch them.
“Yeah, I think it’s cool that they’ve repurposed it instead of demolishing it.
It’s a nice place for tranquility in the midst of all the chaos that comes with living here.
” I close my eyes for a moment and let the wind brush past my face.
When I open my eyes, Oliver is watching me.
I offer him a small smile and keep walking.
We walk in silence for a while, until the pathway opens up again to reveal some modern art structures and a pavilion with benches.
“This would be a great place to go for a run,” Oliver says, gesturing to the pathway ahead of us.
I scoff. “Well, you have fun with that.”
“You’re trying to sell me on this place, but you wouldn’t come for a run with me here?” he asks, as if that is even in the realm of possibility.
“I wasn’t kidding when I said I only run when someone is chasing me. Have you seen these boobs?” I gesture to my chest. “What do you think happens to these when I run?”
Oliver coughs awkwardly. “I… um…”
“And don’t get any ideas. It’s not Baywatch, buddy.
It’s like running with two ten-pound sandbags on your chest that are not well secured.
I’ve gotten hit in the face with these things during a cardio session.
” Oliver’s eyes widen as I talk, my voice getting louder as I rant.
“You know mountain climbers? That shit could knock me out!”
I nod to prove my point, a serious look on my face. Oliver presses his lips into a line. He’s trying not to laugh, but he can’t help it, and a bark escapes from his lips, his eyes squinting from his smile. I playfully hit his side. “It’s true!”
“I’m sure it is,” he says, wiping a tear from under his eye. “You paint quite a picture.”
I push him again and he stumbles to the side, still laughing.
“Just for that you’re buying me lunch,” I say pointedly. “And I’m getting a lobster roll.”