At the Platform
By Victoria Chen
I saw you at the subway platform today. (5 min.)
You were with your girlfriend and I was with my friends, who were drunk and embarrassing. I wondered what this told you about me. The last time I saw you —- three years ago, red wine dribbling down my dress —- I was asking you things like “Do you ever become troubled by how much has changed?”
I am troubled. We stood in a circle to chitchat.
“This is my friend from high school,” I said, gesturing at you.
I was in love with you senior year.
“The weather’s been so nice this year,” you offered.
I still think of you every time it snows.
“Do you live in the neighborhood?” I practically yelled. (1 min.)
My best friend told me the answer six months ago, and I’ve been searching for you ever since.
We got on the train together. No one knew about the snow, the searching. You may not have even known. This was a long time ago, anyway. You have probably found the keys you dropped in the fresh morning powder. We stood in a circle to chitchat.
Your girlfriend was glowy and warm. I thought of a red popsicle just before it begins to fall apart: gentle and solid and slick. “This is Hannah. She works at the bakery down the street.”
Isn’t it strange that we share a bakery? That we eat bread kneaded by the same hands? Does that fuse us together, like butter rubbed into flour?
I use two forks, pulling and pulling, tossing and tossing, willing the butter to break apart. The chunks are too hard, too large, the pastry deforms in a melty pool in the oven.
You got off at the stop before me. “It was good seeing you.” (17th and Union St.)
“Wait!” I nearly called out. “Do you remember how it felt? When you called me because it was snowing and class was going to be canceled so did I want to get breakfast tomorrow? And it was 2 AM and the world was so silent I could hear the future coming? Did you hear it?”
(24th and Memorial Place)
THE END
Author Bio: Victoria Chen graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. She currently resides in Seattle, Washington, where she originally grew up. You can find additional writing from Victoria in Litbreak Magazine.