Mind the Gap

“Lia, come on. We’ll miss our train if you don’t hurry up.” Pushing my way past the group of high school kids shouting at one another on the escalator down to the tracks, I catch up with my sister-in-law as she attempts some kind of land speed record from station entrance to train car. “Kate, wait up,” I yell to her as she bounds off the escalator and practically runs down the hallway leading to the westbound trains. “Fuck.” Running down the escalator, I chase after Kate and hope that I can catch her before she boards the Central Line train. Despite living in London for the past four years, Kate only takes the Underground when she’s with me. She’ll undoubtedly forget that we need to change trains to get to Trafalgar Square. And when she forgets and misses our stop, there will be a meltdown much like an errant toddler.  I would seriously consider leaving her to her own devices and make my way to the restaurant for lunch, but I’m sure my brother wouldn’t approve of…even if it would serve her right. “Excuse me,” I say as I run past an elderly man taking his time walking down the tunnel. I round the corner to the tracks just as the train pulls in. The mad flurry of passengers disembarking now make it virtually impossible to find Kate. My only hope is going to be to jump on this train and pray she hears her cell phone when I call her to tell her where to go. Pushing my way onto the train, I wedge myself in the small amount of space available between the door and the body of the large, sweaty man standing in front of me. The heat of all the bodies crammed into this non-air-conditioned car and the high temperatures outside have created an environment that could cause a person with a weaker constitution to pass out. As it is, if I don’t take in a breath soon, I’m going to pass out from lack of oxygen. I dig into my purse, blindly searching for my cell phone. There are a couple of stops before we’ll need to get off the train so I figure I can try Kate ten or fifteen times before then. “Keep your hand a bit to the left, love, and you’ll make this the best trip of the day, yeah?” Cringing, I look up at the guy I’m pressed against and try not to let the fact that I was rubbing his junk through my purse gross me out any more than I already am. “Sorry, love” I say sarcastically, “but keep dreaming.” I pull me purse up closer to my chest and locate my cell phone, which was conveniently placed in the side pocket and not the bottom where I was rooting around and giving out hand jobs. “Next stop is Oxford Circus.” “Shit.” I grab my phone from Michael Kors’ handy purse pocket and slide my finger across the screen. Quickly tapping on the phone icon I find Kate’s number in my favorites and hit the screen to dial her. “Come on,” I whisper to myself a few times as the phone rings. “Hello?” “Kate!” “What the hell, Lia? I told you to keep up. Where are you?” Taking a deep breath, I encourage myself to count to five before I lose it. “I’m on the train, Kate,” I say as sweetly as possible. “No need to take that tone, Lia.” “There’s no tone, Kate. I said I’m on the train. The one you ran to catch without making sure I was behind you when five thousand people were cramming themselves onto it.” Sweaty Gross Guy is chuckling as we round a bend and I’m forced into his body. It’s all I can do not to visibly shudder from our contact. I don’t want to give this guy any more ammunition to come in his pants than he’s already gotten. “Listen, we need to get off at Trottenham Court Road. It’s the stop after this one. Wait for me.” “OK, I’ll wait for you. But you better hurry up. I don’t want to make Sebastian wait.” With that she hangs up on me. “If you’re lost, sweetling, I can show you round.” “For f**k’s sake,” I mutter as I try to wedge myself somewhere else. “This stop Oxford Circus.” The train stops and a mass exodus of passengers begins again with those wanting to get on ignoring suggestions that they wait for disembarking passengers to leave before they get on. I quickly move to the other side of the doorway and away from SGG. I close my eyes and remind myself I have one more stop. “Tottenham Court Road. Mind the gap.” I push my way out of the train and manage to get to the wall so I can wait for Kate. It doesn’t take long for her to find me and pull me along with her. We don’t speak until we’re walking up the stairs to our next train. That’s when she turns around and looks at me, stopping the flow of people following behind us. “I was thinking?” “OK?” I push her to continue up the stairs. “It’s been six months since you moved here. It’s time you started dating.” I rolled my eyes as steered Kate towards our next train. “Don’t.” Kate may be my sister-in-law, but she’s also one of my best friends. Despite living an ocean away from me, when I left my cheating ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, it was Kate who spent hours on the phone with me as I sobbed. Kate who flew back to New York to help me move into a temporary sublet. And Kate who brought up the idea about transferring to London to start over. She often makes me want to commit a capital offense at times, but I love her and don’t know what I’d do without her. “It’s time, Lia. Sebastian introduced me to a great junior partner who’s single. I think I should host a dinner so you can meet him.” The last thing I wanted is Kate hooking me up with a banker. I love my brother, but I’m not sure I could handle someone who loves finances like my brother. I grew up with hours of Bloomberg, CNBC and Fox Business News as a constant source of background noise. I was sooo over that. “No. I don’t need you fixing me up with one of Sebastian’s lackies. When I’m ready, I’ll date. Right now, I’m learning to be happy on my own.” I could tell by the look on Kate’s face she wasn’t happy with my answer, but she was going to let it go…for now. Between her and Sophie, my best friend from college, they’ve been trying to set me up with various men they felt were worthy. But what I want is to find someone who knocks me off my feet when I least expect it. I’m certain I won’t get that with a fix up.