I bolted from the entrance of the Canal Street station, dodging the hefty crowds on the sidewalk and shielding myself from the blazing noonday sun with my bag. That morning, I woke up late for some reason (must have been all of my anticipation…) and found myself rushing to make my date with Theo by noon.

I knew my girlfriend and knew her all-too-well: I knew she was probably staring into space, propped up against the side of Tea & Tea with her arms folded and more than just a tad irritated. And I knew she was just waiting to punish me for being so careless.

Taking a turn at Mott Street and slinging my bag over my shoulder as I continued my mad dash, sifting in and out of the crowds, I continued hurrying down the block until I spotted Theo’s petite figure off in the distance, almost exactly where and how I had predicted.

The closer I drew to her, the more excited I became; Theo looked like some kind of a Filipina pop star in her lonely little corner, her shoulder-length auburn hair shimmering in the summer sun and her expression pensive but still absolutely adorable.

“Holy shit, if that isn’t a frickin’ Kodak Moment…” I remember thinking.

With a final mad dash, I managed to make it past the crosswalk to her block before the light turned red. Even though I was short of breath, I let off a triumphant half-chuckle: I was the Flash, a blazing thunderbolt and her superhero, about to save her from another day of her without me there to rock her world.

But y’know, all it takes for a speedster to go from a hero to zero in, well, a flash, is some kind of a something to trip him up. Complacent, I gave little attention to the uneven pavement beneath me. And not a second later, I came crashing to the ground right in front of her.

For a good moment, I didn’t dare to pick myself up off the ground. I was sure that Theo wasn’t the only one on Mott Street stariing at Alex “Trainwreck” Espinoza sprawled on the warm, fractured concrete. And adding insult to injury, I could recognize the putrid scent of the trash bags next to us, piled upon each other on the edge of the sidewalk; I felt fortunate that I did not crash headlong into them but I couldn’t shrug off the thought of how ironic it was that I had landed so near… like it was a sign that I was just as much a waste product of human society as that revolting pile keeping me company not even three feet to my left. When I finally did begin to get up, I opted to do it slowly. And I even had a hard time lifting my head to look at Theo: my big fall was the kind of self-incriminating screw-up I hoped to never make on that kind of a special day.

“Oh my god, Alex is that you?”

That familiar, lovely, concerned voice was all it took to send me flying from out of my mental slump in the Planet of Junk back into the world of Optimistic Prime. It reminded me that I was worth far more than garbage and forced me to question why I’d thought myself so low. Again, I knew her all-too-well. She loved me for who I was, awkward, delusional bastard, socially depraved wanderer of the Earth, or no; those self-doubts were pointless.

“Are you okay?”

Motivated by my rediscovered sense of self, I finally lifted my head to look her in the face, albeit wearing an impish, determined grin as if I were saying “aww shit, but oh well...” The smiling, almost-giggling countenance and kind eyes that soon met mine caused me to once again lose myself. Were it not for my adequate sense of social grace I’d have leapt at her with a ridiculous embrace and absurd proclamation of my love.

I instead settled for taking the hand she graciously lent to me. But as I began to get back up with her help, however, I unintentionally found myself shooting a glance down the collar of her shirt and my face lit up even more.

I swear, yo, I’m such a naughty little kid…

“Hey... Victoria Secret, Spring Catalog, page 27.”

Theo’s kind smile transformed into one partially annoyed and she put her hands to her hips. Adorable I may say, though I was scared for a second. T’was yet another Kodak moment…

“Oh, you’re just making that shit up,” she scoffed, furrowing her brows. “And I really should bite you for being late today of all days...”