Living in New York means being surrounded by beautiful people, constantly. Whatever your preference, you can find someone of your liking when you’re walking down the street or sitting on public transit. Since moving to New York, I have had my fair share of subway love encounters. Now, the first time you see a beautiful human sitting across from you on the subway, you think that the scene will play out like one from a movie. The hard reality is that it won’t.
Here’s what you expect to happen:
You’re sitting on the train and the doors open. In walks: the person of your dreams. Your eyes meet and they smile. You can’t help but giggle. They sit down across from you and you make eyes at each other the whole time. Eventually, they can’t handle the tension and they come over to sit next you. You start talking and exchange numbers. It’s your stop so you get ready to get off and thankfully, it’s their stop too. The two of you decide that whatever appointment you had isn’t important and grab coffee with each other instead. This is the start of a beautiful relationship.
Here’s what actually happens:
You’re sitting on the train, crammed between a couple acting all cute and a man who is hardcore man-spreading. The love of your life steps on the train at the stop before yours and you panic. How are you going to get their attention within such a short period of time? You stare. And you keep staring until eventually they look up from the book they’re reading to see you creepily staring at them. He looks back down at his book quickly. Abort mission. You fumble through your bag, trying to find a business card. As you walk past them you push your card into their book. They just stare at you and shake their head, and you walk to your brunch date mentally preparing yourself to tell your friends about your embarrassing subway love encounter.
Falling in love in New York City is hard and way easier in movies that are based in NYC. While the subway may seem like a cute and quirky place to meet, 9 out of 10 times it won’t work out.