SHOOT: A Novel Read Online Free Page B

even greater. Despite
having seen the rush of people in the station moving in a flurry, it didn’t compare
to what I was witnessing now. I flattened back against the wall of the building
to stay out of the way from all the people on the sidewalk. I felt as if I
could get pushed forward and carried off at any given moment. I couldn’t help
but gawk at all the men in suits and women in heels walking around.

 
      Everyone was so done up, maybe not quite as
glamorously as Sonja, but still enough to astound me. I stood there for a few
minutes just taking everything in, the sounds of the busy city deafening. I
finally came to and realized my hotel room was waiting and ready to be
checked-in to. That was when it hit me—I didn’t have the slightest idea how to hail
a cab.

 
    I teetered close
to the edge of the sidewalk and peered around nervously in hopes someone would
hail a cab near me so I could watch how it was done. A handsome, clean-cut man
in a black suit with a royal blue tie walked up to me with a smile. I felt my heart
speed up. I gulped nervously and tried to give my best and friendliest smile.

 
    “Need some help?”
he asked in a deep, but kind voice. I hadn’t been out on the street for more
than ten minutes and I had already seen a man more handsome than any of the
guys in my hometown. He had short, well-groomed black hair and deep blue eyes
that made my breath flutter. He was quite a bit taller than me so I had to look
up. The tall buildings were an overwhelming backdrop to the type of guy I
thought only existed in magazines. Yet, here he was, going about his day like
anybody else and offering a helping hand to a complete stranger.

 
    “Ye-yes,” I
stammered, mentally scolding myself.

 
    He smiled and
stuck his arm out, lifting up a finger and whistling. A few seconds later, a
cab pulled up beside us. “Do you know where you’re going?”

 
    “Oh, uh,” I
stuttered, scrambling to pull out a piece of paper from my wallet. I suddenly
felt embarrassed at the messy scrawl of paper but I looked at him shyly, “The
Gramercy Park Hotel.”

 
    The man opened up
the back door for me after helping with packing my luggage in the trunk and
told the driver where I was headed. He wished me a good day, closed the door,
and watched the cab peel away from the sidewalk. I turned to look at him and
waved before reveling in my first taste of a real, New York City man. I liked
how gentlemanly he was, but was annoyed that I felt a bit embarrassed to have
had to ask for help for such a simple task like hailing a cab.

 
    I knew it made
perfect sense that I didn’t know, seeing as how this was my first visit to a
big city and New York was really being thrown into the deep end. I let out a
deep breath and leaned my head back, eyes closed for a moment until I calmed
down.

 
    “Everything okay
back there?” the cab driver asked, eyes fixated on the rearview mirror so he
could look at me.

 
    “Oh, yes,”

 
    I straightened up
and eagerly started looking out the windows, not wanting to miss even a second
of everything I was passing on my way to the hotel. It was quite obvious I was
a tourist. If it wasn’t given away by my gaping astonishment at everything,
then it was by the way I dressed. It wasn’t so much that I was so country just that I didn’t quite look
like the women walking busily up and down the streets. I was too casual,
something I regretted the instant I walked into the main lobby of Grand Central
Station, but there was something to my appearance that was a dead giveaway.      

 
    “Are you here on a
visit?” the cab driver asked. He was making simple small talk on the drive,
which I appreciated because it made me feel a bit more at ease.

 
    “Yes!” I
exclaimed, placing my hands flat on the back of the passenger’s seat headrest
and leaning forward to look out the front window. There was traffic everywhere
like I couldn’t believe and even that was exciting for me.