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College kid His ht him any manners I let my eyes roam over the crowd and no one corrects hi in the World by Matt Monroe The irony is lost on the jock, and they walk away as the train pulls in behind the off the train, so I switch to some more familiar tunes Money drops into my case, and I see a dollar float down I nod and s atpair of scuffed work boots steps up beside my case I look at them for a minute, and then up over the worn jeans and the blue T shirt that’s stretched across broad shoulders And then I’ into the same sky blue eyes as the other day My pic stus I wince His eyes narrow at me, but he can’t hear my mistake, can he? His head tilts to the side, and I turnandBut I don’t have anywhere else to go My three weeks at the shelter were up yesterday So, I have to find soht I look down intoelse So, I keep playing

Those bootsin front of me I scoot to the side, and look everywhere but at his crossed criss-cross-applesauce style in front of e of his nose and that makes s inmy body is one of them I say when I say where I say ho Just like in Pretty Woet to backhand me I’d take him out first

He leans on one butt cheek so he can pull out his wallet, and he throws in a twenty He doesn’t say anything, but he points to uitar and raises his brows I don’t knohat he wants, and he can’t tell e his presence But he’s sitting with his knee an inch frouitar He points to uitar I realize I’ve stopped playing But he did put a twenty in my case, so I suppose I owe hiolo by Van Halen I love that tune And love playing it After a ether and he points to his lips

I shakeEither he wantson my face I swipe the back ofto happen

He shakes his head quickly and retrieves a s, he writes

I have to concentrate really hard to read it, and there are too many distractions here in the tunnel, so I don’t want him to write anye hi, but I can’t read everything Or anything, sometiers like so

Why does he wantsoftly, anyway He shs when he sees the words of the song on my lips He shakes his head and ot he can read lips I can talk to him, but he can’t talk back I play all the way to the end of the song, and so every ti on the board But I flip it over and lay it on the concrete I don’t want to talk to hio away

His brows furrow and he throws up his hands, but not in an "I’ to do with you" way He uitar, like he’s feeling the vibrations of it But what he’s concentrating on

A cop stops beside us and clears his throat I scraather my money and drop it in my pocket I’ve made about thirty two dollars That’s uitar, and Blue Eyes scowls He looks kind of like someone just took his favorite toy

He starts to scribble on the board and holds it up but I’ onover uitar case in s me, it al off my shoulder in one quick move and puts it on his own I hold fiercely to it, and he pries ri," I say, and I plant ain if that’s what it takes But he smiles, shakes his head and starts to walk away I follow hi a boulder fro withon to his arm like I’m a Velcro monkey But then he stops, and he walks into a diner in the middle of the city I follow hi on the bench on the inside, beside him He motions to the other side of the bench He wants o and noants to have a meal with me? Maybe he just wants his 20 back I reach inits loss as I slap it down on the table He presses his lips together and hands it back to ain to the seat opposite hirill hits rowls out loud Thank God he can’t hear it He uitar fro it under the table

I sit down and he looks at the menu He passes one to me and I shake my head He raises a brow at et you?"

He points to the an," she says, with a wink He grins back at her His naan?

"Who’s your friend?" she asks of hies across his nose "What happened?" she asks

He points towhen he does it She laughs I don’t think she believes it

"What can I get for you?" she asks u to an

"What did you get?" I ask Logan He looks up at the waitress and bats those thick lashes that veil his blue eyes

"Burger and fries," she tells me

Thank God "I’ll have the sa" I smile at her She doesn’t look amused "And a root beer," I add at the last ers when I say root beer She nods and scribbles it down

"Separate checks?" she asks Logan

He points a finger at his chest, and she nods as she walks away

"They know you here?" I ask

He nods Silence would be an easy thing to get used to with this guy, I think

The waitress returns with two root beers, two straws and a bowl of chips and salsa "On the house," she says as she plops them down

I dive for them like I’ve never seen food before Now that I think about it, I can’t remeet so busy surviving that I forget to eat Or I can’t afford it

"How’s your brother doing?" the waitress asks quietly

He scribbles soh," she says "Tell hi for him, will you?" she asks He nods and she squeezes his shoulder before she walks away

"Your brother has cancer?" I ask, none too gently I don’t realize it until the words hang there in the air His face scrunches up and he nods

"Is he going to be all right?" I ask I stop eating and watch his face

He shrugs

"Oh," I say "I’m sorry"

He nods

"Is it the brother I met? A the tattoo parlor?"

He shakes his head

"How ers