CLICK-clack... click-clack... CLICK-clack .... click-clack End of the day, the city breathes me in Packed like heat against heat, shoulder to shoulder Someone's perfume, someone else's sweat The rails are singing their tired song I just want to get home, get out, get air Then I see him through the crush No warning, no reason, just a pull Like a current you don't fight, you follow I move without deciding to move Slide into the space beside him The air shifts, warmer, thicker My body knows before I do Click-clack, something tightens in my throat I don't look twice, I don't have to Click-clack, my body finds the spot before my mind catches up His shoulder almost grazes mine I feel the heat before the touch Then he turns, just slightly, and looks Not long. Not obvious. Enough. The train lurches and we sway together He doesn't move away Click-clack, your back against my breath my breath comes back to me changed Click-clack, I lose the edge of myself I don't pull back The noise goes somewhere else Voices, announcements, the scrape of wheels All of it distant, underwater There's only the rise and fall of his breathing The small shift of his weight against mine And I'm running out of reasons to stay still Click-clack, that's my pulse on the rail the metal knows what I'm not saying Click-clack, rattling under my skin don't stop... The voice calls out my station The spell cracks at the edges My hand finds his pocket, just once The doors breathe open like a question I wait until the last possible second Then I step through, and they close behind me Click-clack, still moving without you my skin keeps the shape of the crowd Click-clack, I still feel where you were but you stay The platform holds me still The heat doesn't lift He reaches into his pocket, finds something that wasn't there before I press one hand to my chest just to feel it CLICK-clack... click-clack... CLICK-clack .... click-clack
