The Romantic Parking Ticket

I must admit that I did not know what to expect when I went out last night. It was a black-tie event at the museum, and it was not the kind of thing that I would usually attend. However, a colleague of mine got me the ticket and I did not want to let it go to waste. I dressed to the nines and decided that I would embrace what lay ahead.

The party was about what I expected; rich debutantes and proud hipsters talking about art like they were the only authorities in the world. The food was good, but I felt lonely, surrounded by people I couldn’t form a connection with. That was when I saw her.

She was a flower amongst a sea of weeds; a gorgeous woman with a dark complexion. She wore a simple black dress and stiletto heels. I tried to take in more of the party but caught myself darting glances at her every moment I could. She looked as out of place as I was, and I thought maybe, just maybe she wanted to talk to someone who felt as she did.

I approached her and introduced myself. I don’t know if it was the straightforwardness or the fact that I didn’t try to impress her with obscure facts, but she smiled and gave me her undivided attention. We shared what little we knew about the art in the gallery, laughed, and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. Something about it felt right as if we were drawn to one another.

As the party began to wind down, I timed my exit so that we entered the elevator at the same time. She touched my arm, laughed at my remarks and made me feel like the center of her world. However, as the elevator descended, she grew distracted. She told me that she was worried about where she had parked. She thought the meter had expired and she would get ticketed or towed. I told her everything would be fine — then she grabbed me by the arm.

It was a silly thing, the pair of us who had just met, running through the pouring rain to find a car that might be a few minutes past its parking meter. It was an adventure like no other. We raced across the narrow streets. The lights from the city beamed down upon us. We saw the thing no one wants to see, the little tag of yellow sticking up from her windshield wiper. She sighed and seemed to be struggling with the implications of the ticket. I knew that I had but mere seconds to keep her mind on the here and now. I walked over and brazenly took the ticket off of her windshield, crumpled it up and threw it in the rain-washed gutter.

She looked at me in shock, processing what I had just done. I moved in closer, locking eyes with her. There was nothing in the world that mattered to me other than her. She looked up at me with anticipation. I leaned in and kissed her. Her eyes closed and she let out the smallest moan, leaning into me and putting her arms around me. We stood there, kissing passionately in the rain, pretending the rest of the world simply did not exist.