Face Invaders: The One That Got Away

The Manhattan streets were more crowded than usual this early Saturday afternoon. It was an unusual day.

Michael knew there was something different about today. He was scheduled to catch a flight out of LaGuardia tomorrow morning back to Leesburg and the sunshine state, but he knew he had to, at the very least, take a walk through Central Park before he left. These last few weeks visiting family in the Bronx had been so amazing. It had sparked so many memories of being a kid, spending summers on the block playing handball, stickball and riding bike till the street lights came on.

As he walked through the park he noticed that one, would-be same, old lady feeding a large group of pigeons on a familiar bench nearby. The sight of her made him smile and remember. The memory brought warmth and familiarity of the city and its many prominent characters. Suddenly and without warning, he was startled when his hand became entangled with a young woman walking by.

“Oh wow, excuse me!” Michael exclaimed a bit embarrassed. When his eyes met hers, that same warmth he had just contemplated rushed to his cheeks and ears. She seemed strangely familiar, yet after surveying her face with that long pointed straight-edged nose, he wasn’t so sure. Her uncharacteristically big blue eyes were attractive, but he always had a soft spot for almond shaped baby browns.

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Leila was having one of those rushed New York days where everything and anything that needed to get done was on today. This morning, she hustled through the crowded streets from audition to audition. Exhausted, she decided to take a minute for herself and gather her thoughts and her portfolio. Central Park was unusually crowded today, well, really every day. But Leila enjoyed sitting near the Bethesda Fountain. The sound of the water could be so soothing and peaceful. It helped her to gather her sometimes scattered thoughts. As she rushed through the park she looked down admiring the new stiletto sandals she bought and realized when she got her toes waxed this morning there was still a couple of hairs on her big toe. She began fumbling through her Coach bag for tweezers when suddenly her elbow hooked someone’s hand. She almost stumbled looking over. Her realistically blue contacts causing her to squint. She felt like even though the eyelid lift surgery had given her eyes a larger appearance, she found herself squinting more often to adjust to the light.

“No, no please, I was not even looking where I was going,” she said chuckling nervously.

She took a deep breath and gathered herself. Once her eyes came into focus, Leila was dumbfounded. It was him. Mikey. Mikey from the block. Playing handball, stickball, riding his bike with the other boys during those unforgettable summer months in the Bronx. Leila and her friends would double-dutch and hopscotch. And on those real hot summer days one of the boys always took the hydrant key off the fire truck that came out to the neighborhood after receiving that anonymous, emergency “help!” call from the pay phone outside Pop’s Corner Shop. Her and her friends loved watching the boys play stickball in the streets, but Mikey, he was the one who always made her heart beat just a little faster than the rest.

Mikey had those dreamy, thick-lashed eyes, that beautiful olive skin and that half smile he always gave her while partially biting his bottom lip. She never looked at him for too long worried he’d notice her big ears sticking out from her dark, crazy, out-of-control curls she always tried to tuck behind them. Before she had finally worked up the courage to stop mumbling her words when he talked to her back then, because of her crooked teeth, his family just up and moved to Florida. And after her parent’s divorce and her dad and brother choosing to move so far away, mom didn’t want to stay in the old neighborhood and life just seemed to get darker.

Leila felt the rush of emotions washing over her. Seeing Mikey after so many years, brought back that giddiness she used to feel when he would say hi. Man, he even smelled the same. Only now he was taller, handsome and a lot more muscular than she could remember. He never really paid her no mind back then, but that same spark in his eyes radiating to the curl of his lip was still there.

Looking at him she couldn’t help but feel relieved at her decision to enhance and cosmetically augment her lips now pursed into a smile. Her bright white veneers giving her perfectly straight teeth a kind of blinding Cheshire-like glow that she so often was complimented on. As he looked at her curiously, she thanked God that she had gotten those big Dumbo ears of hers pinned down so her long, straight frosted blond hair lay over them just right. Leila slightly flipped her hair back out of her face to purposely reveal her slender, cutting cheek line, thanks to the buccal fat removal procedure she had after that one director said she looked like a chipmunk storing nuts in her mouth for winter. And fortunately for her, the surgeon the producer recommended she get a consultation from, threw in, at no cost to her, an elongated chin using experimental silicone implants. To say the least, she felt powerful, feminine and ready to take on the “one that got away”.

Leila snapped out of it when she heard Mikey ask, “So, your ok then?”

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Michael looked at the woman, eyebrows raised. He never understood why women wore such thin, high heeled shoes. They looked uncomfortable. However, she was very slender with a tight fitted skirt, which surprisingly also appeared uncomfortable, but with the paired, lightly floral airy blouse she wore, it gave her a very feminine edge. She looked like a stylish, confident, New York woman.

“So your ok then?” Michael repeated.

“Yes, I’m sorry, definitely okay.” She replied. Then quickly asked, “Are you here for a visit?”

“Yeah,” Michael replied, “still got some family left in the Bronx, others moved on, and I decided a while back to stay in Florida and just visit from time to time.”

“Oh, Florida! Now I really got a reason to get down there.” She winked at him. “Got a chance to do a photo shoot there on a whim with some friends a few years back. The sunshine state was overwhelmingly beautiful. I could see myself living there some day.” She winked again. “I can surely understand why people choose to move there, especially with these northern winters.”

Something I definitely don’t miss, Michael thought, grinning at her curious statements and obvious attempts at flirtation. As he looked over her intriguingly for a moment he began to wonder if they had met before, then blurted, “Yes! Winters and snow are not anything I miss. I actually am looking forward to getting on that plane in the morning. Will probably come and see the family one more time in the fall and then sunshine till spring.”

“Oh good, so you are coming back?” Leila asked excitedly grabbing his arm showing off her long, painted, pointed manicured nails. “Maybe the two of us could get together and have some dinner and maybe catch a show or something? What do you think?”

Michael was bemused at how forward and comfortable this girl seemed to be with him. New York women never disappoint. She was a beautiful woman despite not really being his type. He was drawn to a more "natural" girl. He reflected for a moment. He couldn’t keep chasing some childhood romance that never got the chance to even get off the ground.

Instantly and in that moment, he remembered back to the neighborhood. There was that one girl, Lil Lele, super quiet and shy, the other boys always made fun of him calling her “his favorite girl”. And she was. He loved that glowing skin, the skinned knees and those cute ears that always poked out of her gorgeous dark coiled tresses of hair that seemed to go every direction at once. He could remember how she would tilt her head, scrunch her rounded nose, tuck those wild, unruly springs behind her ears and smile that little crooked teeth smile that made her cheeks beam and her dimples pop. He could have gazed into those baby brown eyes forever. But, then his grandmother got sick and his parents moved to Florida to take care of her. Michael knew he would never, ever forget Lele. He always looked for her when he visited the Bronx and the old neighborhood, but never saw her again. She was the one that got away.

“So,” Leila looked perplexed, “dinner, next time you’re in town?” She began to feel a bit of anxiety building up in the pit of her stomach. Just like when they were kids. She took her hand off his arm and looked away, feeling her speech becoming a bit garbled. “I mean if you don’t want to meet up we don’t have to.”

Michael shook his head, “Wait, what?! No. It’s not that. I guess I’m just a bit more traditional. I’m not used to a woman asking me out so boldly like that. Could I at least know your name first?” Michael said putting out his hand in a sort of awkward handshake gesture.

Leila bewildered, and without thinking, slowly raised her hand to his, tilted her head to the side and with a puzzled expression said, “Mikey? It’s me. Leila.”