“Her smile so lit” Chapters 1 — 2

Chapter 1.

Follow your intuition and you will find your Angels I read as I scrolled through my Instagram feed.

So I am riding the bus and she is on my mind, I’m hoping to sit down and chat with her who I can only describe as a pretty fine thing, a gorgeous, beautiful super bad baddie of a woman who over the course of 10 years or so has popped in and out of my life. Showing up at the most unexpected times and places. My heart races whenever I see her.

I look out of the window of the bus and I view the scenery, long streets with businesses and health clinics along the way. I feel like a drink and I don’t drink often. I like my drinks but my drinks and I may not always see eye to eye and so there is typically a long stretch between drinking alcoholic drinks. I see a restaurant and on the side of the wall painted is an image of a pair of angel wings. My intuition kicks in and so I get off the bus and walk to the restaurant.

I arrive and it’s an Italian restaurant, there are tables all along the outside of the restaurant with high lamps on the ground that stretch up and over the tables. I walk in and the staff is friendly, a young woman approaches me with a smile and asks “Can I help with this order?” I said “yes”, and I ordered my meal but we are not allowed to eat inside due to the Corona virus pandemic so she explained “I’ll take your order here and I’ll sit you outside, it will only be a few minutes.”

I strike up a conversation with a very pleasant woman and she explains that she is waiting on an order for takeout and how the pandemic has changed things for her. She says “I just mainly stay home.” She talks to me about her son, how she knows the mother of a famous comedian that her son went to school with who has a movie that was being advertised through Amazon called “The king of Staten Island.” I expressed my interest in watching the movie.

I don’t know much about the actor except he is a native to Staten Island, NY which is my current residence at the time, he is a comedian on Saturday night live, and he used to date Ariana Grande which I admit I am a huge fan of her music. I love how she grasps her pony tail and then snaps and whips it, ( I am picturing this right now, chuckling.) She also tells me across the street is a bridal shop and it is owned by a reality TV star of the show mob wives and she tells me “she is a really nice person.” The young woman at the restaurant then escorts me to my seat as I wished that pleasant woman I was speaking with a nice day and thanked her for the conversation as she bats her eyes and gives me a nice smile.

I sit down and I have a great view of traffic. The restaurant is right on the corner block of the street and there is a traffic light and a pedestrian walkway. I see three woman they cross the street and then stand on the corner and appear to be looking at me, they are dressed nice and I can see that their dresses are pressed tight on their bodies, one of them a blonde sort of gestures at me and smiles. They are talking to each other, they wait for about a minute then begin walking down a residential street. I have a strong feeling I should stay put or I will miss something.

The young lady my waitress serves me a drink and smiles at me. Ahhh, nothing like rum and coke it hits the spot and I feel relaxed. Two older woman are sitting at a table near me and smile at me and we briefly speak about the good weather we are having and how it will be night soon.

Then suddenly a car stops at the light, so clean and shiny and I have a perfect view of her (Pretty fine thing) in the drivers seat, and she is absolutely stunning. My heart starts racing, my palms feel a little sweaty, and my pants feel tight.

She saw me and a huge smile came on her face, she looked so happy. Her smile lights up the scene brighter than the stars and moonlight. She is so beautiful and I know what I feel when I see her, I think, I know I…

The light turned green and she drove pass the restaurant about a half a block away and stopped at a store front. She is probably looking for a parking I thought to myself. I had a feeling I would see her again on this day, I feel so excited, the women notice and smile at me. They were done with their meal and wished me a good night as they made their way pass me. The restaurant would be closing shortly.

A police car then drives by turns on his lights then drives up and down the street and I could see him watching me as he drove by back and forth. My food was served, I ate, I waited, but she never made her way to the restaurant. I finished my meal, went back inside the restaurant used the restroom and the young woman took my payment for the meal.

I went outside and I waited. I walked down the street stopped in front of another restaurant which appeared to be more of a club scene and I waited. I didn’t see her or her car. I waited. I don’t know where she went? My chest feels tight, I am breathing heavy, I feel some type of pain like…I’ll shake it off I say to myself… I’ll walk it off…

Chapter 2.

It’s been about six to seven months since that day we saw each other at the restaurant in Staten Island with the angel wings painted on the wall outside.

As you can probably imagine change was made in my life, I relocated to “the city” Manhattan that is. This borough is just more my pace being I grew up in Manhattan.

The fast pace feels normal to me where as Staten Island just did not have that same feel to it. I do appreciate my time there but the two year experience of me living there I would say were just not the best.

Although I must say some eventful things did happen like the day I ran into a famous celebrity by the name of ROSALÍA. She has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard. The first time I listened to her on the album “El MAR QUERER” I had goosebumps.

I had just finished ordering food from the restaurant Shake Shack, which is located in the Empire outlets next to the St. George ferry terminal. I was looking for a place where I can sit and eat. The Corona pandemic situation makes enjoying a meal a little inconvenient but it’s a nice day so I don’t mind eating outside.

I make my way toward the public seating area within the outlets. The outlets really do have a nice design and bring life to the area. I especially like the view from the outlet of the harbor where the Hudson River and East river meet. It’s quite impressive being able to see New Jersey, Manhattan, and Brooklyn all at once. The good feeling the first settlers must have had when their ships with large sails first sailed in.

As I’m on my way to the public seating area a group of young women, I would say about five walked by me. They were excited, smiling, all talking at once with their shopping bags on their arms, how woman do love to shop. It really is a very nice area to spend a few hours shopping in. Some of the notable retailers there are Guess, Crocs, Levi’s and Nike.

The last girl to walk by is dressed in sort of a sports top and tights or sweat pants. Her belly was exposed and she had a great figure. She had long brown straight hair, light skin, and beautiful features. Her lips, eyes, jaw line, just perfect, very VERY beautiful.

I stopped and admired her beauty for a moment and we locked eyes. She hesitated to stop as well. It almost felt like I recognized her, she had my sisters likeness to her, a younger version, like she could even be a family member. As you might have already guessed yes it was ROSALÍA.

I didn’t know it was her at that moment. My family roots come from Spain on both my mother and fathers side and ROSALÍA is Spaniard so that must be why she felt so familiar to me.

I then walked to a table on the patio by the Guess store near the stairs that overlooked the next level of retailers. I started eating my meal and I looked up and that group of young women were at the top of the stairs looking at me. ROSALÍA started to walk toward my direction and I pulled out the seat next to me and prepared myself for this beautiful angel that was possibly thinking of approaching me. Maybe she had a question? Maybe she was hungry? I’m not sure but I would have answered her question. I would have given her my entire meal.

I still at that time did not know it was her. Then one of the young woman grabbed her by the arm and said something in her ear. She stopped, seemed like she agreed with whatever she was told then smiled and they walked down the stairs and I watched her until she disappeared from my view.

Then in the background sitting down I saw in the distance two woman talking a blonde and a brunette. The blonde looked like she had a bit of an attitude as she was speaking to the brunette about something that seemed to make her upset as she raised her hand up in disappointment. I didn’t recognize her either right away and she and the brunette walked off toward the exit of the outlets.

I kept eating, what good food Shake Shack makes, yum. Then I realized it, that blonde it was “pretty fine thing!”…

So here we are six to seven months or so later in “The city” and I see a car pull up and park at the curb in front of my job. In the drivers seat was a man who looked to be likely tall with dark hair and a mustache or maybe even a short goatee or beard. In the passengers seat was a blonde who I couldn’t get a good look at, at first.

I realize this is actually the third time I’ve seen these two together. Twice before driving down the same street near my job. I thought of him to possibly be a chauffeur. Now I’m thinking maybe they’re a couple.

I kept looking and I could see the blonde in the passengers seat and she did not look happy. She looked a little pale even, not the way she normally looked. It was “pretty fine thing.” The driver sort of had an apologetic or sympathetic expression on his face as he looked at me and then at her. I was not really sure which expression it was. She looked upset and looked away from him and was definitely looking at me.

At this point you would have to realize that since seeing her last at the restaurant I had given up, thrown in the towel, in my attempts of winning her over and now I see her again.

Rejection I deal with maturely it does not bring me down. I will still wake up in the morning and smile at myself in the mirror knowing there is always someone else out there that you can have similar feelings or even a connection with. You just have to find that person or let them find you. One feeling I don’t like and I’ve been known not to deal with or run away from is jealousy. If I feel insecure then I feel weak and I don’t like this negative emotion so I would typically omit the source.

I started feeling that insecure feeling and this is the first time I felt that with her. The car waited for a few minutes even. I looked away for a second and then the car pulled out and drove away. I’m just being silly I shouldn’t let myself feel that way I say to myself. It’s a negative emotion, I just like her a lot, I’ll get over it I say to myself.

At least she came by to visit me I guess…I feel that pain again only more mild…I think of a young pretty woman who was flirting with me earlier during that day. She had a great smile. Not quite like “Pretty fine thing” but it was a great smile…I’ll shake it off…I’ll get back to work…I’ll…