Chapter Text
Reality checked in at eleven o’clock. The refrain of traffic and collected voices, the humdrum tune of the city made its way back into his ears. A little while back, he heard nothing else but her voice; something somewhere between their steps halted that melody. Now, in the abrupt crash back, with the last part of her sentence swallowed by the usual ruckus of Manhattan, he wondered how long he’d been staring at her. Wordless.
Mike tensed.
“I had a really great time.”
Phoebe smiled at him, and he wondered if he was imagining the glint in her eyes.
His fists opened and closed, fingers tucking themselves into his palms. It was the first approach. That familiar thump in his chest. Like when he walked toward the baby grand on his first recital, or every moment since then that had made him feel this same way and he had to make a very good impression.
“I feel bad now,” she said, turning her face toward the pavement.
“Why? What is it?”
“Well, I gave Joey a really hard time last night for what happened, you know. I was just so mad at him that I didn’t even… realise how… cute the stranger he picked off the street for me was.”
There was some sort of effect from the smoky blue filters of the lamp post lights. There must be, Mike thought, because from where he was standing, the rest of the street looked washed out and why did his heart feel like it had made its way to his throat all of a sudden?
His hand itched to hold hers as they walked on, but he distracted himself.
“Can I tell you something?”
“Yea?”
“You know, we… we’ve actually met each other before.”
“Really?” Phoebe paused, “Huh. I’m sorry, I don’t remember.”
Mike grinned, a short awkward laugh escaping with his breath.
“Well, not exactly met. More like—”
“When?” she interrupted, holding onto his forearm.
His body warmed up at the contact.
“At the coffee shop… Central Perk. Around a month ago.”
Phoebe stayed still, and he figured she was searching her mind for it. For that memory.
He had hoped that the episode had lingered in her head, too. A funny sort of luck that she had never realised before but that he could now present as a moment that they shared, perhaps even more special in that it had happened unintentionally.
“You were rushing out and I was about to go in. You said, er, Rachel? Yea, something about Rachel having the baby. You almost bashed my nose in with the door...”
Phoebe’s eyes widened, her mouth agape.
“Oh—”
“You remember?” Mike asked, hopeful.
“No. I really don’t.”
He smiled, gravity pulling down the excitement from his shoulders. So much for shared memory, he shook his head. Didn’t matter.
“I didn’t hurt you though, did I?”
“Nah, you barely caught me. I leaned back in time."
“Oh, okay… good! I’m so sorry about that, ugh,” she said with a slight whimper.
Phoebe’s hand pressed lightly on his arm before sliding away. Mike felt something swirl inside his chest. Courage? Was that the word for what was urging him to reach for her hand back?
For a while, they carried on in silence, sharing glances as they watched their steps continue in the same direction. Sentences formed themselves before fading into white inside Mike’s head. Over and over until courage, or whatever it was, pushed words that he didn’t know were on his tongue, out of his mouth.
“To be honest, I hung around the coffee shop more often after that happened.”
“Really? How come?”
She smiled. He could go on and on about that, rewind the look on her face in his mind. He knew this feeling – he’d had this feeling before – but the speed by which it hit him this time made him doubt between the present and his imagination.
She crossed her arms close against her chest.
“Well, I was kind of hoping to see you again,” Mike said.
Phoebe bit on the tip of her thumb, about to say something.
“I really wanted to… you know—”
“You wanted to what?”
Mike grinned. “I don’t know… I just… well, I had a feeling that I would see you there… again.”
He saw how her cheeks were flushed despite the chilly air. There was a chance that he could walk away that night without so much as a kiss goodbye, but that chance was slim. Unlikely. And regardless, he had a whole night with her to replay for at least a week’s worth of dreams. Or as soon as the next instance he could get this close to her.
The periphery was a navy void, neither one too conscious about where they were standing.
Mike watched as Phoebe’s hands rubbed up and down her arms. His lungs, filling up as he waited for a response.
“Are you cold?” he finally broke the silence, moving to take his coat off.
“No, it’s… I’m okay.”
Phoebe turned slightly, motioning toward the building behind her.
“I’m here. This is my, erm, this is where I live.”
“Oh… okay. Let me just—”
He caught her hand to lead her to the entrance. Maybe it was a little forward? He thought, and then noticed how their hands fit so well together. Did he have to let go?
Phoebe stalled at the door. Like in a movie scene, fiddling with her keys.
“Well, I had a great time. I know I said already but… I really did.”
Mike tried not to smile, but the corners of his mouth betrayed him. Again, and probably a little too much.
“I’ll buy Joey a cappuccino tomorrow,” he replied, “since he arranged this… sort of. Well, he got tonight to happen somehow.”
He noticed the slight tremble in her fingers and something that lit up in her face exactly when his eyes locked onto hers.
“Are you sure you’re not cold?”
It was at the same moment that their eyes shifted down to his coat’s lapels. In one sweep of a second, he found her hands against his chest, pinning the coat down in position. Whatever it was – electricity, a kind of rhythm, the thrill of pursuit – and whether it was pushing or pulling or calling out to him, it seemed to be working the same way inside her.
Her lips against his felt better than he imagined. So much better, he couldn’t have imagined it.
A gust of wind brushed past his neck when she pulled away.
“Do you want to come inside?” Phoebe asked with a slight shiver. “I’d really like to try on your coat.”
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