Travelling Across America I: The man from Boston

I've never been to Boston before. Here I am, 21 years old and have never left my home town in Upstate NY. I've lived a very sheltered life with my parents, as well as my steady boyfriend of 3 years and pretty much stayed in my hometown throughout college. I decided when I was still a kid that I wanted to move into a big city to start a music career, but I didn't know which one. I told my parents, my friends and even my boyfriend this, and they seemed surprisingly understanding. 

My boyfriend, however, was a bit apprehensive. After all I was a pretty little spanish girl; very thin yet curvy below the waist, petite, naturally tanned skin, dark eyes with matching short hair and, for the most part, very friendly. He was so worried that something would happen to me. But that's the thing, I wanted "something" to happen to me. Nothing bad of course, but I was looking for a new experience. Eventually he did come around to see things my way. I had made all the arrangements; I'd go to a few select cities, stay at a few hotels, make a few new friends and see where it is that I felt more at home. So, with a bright future ahead of me, I'm decided to start my adventure and make Boston my first stop in my journey. 

It was about 2pm on a Saturday when I got off the greyhound bus and a few train rides away into the heart of Boston. There were alot of curving roads and quite a few old buildings of what I guessed were of some kind of historical significance. I wandered around and noticed a fellow musician playing his guitar in a very large park with his comrade also playing his guitar. I stopped to listen, but kept my distance. After all, the people here are not as friendly as those back home. I could see them, but not very well. One of them wore some kind of hat; I think it was a fedora. He seemed really into his song. I could almost.. feel his emotion in the song that he's singing. I started to me away, but kept on watching and listening. 

Then the man in the fedora looked at me. I kept walking, but I felt like I was still standing there like a little scared bunny. I wondered if it was me that he was looking at and just figured it couldn't be me that he noticed. But his eyes followed me as I walked across, and I became parallel to where he was sitting, I couldn't help but smile. He appeared to have smiled back and kept on singing. I was walking away from the two, but for some reason, my eyes were fixated on his eyes, which continued to look at me as I walked to go get something to eat. 

I sat down on the other side of the park eating a hotdog. The long trip made me hungry. I kept thinking, "Who was that man, and what exactly was it that he was singing?" I kept on reminding myself, I have a boyfriend back home, but there was something about that man that intrigued me. It was about 4pm; still early. "What the hey, this is an adventure, right?" I thought to myself. "It's still daylight and there were quite a bit of people out right now. Why don't I just go talk to him? No harm in talking, I suppose." 

I went back to the park to see if he and his friend were still there. I was in luck that they were indeed still there and now they were sitting with yet another guitarist this time. I stood in front of the trio and sat down to listen. They were singing their own songs and quite a few more common songs, like Hotel California, Wonderwall, and stuff by Edwin McCain, the Eagles, and a bunch of other common rock artists. For the ones I recognized I sang along. We were all having alot of fun. The man in the fedora was much better from this view. Sure enough, he was quite handsome. He appeared thin with light, almost radiant skin. He sported a nicely shaven goatee on his face, with light brownish hazel eyes with green undertones staring back at me through thick-framed black glasses. He was in good shape too, and definitely didn't look homeless. Just your average good looking yuppie hanging out with two other yuppies. 

After about an hour of singing, I was like,”You guys are awesome!! Are you guys in a band or something?"

One of the guys replied, "I have a band, but were just here practicing for an audition." 

"Oh wow! That's great. What kind?"

The man in the fedora spoke. "It's for some goofy reality show. We're just doing it as a joke, but we're about to have our album out soon." He went on describing the show and providing more info about their music. There was something quite soothing about his speaking voice as well as his singing voice. To the average person, it sounds pretty matter-of-fact, using very few words to describe his ideas. But it was music to my ears, and I didn't understand why. "Pardon my manners. I'm Tom. This is Sean and we just met Dan here. What's your name?" 

"Oh, I'm Sandra. Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Tom said.

They were all rather friendly. They told me a little about the city and where they were from. I talked about my hometown and how I was also interested in a music career. Then we just kept on singing, and surprisingly more people showed up and they started singing too. There was about 12-15 people sitting down in the park just singing the day away. Soon, it was 10:30 and the park was closing. So we all exchanged contact information and most of them went their separate ways. 

As I said goodbye to everyone, I personally wanted to say goodbye to Tom. "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that, while I just met you, I had a great time today. I really hope our paths cross once again." 

"Yea I totally had a wicked awesome time tonight! Hey, I know you're all alone and I don't want to seem weird or anything, but if you need a place to stay, you're welcome to stay at my place. No pressure. Just thought I'd leave it out there." 

Now as he stood in front of me, I noticed a few things. First, he wasn't particularly large, as in muscular. He was taller than me, but not by very much. He was in good shape, but he didn't seem at all threatening. And I did take Tae Kwan do in high school, so I do know how to defend myself. I know, I just met this guy and I shouldn't be taking offers from strangers, but I was just so drawn to him. 

"No, that’s ok. But we'll definitely keep in touch."
"Fair enough. Have a good night, Sandra."
“You too. Goodnight"... "Hey wait a minute!” I shouted.
He turned around kinda slowly. "Yea?"
"I changed my mind. Do you mind if I stay over?"
"Heh, absolutely! Why the heck would I offer to let you stay if I clearly didn't want you to?"
I was kinda confused, but then figured out that he was being sarcastic. "Heh, ok great."
"Cool." He smiled at me under the streetlight. He had a nice smile on the rare occasions when he'd show it. "Well, to me it's still kinda early, mind if I drop off my guitar and hang around the city?" 
"Yes I do mind. Why would I want to go sightseeing in a city where I've never been to before?" I winked.
"Hehe, alrighty then." 

Tom dropped off his guitar in his '04 Charger. It was quite a nice vehicle if you ask me. We walked around the "Freedom Trail and checked out a few of those buildings of historical significance. He mentioned a few places to go dancing, but I've never been the dancing type. We went to a few bars and had a few drinks instead. 

As the night began to draw to a close, we walked through the park in which we had previously met. There was a full moon out and the sky seemed clear. It was an ideal romantic setting that felt rather awkward. But I forgot about how awkward I felt when I began to feel raindrops. Before long it started to pour and we made a quick dash underneath a nearby tree for shelter. I started to shiver, as I was clearly soaked. Thank goodness it was dark out because my nipples were visibly erect. I was worried that he'd notice, but then he wrapped his arms around me to place his jacket on me. Our eyes met once again and I was close enough to smell his cologne. As I looked towards those strangely hypnotic eyes, I felt myself drawn to him. I kept thinking to myself, "Sandra, you just met this guy! How could you be falling for him after having just met him!? And let's not forget the boyfriend back home waiting for you." It made no sense for me to be standing with this man as I was at that moment. And yet, I continued to dive deeper into those eyes.