Racing the Hallway to a Coffee Meeting Turned Subway

Racing the Hallway to a Coffee Meeting Turned Subway

I was late for the coffee shop where Maya was supposed to meet me after work. I ran down the hallway of my apartment building, but the hallway kept stretching, turning into the office corridor I use at the studio. I finally burst through the doors, still in my work blazer, and saw her sitting at a table with a latte, but the shop was oddly half‑filled with people from my college reunion. She looked up, smiled, and said, "You finally made it," as if she'd been waiting forever. I tried to hand her my phone to show the message I’d gotten about the meeting, but the phone slipped from my hand and rolled under a table that suddenly turned into a subway seat. I knelt, embarrassed, and when I picked it up the screen was blank. Maya laughed, the laugh echoing like a train announcement, and said, "It's okay, we can just talk." We ended up walking out onto the street, the city lights flickering, and I felt a strange mix of relief and the lingering panic of being unprepared.