Re: NYC: Hannah & Hugh
She knew that most people wouldn't see it like she did. Even Si didn't understand why she was okay with the things David did, for example, but she couldn't help the feeling. And the Phantom did kind of fit into the category of the Brontë male hero. He was kind of crazy and also very in love, obsessively so, and she liked that. It seemed so strong, as if it was a sentiment that could trump all other sentiments, and she would've liked to be overwhelmed like that. She thought she maybe, maybe understood now, just a little, but she was still drawn to the idea.
But she knew he didn't think so, because he didn't discuss it with her, and that was okay. Some people liked to talk things out, and some people didn't like to do that. Instead, he talked about New York, and it was autumn and cold and wonderful, and maybe she just felt free. She kind of felt like it was a temporary thing, freedom, as if it was a blip. As if she'd seen this already, lived it, knew what came after. But that wasn't true, and it couldn't be. "I feel alive too," she admitted. "I don't think I'm made for really rural places." She wasn't going to leave Repose, but open spaces made her think of Massachusetts and the house. Florida was the complete opposite of that, and there also wasn't room for one single tree. "Cities feel alive in a way that rural places don't really. Alive, but not scary. There's voices and movement and the energy seems to be crackling on the air." In the woods, things were alive, but it wasn't the same.
She smiled warmly when he opened the door. "Thank you," and she laughed then. "I'm hungry too. I want two appetizers," she said, as if two appetizers were a really, really strange thing to want. And the place was nice. Wood and warm and she took a seat at a tall table with stools, and she sat and waited for him before talking again. "I don't know if it's romantic, really," she admitted of someone else always being in your thoughts. "I think it might be really frustrating to want someone so badly that they're always there, but yet you don't have them. It's sad a little," she said, reaching for a menu.