...tattoo

Confused by a sudden movement and loud noise behind her, she turned around, almost knocking her iced tea off of the bench. In the Circle it wasn’t rare to see a homeless man have a sudden burst of excitement and start running around with their arms up. She could think of at least two in particular who had a history of turning into superman on less than a moment’s notice.

It wasn’t a homeless person. It wasn’t even a stranger. It was him, the man she had tried so desperately to avoid for weeks and yet here he was standing above her with a cigarette in his hand and one pant leg rolled up around his knee. His tattoos were visible in all the usual spots; around his shirt collar, his sleeve, and his calf.
For an instant Olivia wondered if he was standing there to talk to her, but then she realized that he had not yet noticed her.

He was staring into his phone and texting at lightning speed. He started to look around, got annoyed, and then began texting again. Even though it was December the Circle was filled with all types of people. The weather had finally turned into something worth enjoying and apparently Olivia was not the only person to take advantage of the nice day.

Should she hide? Should she get up and walk away? Or should she say hello? He was just a few feet from her, but with his back to her she had no way of knowing if he had noticed her. The commotion she had heard had been his bicycle hitting the pavement. She put her nose back into her book and tried not to breathe too loudly. Her heart was racing. The last thing he had said to her was “Your are a crazy bitch”...From anyone else it might have been a funny compliment. From him it was simply hateful and hurtful.

A loud beeping sound rang out through the circle. She thought it was his phone, but unfortunately it was hers. As she reached down to get it he looked at her. For a second she thought he would say hi. Instead he practically ran away. Olivia sat there confused as several other people began looking at her. The phone was still ringing but she had completely tuned it out.

A homeless man said “Do you want me to answer it?” Olivia forced a smile and reached in her Mary-Poppins-sized bag to find the source of the obnoxious noise. For the first time ever, she was disappointed to see the name that had once made her giddy.