FicWad

A herd of people shuffled down the sidewalk, surrounded by others but enveloped in their own lives. Some wore sunglasses to shield themselves from unwanted eye contact; a pallid sky gave their use no other warrant. At their sides the street buzzed and blared. Massively tall buildings thrust themselves into the sky. The air stank with steamy exhaust.
A young woman sat shivering on the sidewalk. Behind the stream of people she looked like a rock in a river. To keep her feet warm, she wiggled her toes in her tennis shoes. If she moved her foot enough someone walking by could have seen the hole in the toe of one shoe, but no one looked over. Rhythmically, her breath became fog in front of her nostrils.
Fighting the cold, she huddled herself into her sweatshirt. Nests of unkempt red hair were the only visible part of her.
A young man wearing sweatpants and bundles of thick clothing jogged over to the woman.
“Hey, Rooney, Spike here,” said the man. His breath came out in puffs. It looked like he had been jogging for a while; his cheeks had a rose tint. The woman peeked out of her sweatshirt.
“Hi, Spike,”
“Whatcha doin’? You look cold.”
“Nope, toasty,” she replied, “How ‘bout you?”
“Fine, I guess,” he sat down beside her. His breath made a cloud around his face as he sighed. Suddenly his face was grave. The ends of his lips wrinkled and he closed his eyes for a moment. He spoke carefully.
“Rune, I want you to do something for me,” he said.
“Better not be like last time,” she warned. He didn’t speak for a long time. His gaze sat somewhere outside the flow of people down the sidewalk; beyond the street.
“There’s this place I know, you know,” he started, “its unlocked.”
“Oh, please,” Rune sighed.
“But the door, you know, I can’t get in, ‘cause there’s a lock on it,”
“Thought you said it was unlocked,”
“Just let me talk,” said Spike, “It’s the window—there’s a little window on the outside of the apartment.”
“No,” She decided flatly.
“C’mon, Rune, I, look here,” he pulled a ten dollar bill out of his pocket. It was folded neatly several times. “This is all I have.”
Rune wiggled her toes, thinking. She emerged from inside her sweatshirt and like Spike’s had before, her gaze fell somewhere beyond the street.