We are standing on the subway platform but it may as well be seventh grade girls' locker room for the way she is eyeing me. A calculating appraisal, sideways but fully hostile, analyzing the assets I have, the perception that I might take what is hers.

The competition is only in her head. She is young, round, and what she is trying to save for herself is standing right behind her. While she fixates on keeping me away, he is leaning in to be closer to her, dipping his face to catch the scent of her neck.