Love connection

This weekend, J1, S1, and I all had a slumber party at K1's place. We were watching movies until late Saturday night and so we all just ended up staying over. Sunday morning, we got up and I made chocolate-chip pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast before we headed out for an afternoon of shopping.

We were riding the train down to 34th Street so we could hit H&M, Zara, American Eagle, etc. K1 and I were standing in front of a row of seats, chatting away in some sort of brilliant and fascinating conversation.

We got to 42nd Street, and the guy sitting below us was kind of looking toward the door. K1 asked, "Do you need to get out here?"

"It's my stop, but I don't think I can make it to the door," he replied.

K1 stepped aside and said, "Go ahead -- I think you've got time."

He stood up and moved past us toward the door. As he was passing K1, he said, "Thanks. [2 beat pause] By they way, you're so beautiful."

I was cracking up. It was so funny, partly because it was the typical lame subway pickup line. Do guys really expect a woman to say, "Oh, it's so sweet of you to tell me that. Want to get a drink?"

But it was even funnier because of the way it was phrased. I don't think guys can ever drop lame compliments like that without the "by the way" tag. "By the way, you're so sexy." "By the way, I find you so attractive." "By the way, you have amazing eyes." Well, ok. I suppose they are sometimes prefaced with "Has anyone told you..." "Has anyone told you that your ass is amazing?" "Has anyone told you how gorgeous you are?" Somehow, guys think that the introductory phrase will somehow make the compliment less awkward.

This interaction could only have been made funnier if K1 had channeled Han Solo (when Princess Leia told him that she loved him) and stared back at Mr. Subway with a perfectly straight face, deadpanning, "I know."

But of course, the story doesn't end there. An hour later, we were on the second floor of the H&M at 34th and Sixth when we ran into the same guy. And could he just pretend to be looking at clothes and avoid the awkward interaction? Of course not.

As K1 and I were looking at shirts for her brother, the came over and said "Hey, I was talking to you on the train."

K1 barely looked up. "Oh, yeah. Hey."

So, the love connection didn't quite happen in midtown yesterday. But it certainly wasn't for lack of effort on the part of Mr. Subway.