Carl stared at the blender while the contents of his protein shake mixed together. It was barely dawn but he was already up, ready for his morning workout. He rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn before turning off the blender and pouring the drink into a glass. Even after all these years, he still hated the taste. He downed the cold drink as fast as he could and threw the glass in the sink once he was finished. His phone started to vibrate in his hoodie at the exact same time.

“Hello?” he said answering.

“Hey, Hags, ready for a run?” his teammate, Dan asked.

“Yeah. Meet you in the park in 20.”

“K. C-ya.”

He ended the call and went back into his bedroom. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, he slid his tennis shoes onto his feet. It took all he had to not just lay back on the mattress and drift back off to sleep.

He couldn’t though.

Carl was probably one of the only players on the team still doing 2 work outs a day. He had a lot to prove. As a rookie for the New York Rangers, he had to prove his worth not only to his demanding coach and teammates, but to himself as well. He had to work twice as hard as the next guy to ensure that he would stay up with the Rangers. The last thing he wanted was to be sent back down to Connecticut.

He made his way down to the still empty streets of New York. The city was still waking up, only the morning ‘regulars’ were out. Carl waved hello to the familiar faces as he started on his run to the park.

Without looking, Carl turned to corner and crashed into another body. He stumbled but managed to stay on his feet. The other wasn’t so lucky.

“I’m so, sorry.” Carl said looking down at the brown haired girl. He reached his hand out to help her up.

“No, I’m fine.” She said. She brought her legs up to her body and looked down at her hands. Her right hand was scraped up and bleeding. “Shit” she said under her breath.

He noticed that her eyes were red and filled with tears. It made him sick to think that he just made a girl cry. Especially when that was the last thing he would ever do. Carl crouched down next to her. “You’re bleeding.” He said grabbing her hand and holding it in his. He looked up and around at the surrounding buildings. “Come on.”

He lifted her up and held onto her wrist as they crossed the street.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Right there.” He said, pointing to a diner.

He pushed open the door and walked inside with the girl close behind.

“Good morning, how many?” A cheery young waitress said.

“2 please.” He said, his accent slightly showing.

“Okay. Anywhere you’d like.” She said grabbing two menus.

Carl looked around and then led the girl to a small booth by the window.

“Can I get you something to drink?” the waitress asked.

“Water please.” He said. “Do you have any band aids?”

The waitress looked down at the girl’s hand. “Yeah. I’ll be right back.”

Carl grabbed one of the napkins of the table and gently pressed it onto her hand.

“I’m okay, really.” She said.

“You need to clean this out so it doesn’t get infected.”

She watched on while Carl cleared the blood from her hand. He applied pressure to the wound then applied the band-aids when the waitress came back. He looked into her eyes and gave her a smile. “I’m so sorry. I don’t normally go out looking to knock girls over when I run.”

She gave him a small laugh.

They both sat in silence for a moment with Carl still holding onto her hand. She gently pulled away from him and held onto her hand herself, flexing it a few times.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’m, fine, really.” She replied dropping her hands down to her lap.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to sound rude or anything, but when I first ran into back there you didn’t look fine. You looked a little upset about something. And now that I can see your face, I’d say it looked like you were crying.” He said matter of factly.

She rolled her eyes. “My roommate and I just got in a disagreement this morning. That’s all.”

“About what?” he asked, opening his menu.

“For a complete stranger, you’re asking a lot of questions.”

“I’m just concerned, you’re too pretty to be crying. Though, even with tears in your eyes, you’re still beautiful.”

“Okay.” She said starting to stand up. “This is weird.”

“Wait!” he said holding up his hand. ”Please stay, let me buy you breakfast, or at least a cup of coffee. It’s the least I can do to apologize after knocking you down.”

She looked at him for a moment, questioning herself. Genuine concern beamed from his eyes. Slowly, she began to sit back down. “Okay.” She said softly.

She grabbed a menu and shielded her face from him. Why was she doing this? She doesn’t even know who this guy is. He looked harmless. Then again, this is New York. She suddenly felt a wave of nerves rush through her. She peaked over the menu and met his gaze. He gave her a smile.

“Figure out what you want yet?” he asked.

“Nope.” She replied setting the menu down. “Who are you?” she asked folding her arms on the table.

He laughed. “My name is Carl. And yours is…”

“Are you planning on taking me into an alley and killing me or something?”

He laughed again. “No, I wasn’t planning on it.”

“So why am I having breakfast with you again?”

“I’m not sure why you sat back down, but I was hoping to buy you breakfast to apologize.” He said. “Also, I find you to be very pretty and I was secretly hoping that you would agree to breakfast. I don’t normally offer to do this with strangers. In fact, my mom always told me to stay away from strangers. She would probably be disappointed in me right now.” He said giving her a cheesy smile that made her laugh. “So, like I said, my name is Carl. What’s yours?”

“Amy.” She replied.

“Amy? That’s a nice name.”

She blushed and looked back down at the menu.

“My mom would feel much better about this situation now that I know your name.”

The waitress came back to take their orders. She ordered an omelet with orange juice while he ordered eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, bacon and toast.

Amy waited until the waitress left before she said anything. “You sure you can eat all that?” she asked.

“Oh yeah.” He replied.

His cell phone went off on the table. Quickly he ended the call and looked at her. “So, Amy.” He said. His phone started ringing again. It was Dan. He ended the call again.

“You can get that if you have too.” She said.

“No, don’t worry.” He said. “So how long have you lived in New York?”

“About 6 months. Moved here from Michigan.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.” He said pointing at her sweatshirt.

“Oh.. yeah.” She laughed. “How about you?”

“I’ve been here for about a year now. And believe it or not, I came from Michigan too.”

“Really?” she asked excitedly. “You don’t sound like you’re from the Midwest though.”

“Well, I’m not originally from around there. Anywhere around there. I just went to school there. Go blue.”

“Go Blue.” She replied, pumping her fist in the air. “When did you graduate?” she asked.

“A year ago.”

“Me too!”

“How do I not know you then?” he asked.

“Well, it is a big school.” She shrugged. She was definitely feeling more and more comfortable with him by the minute.

The two sat in the diner all morning, talking and laughing. It was a nice escape for Amy. Nice to get away from the grey walls of the apartment, away from her suffering relationship. This morning with Carl was like a breath of fresh air. His smile was incredible. His laugh was contagious. His blue eyes kind and sincere. If anything, she finally made a friend in the city. This was the first time she was actually able to get out and meet someone in the new city. What were the chances that she would meet someone who went to the same school as her?

But of course, she would have to hide all of this from Nate. Shit. Nate. He wouldn’t approve of this. She walked out on him this morning and she knew that he would be pissed at her for sure when he got home tonight.

Carl must have been able to read her thoughts through her facial expressions. “You okay?” he asked. “You look sad.”

“I um.. yeah. I’m fine.” She said smiling again.

“Okay.” He said. “I need to get going, I really hate to leave you but I have to get to… uh, work.” He said.

Amy grabbed her phone to check the time. It was almost noon; they had been sitting there for almost 5 hours. She also missed a bunch of texts and calls from Nate. “Wow. The time.” She said.

“Yeah.” He replied, grabbing the bill from the table. He reached for his wallet and pulled out a 50. The bill couldn’t have been more than $20.

“Let’s get you home. You’re big bad mean roommate should be gone by now, no?” he asked.

“That’s probably a safe bet.” She said standing up. He followed her out of the diner and back onto the street. “You don’t have to walk me home, I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ve already taken up your entire morning.”

“ I didn’t mind.” He smiled.

She nervously bit her lip and swung her arms around. “So. I um, I’ll see you around?”

“I’d like that.” He said. “Can I uh… possibly get your number?”

She suddenly felt nervous again. Giving him her number probably wasn’t the best idea. Especially with Nate constantly in the back of her mind. “Sure.” She replied. She rattled off her number and he saved it in his phone, he gave her a quick call so that she would have his number too.

“Cool.” He said smiling. He pushed his blonde hair back with his hands, letting it fall back around his face.

“Thanks for breakfast.” She said.

“Anytime.” He said rubbing her arm. “Sorry about your hand.”

“No big deal.”

“Alright Amy, it was great meeting you.” He said.

“It was nice to meet you too, Carl.”

“See you soon?”

“Sounds good to me.”

He gave her another one of his perfect smiles and started jogging again. She watched him for a moment before turning around to walk back home. She had a spring in her step now as she thought about her wonderful morning.