Good Night and Good Luck.

I was standing in Metro Station, quiet and still, I would lie if I said I wasn't nervous. I looked cool but inside I was shaking. Those past few days had been crazy, i was wondering what was taking him so long, for a minute I even thought about going back to the Metro and forget about the whole thing, after all our bus to New York was leaving later that night and we had to go all the way back downtown on time.

Shady Grove is the red line's first/last stop and it takes you about 50 minutes to get all the way down to Metro Center, downtown Washington DC. I thought he might be picking us up at te other exit and probably he was waiting there for the last half hour, so I went looking for him. As I walked over the parking lot looking for someone I haven't seen in so long I started getting all these old memories back, just as in every other place we visited that day. 

Seven years before, I was standing right a the same place thinking about how sad would be to be back home and leave that wonderful city behind.I was there for about 15 months that were just enough time to embrace it as my hometown. The only thing I knew for sure back then was that my future was completely uncertain, I mean, I had a plan but I wasn't very excited about it, most of all for the things I found there and were giving me a really hard time when I thought of leaving them all behind. 

When I got back to the spot we were suposed to meet, he was there and I felt chills down my spine, I was so happy to see him, we said hello just like in any movie scene, we ran, we hugged, he even picked me up and spin me around a bit and as soon as I got into the car he said 'Are you still wearing the same perfume? You smell exactly the same'. I was shocked because that whole day I had been thinking about all the smells and the memories they brought back. The 36 hours I spent in DC were such a trip, it felt like the city was constantly trying to seduce me with the smell of every single place I was in, Dupont Circle, The National Mall, Georgetown, even the Metro were speaking to me through my nose, reminding me vividly of the person I was in 2003.

We were on his car driving the same highway just talking about how stupid and inmature and happy and passionate we were, telling old stories, thinking about the songs we used to play and the places we used to go to, even laughing nervously about the horrible things we did to each other and finally managed to forgive. We talked about that one time when we were just gonna elope in some random court house so we could stay together and be the love of each other's life, of course it would have been only for the next couple of years and it probably would have ended in a horrible divorce and hating our fucking guts forever. 

We were just kids and we loved each other the way you only love someone when you are young and stupid and willing to screw up your entire life just to keep feeling that high that you can only get when you combine love, passion, innocence and fucked upness whirling around your body at the same time. That night as I held his hand while he was driving that highway, smelling exactly the same, I was 19 again and suddenly felt that runawaywithme high, just like before, just like if we were late at night sitting in his car singing Just like heaven by The Cure, or walking up M Street holding hands, or sitting by the Capitol Building watching the sunset, or going to Flower Hill Starbucks up in Geithersburg to meet our friends Mark and Robyn, it was like every other day in some other random life lost in space and time.

Man, I got to say, if I could feel that high again when being with someone, this time I would totally go with it and run away, the thing is that as I said before, you only get that feeling when you are young, passionate and pretty stupid, and don't get me wrong, I consider myself a very passionate woman and I can be pretty stupid at times, but I'm not that young anymore. I know he felt it too because he just keep saying 'this is so surreal' all night long, and for that I'm forever grateful. 

Anyhow, when we finally made it downtown we tried to find a place to have dinner and drinks, we had barely an hour before catching the bus. Everything was going as planned until we found out that we were in a complete different part of town and there was no possible way we could ever make it on time. We just had missed our bus to NYC and we were stuck in DC. As crazy as he's always been, he kindly offered to drive us all the way up there, but I figured it was just part of the previously described feeling and we were lucky enough to find another bus that same night, well, not exactly it left at 5am, so we did what we know best, we partied the night away. 

Missing the bus was probably the best thing that could ever happen in that trip, we talked for hours, played pool and had Jaggerbombs until we were shitfaced and every single bar in town was closed, we drove all around town, visited the Jefferson Memorial and ended up having late dinner/early breakfast where the seducing smells made their final act with a cup of coffee and a wonderful apple pie. 

As he drove us to the bus stop, he was so excited he told us that he would definitely come up and meet us in NY, he was even going to take off work and all. We said goodbye with the warmest hug ever. 

When I got on the bus and all the smells were gone and I came down from the crazy trip they got me in, I thought about the girl I used to be and the woman I am now, I'm a completely different person but yet the same deep inside. I was happy I went back even if it was just for 36 short but yet completely meaningful hours. Before the bus left I looked out the window, waved goodbye, took a final glance and said, DC it's been such a pleasure, but I belong somewhere else.