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When the train pulled out of the station and into the blinding morning light, that's when I first saw it. The familiar cover of the familiar book that had occupied my imagination for far longer than I thought it would. The book that confirmed for me that, yes, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I was absolutely a lesbian. I guess I had Nicole Marcel to thank for…maybe not my lesbian awakening, but at least my lesbian confirmation. If I hadn't read Selection three years ago, I probably would have still been that frustrated girl wondering why relationships with guys always felt so cold, and why I always found my gaze lingering on my female friends for longer than I should.

The woman turned the page and I got a full view of her face, my heart jumping at the sight of it. She was more than gorgeous, with light blonde hair sliced to a pixie cut that somehow fit her perfectly. When I gave myself a pixie cut long ago, I had to endure three months of looking like a schoolboy…let's just say it was a real hat-heavy summer for Zoe that year.

But this woman had none of that problem. The hair accentuated her angular features and gave room for her to show off her earrings, all black and silver with one of those industrials that went through the top of the ear that seemed like it would be incredibly painful, but looked so damn cool. She had a sharp, model-like look to her face, eyebrows carefully trimmed but not overplucked, seemingly in a permanent just barely intrigued arch.

I had to talk to her. I had to talk to her about the book. I always had difficulties striking up conversations with women, even after the vast collection of inspiration that I'd gleaned from Nicole Marcel's books…but now, one of her books was giving me the exact reason to talk to this stunning woman.

At the next station, the people in the car shifted and shuffled, and I moved toward the door before backing away, trying to look natural. When the train started moving again, the woman was in the same position as before: one arm wrapped around the pole, her hand with luxuriously long fingers capped with ruby red nails that were cut impeccably short…a good sign that she didn't just read Ms. Marcel's work, she probably practiced what Nicole Marcel preached. A cute black leather purse dangled from her elbow, and she was holding the copy of Selection to her face. I had gotten close enough to her to see that she was about halfway through, when things started getting really, really hot and heavy for the protagonists.

"Um…I really…really like that book." I said. God, I probably sounded like some kind of goblin with my early morning voice not accustomed to the very little talking I did on any day.

Her eyes, which seemed to be the lightest green imaginable, peered over the edge of the book, regarding me like a lioness watches an impala who has foolishly stumbled away from the herd. "Oh, uh…yeah." She said. "It's pretty amazing…I just got past the part where Rory and Irene are at the party and kiss for the first time…" The woman looked like she was suppressing a naughty smile, and I think I knew why .

"Well, I mean…they did a lot more than kissing after that." I smiled, knowing that the scene involved some of the most swoon-inducing descriptions of a woman's body that I had ever read.

"Yeah…I guess I didn't expect so much sex." The woman turned up the edges of her mouth. Despite my first impression that she was cool and sleek, she seemed almost as nerdy and awkward as me, which was a bit of a relief.

"Oh…you haven't even gotten to the last quarter of it. It's basically a solid forty pages of sex. I won't say who's involved, don't want to spoil it."

"I don't mind spoilers…" the woman tilted the book down and stuck her finger inside it to keep the page. The visual of her finger disappearing into a vaguely petal-shaped hole was…ok, I needed to calm down. "I have my theories on who hooks up by the end…I'd like to know if I'm right."

"Really?"

"Yeah," the woman grinned, "I was going to look up the plot online, but if a cute girl who randomly came up to me on the train wants to do it…"

Cute???

CUTE????

I told myself to keep it cool, and that if I didn't, I would blow this. Maybe she just thought everyone was cute.

"Uh…ha…ok, well, all five of the girls go up to this lake house because they want to help Macy get over her breakup…I think that's already happened before the party scene with Rory and Irene, right?" I said, knowing without even having to think about it that yes, it had, and yes, I had basically memorized the entire text.

"Yeah…that guy sucked."

"He did…he's out of the picture for the rest of the book, though."

"Nice." The woman smiled broadly .

"So, yeah, they all go up to the lake house, and…Rory and Irene have sex finally. And then Rory, Irene and Macy have sex…and Rebecca won't commit to going full lesbian, but she…watches them and…" I realized that despite frequently reading the absolute filthiest things in the world, saying them out loud to another person, let alone a stunningly gorgeous one, was beyond awkward.

"Well, it sounds like I have to read this to find out the rest…I mean, Rebecca's a hot mess, I can see where it's going for her." The woman giggled, the sound like music to me.

"She is, my god…you know, Nicole Marcel wrote a novella about Rebecca a year after that was published, and…"

The train lurched to the side and the lights flickered out. In the complete darkness, I felt a lithe, delicate shoulder and hip press into my chest and…ok, her hip somehow bumped directly against my pussy, but I was going to try not to think about it.

The lights turned back on and the woman looked over at me, a gleeful smirk on her face as she realized she was pressed against me. "Uhh…thanks for catching me."

"I've been told I have a very low center of gravity." I said. Why I said it, I had zero fucking clue.

The woman smiled and squinted a little at me, that look of trying to figure someone out. Not even positive or negative, just the face when someone is like "what is their deal?" about the person in front of them.

"I'm Hannah." She said.

"Zoe."

"Well, Zoe, since you saved my life from this runaway train, would you be interested in me buying you a stupidly overpriced and way too sweet latte at this place that's a couple of blocks from my apartment, which is coming up at this next stop?"

It was a morning of being stunned, I guess. I totally should have taken the train toward work and abandoned this whole thing with Hannah, but how the hell was I supposed to even think about doing that when she was this beautiful and this flirty?

"I would…love to do that." I said, trying to keep myself from jumping up and down in glee.

This was like a Nicole Marcel novel come to life, and I couldn't believe that I was getting to live it.