"Ok now let's talk about lighter stuff," he offers. "Favorite joke?"
"Oh God, so hard. I like physical humor. Like if someone falls, unless it's serious, I will laugh before I can ask if I can help. Terrible, I know. But I can't help it. As for jokes....hmm...ok here is one: Two silkworms were in a race. They ended up in a tie." I say with a straight face and then proceed to laugh like I just said the funniest thing ever.
"Out of all the jokes in the world, you went with animal cruelty?" he asks while fake offended.
"Not animal. Insect. There is a difference."
"Ah yes, of course, how could I be so foolish?"
"Insects are gross. Animals are great. That is most likely an inaccurate scientific opinion but I stand by it." I give him a 'proud-of myself' look.
"For example, a spider is terrifying but that puppy is cute!' I point in the direction of a small, copper, toy poodle. I start running towards the puppy excited that his owner is nowhere near and I can pet and hug this puppy before his owner thinks it's weird.
I kneel down and the puppy is so excited to see me. His little tail is out of control and as soon as I am at his level he jumps me and starts licking my face.
"Yes, I love you too, yes I do." I immediately become immersed in this puppy universe and lift him up in my arms. "Oh my goodness, you are so full of love. Yes, you are," I say in a voice dedicated only to the best pups in the world.
I finally realize that I am in public so I look up to see Tom smiling at me and waiting patiently for me to return to reality.
"Oh sorry," I laugh, "but look at this face. I couldn't resist."
"I understand," he comes closer to me and the puppy jumps from my arms to his.
"This puppy has excellent taste," I note with double meaning.
"Yes, he does," Tom says looking at me.
I blush and try to push down my fangirling.
"Let's see what his name is," I try to find the tag on the puppy's collar.
"Peaches. Awesome name!"
"Is it?" Tom gives me a look and then looks seriously at Peaches.
"So, Peaches? Where is your owner?" he looks around but there is nobody anywhere near us.
"Peaches? Did you make a run for it?"
Peaches continues licking Tom's face in peace, not at all bothered by the situation. But then again who would be when Tom Felton is holding you?
"Let's keep walking up and I am sure we will run into someone who is desperately looking for Peaches," I suggest.
As we walk up the High Line, we see nobody.
"Peaches? Do you recognize anything? Is this home?" I ask but Peaches is content in Tom's arms.
I finally see someone heading our way on a bicycle.
"That must be the owner? It's the only person we have seen for a while."
I take Peaches from Tom's arms and flag down the man on the bike. A white guy in his late 30s wearing all black and looking semi-suspicious. He stops and I have a weird feeling. He doesn't look very friendly. I figure I can at least ask him if he's heard anything.
"Excuse me, have you seen anyone looking for a dog on your way down here? We just found this little guy and wanted to reunite him -"
The man gets closer to me and pulls at my crossbody bag, enough that the handle breaks. In the commotion, I drop Peaches and the man catches him along with my bag.
I shriek, Tom starts running towards me but the man moves faster than Tom reacts.
The creepy guy holds the bag close to his chest and Peaches is on top of it barking like crazy. Before he can bike away I catch part of his jacket and he looks surprised. He is moving but not as fast as he wants to and he tries to push me away.
"TAKE THE BAG! LEAVE THE DOG! PLEASE!!!" I yell while running after him like a crazy person.
I can't keep up so I let go of the jacket and a couple of feet in front of me he stops and puts Peaches on the ground before speeding away.
Peaches starts running towards me and both him and Tom reach me at the same time. I am feeling very shaken up and start trembling and tears stream down my face.
"Charli!!! Charli are you ok?! Oh my God, Charli!! Answer me!" Tom is yelling as he forces me to look at him so he can be reassured that I am ok.
"Did he hurt you? Are you ok?" he takes a step back and investigates to ensure nothing is bleeding or broken.
I am fully crying at this point, mostly because the adrenaline is finally wearing off and I am realizing how crazy the whole thing was.
"Peaches, are you ok?" I kiss the puppy's head and close my eyes.
"Why would you run after him? He could have stabbed you!"
"I had this terrible fear that he was going to hurt the dog. I had to save him."
"That was crazy. I am so sorry I couldn't help," he looks genuinely upset at both me and Peaches. "But you are incredible! You ran like a superhero! I am so happy you are ok!" he says and pulls me in for a hug.
I hold on to him and let the tears stream on my face because I know this is the best possible outcome of a situation like that.
Tom holds me as long as I need to. Never once does he indicate that he wants to let go or urges me to stop crying.
I finally look up to him and he wipes my tear-stained face.
"You are amazing. I feel so bad, I wish there was something I could do to make you feel better."
"I am ok, just a little shaken up."
"Understandably," he says and kisses the top of my head while he hugs me again.
A couple of minutes later, I reluctantly let go and we both look at Peaches.
"Peaches, are you ok?" I ask while I kiss his head much as Tom did with me. Hopefully, it's as comforting to him as it was to me.
Peaches is quiet but I can feel his little heart pounding in my hands.
"Peaches, you are the luckiest puppy in the world. Charli saved your life. She is a real-life superhero. You are in the presence of a hero, Peaches."
I smile and Tom exhales. "Good, a smile." He pulls both Peaches and me in a side hug and we slowly start walking.
"Should we go to the Police? Should I call 911?" Tom asks. "I just realized you were mugged, assaulted? Let's go to the cops."
"No, honestly all I want is to sit for a while, maybe have some water and calm down."
"Are you sure?!"
"Yes, I will call and declare my bag stolen but I don't want to go to the precinct."
"OK, if you are sure."
We make our way out of the High Line and end up in front of Hudson Yards.
"Wow!" Tom utters and looks up at the Vessel, this insane architectural structure that looks like a honeycomb and goes up 16 stories.
I am still replaying the events of what happened in my mind when I finally realize where we are.
"Oh noooo!"
"What?" Tom looks alarmed.
"This was the surprise...I had told you that there will be a surprise at the end of the High Line. I wanted to set it up for a grand reveal as part of your New York City TOur. Now it's ruined," I pout.
"Charli?"
"Hmm?" I look up.
"You nearly got killed by a psycho which you decided to run after in order to save a dog. You and the dog both made it - thank God. But honestly, I don't need any more surprises today," he gives me a warm smile.
I realize how ridiculous I am being and take a deep breath.
"Well there is one more thing I want to show you!"
"Oh?"
"We're going up!" I announce and start heading towards an elevator to take us to the Edge, this high-rise observation deck that gives you a breath-taking view of Manhattan and the Hudson River.
Before we can get on an elevator, a security guard stops us.
"Tickets?"
"Oh of course," I fumble. I instinctually go for my wallet, only to remember my bag isn't there.
"Oh no, I don't have my wallet. It was stollen and --"
"Charli, I got this," Tom says as he takes out his wallet.
"I am sorry, but we don't sell tickets here. Because of the pandemic, you have to purchase them online and make a reservation," the guard says.
"Oh no," I whisper as my disappointment seeps in.
Tom takes one look at me and turns to the guard:
"Uhm, today is our 2 year anniversary and I forgot..." he points to me and I am pretty sure my eyes are still puffy from crying and I look miserable.
The guard looks at me, then at Tom:
"I guess I can get you some tickets, it's not very busy right now."
"You are the best," Tom says.
"Yea, but listen you have to do better. Don't make your girl cry." The guard gives Tom a 'don't mess this up' look.
"I don't intend to. Lesson learned." Tom says in the most charming way.
The guard gives Tom some tickets and he pays for them.
The guard is looking at Tom intently, "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?"
Tom smiles, "I have a common face."
"No, no, you look like that kid from the movie about the wizard kid. My daughter has a picture of you on her laptop. I think."
I smile, "What's your daughter's name?"
"Naomi," he answers.
Tom is signing the credit card receipt and writes.
'Naomi, your dad is the best dad in the world. Love, TF.'
He hands the guard the receipt, "Give this to your daughter, and thanks again mate!"
Tom takes my hand and together with Peaches we get on the elevator full of excitement.
We make it on the Observation Deck and the view is absolutely breathtaking. You see enough pics on Manhattan living here but nothing is quite like that feeling that you are on top of the world and any problems you may have are as small as the people on the street from this angle.
Tom looks around in fascination: "This is incredible!" he comes closer to me and we naturally come together in a hug. We stay there for a moment, absorbing the events of the past couple of hours where he was a person I followed on social media and he didn't know I existed.
"Thank you," he whispers. "This is truly New York like I hadn't seen it yet."
"Same," I reply.
I look at Peaches and realize that we still haven't found his owner and I still haven't called the police.
I Google the local precinct number and dial it. I take off my face mask anticipating a stressful call. Thank God, nobody is on the observation deck right now. Just the two of us...
"NYPD Midtown Precinct South, how can I help you?" a voice greets me.
"Uhm hi...I would like to report a theft..."
"Ok, when did the theft occur?"
"30 minutes ago? I think?"
"What was stolen?"
"My bag, and my dog. Well, he's not my dog, but we found him and then this guy stole my bag and the dog, but he gave the dog back." I ramble feeling anxious as I am reliving what had happened. Tom comes closer to me and holds my hand.
"Was this at the High Line?" the voice asks.
"Yes, wait...how did you know that?"
"He ran into two police officers with his bike. They had heard a commotion and were on their way to see what was happening. He was distracted and almost ran his bike into the police officers. They apprehended him and we have your bag. By the time the police officers went to look for the victims, nobody was there."
I am shocked for once at the efficiency of it all. I was starting to feel guilty for not calling the police immediately but little did I know it was handled. I exhaled.
"That's incredible."
"Just doing our job. We were about to contact you as your bag is getting processed as evidence. You can go online and submit a Verification of Crime/Lost Property application and come pick up your bag in 24 hours."
"Thank you so much!"
"Sure. And miss? Next time something like this happens please call and wait for the police."
I smile, "Hopefully, I won't have to. But thank you. Have a great day."
I hang up the phone and look at Tom who looks a little worried.
"Everything ok?" He is sweaty and takes off his mask ready to take on whatever new challenge awaits us.
"They caught him and have my bag!"
"No way, wow, that was fast."
"I am so relieved." I sigh, "Now we have to find Peaches' owner. Although I am not going to lie, part of me wishes he can be with me forever," I smile as I snuggle Peache closer.
"I think we can check him for a chip, we would have to go to a vet and see. Or we can post on social media that we found him."
I look at him, "We should try the vet but if we don't succeed that way, we should post on social media...but yours cause mine nobody will see."
"Uhm ok," he reluctantly agrees.
"We don't have to...the whole point of today was to have an incognito day..." I add.
"It's not that," he says, "It's just I want to spend more time with just you..."
I look at him, he comes closer. Close enough that I can feel his shallow breath on my lips. We don't break eye contact and I feel like I am floating while my entire body is full of static energy from throughout the day. Energy that demands an outlet. A way to be outside of my body before it explodes.
He looks at my lips, then deep into my eyes and comes close enough to kiss me but stops right before our lips touch.
"Charli?" My name on his lips like a question of, "Is this ok?" His eyes are full of anticipation and anxiety. My knees are about to buckle and I answer his question by briefly allowing our lips to touch. Tentative, like dipping your toe into the sea knowing full well that it will swallow you whole but not caring. Our foreheads touch and then he kisses me. Deeply, like we have done it a million times before and yet I don't remember ever feeling like this.
When we finally come out for air, he takes my hand and says:
"Come on, the day isn't done yet." and we go back to the elevator.