He seemed annoyed that she wasn’t dishing out high-fives for his conquest with the waitress, but was he really surprised? Mira was hardly one of his pals. “It’s good that you’re wearing cologne,” she added. “It pairs well with the vodka sweat seeping out of your pores.”

Before he could register the weight of her insult, the train screeched into the station.

As they exited, Mira switched gears to navigation mode, carefully reading every overhead sign so she wouldn’t make a wrong turn. Jake followed with a level of commitment on par with a boy who was afraid of losing his mother in the mall. She wondered if he was always like this, or if it was simply a result of being in a foreign city. Either way, she didn’t mind, as having control of a situation was something she needed in her life.

After purchasing tickets and following the signs for the escalator, Mira noticed how packed it was. There was no choice but to merge into the crush of bodies, and right away Mira lost her bearings. Luckily, Jake stepped in and switched from follower to leader, using his stature and long arms to clear a small path for Mira. He even glanced back every few seconds to make sure he hadn’t lost track of her. It was a small gesture, but a thoughtful one.

They boarded the escalator without any trouble, but once they got to the platform, everything changed for the worse.

The concierge had mentioned how Friday was busy for holiday goers, but in all the blogs she’d read about planning for a trip to Paris, she’d missed the advice on the best way to handle the hordes of frustrated people in her midst. Sweaty foreheads, aggressive elbows, bad breath . . . they were everywhere, and it felt like there was no escape.

Trying to keep her wits about her, Mira glanced up at the digital information board. The next train would be arriving in four minutes, and the following one eleven minutes after that.

“Okay,” she said, her body now sandwiched between two middle-aged women. “That seems normal.”

A second later she heard a collective groan.

“Why are they doing that?” Jake asked, standing a few feet away, and somehow unfazed by the elderly man leaning into his body for support.

It took a few seconds for Mira to find the source of everyone’s frustration; the next train would now be arriving in seventeen goddamn minutes.

“No!” she cried.

Second by second, the crowd started thinning out.

“Let’s take a car,” Jake suggested.

“But the surge pricing.”

“We’ll split it.” His voice was a sea of calm in the increasingly stressful situation.

The information board soon provided another update; the next train would now be arriving in a mere eight minutes.

“Look,” she said, “it’ll be here soon. Let’s just wait.”

“Are you sure?”

The platform filled back up again, the presence of fellow travelers giving Mira comfort. “I’m sure; this many people can’t be wrong, right?”