Carrie is met with a thousand faces standing outside the train as the doors hiss open. She stood in the doorway hesitating but instantly found herself falling into the sea of people. She catches herself on the platform and snapped around to look behind her. Carrie's eyebrows furrow in betrayal as it was an old woman who pushed her.

"Well, ‘scuse you, we've got places to be!" barks the old woman. She had a hand resting on a stack of bags balanced on a hand truck and the other hand planted on her hips. Carrie stammers, but the old woman interrupts her. "Ah—, um—, uh—," the old woman mocks. "Don't worry about it, baby, just keep it moving, okay?" The old woman wheels her hand truck in front of her and pushes forward.

Carrie watches the woman squeeze past and blended in with the current of people. The old woman's muttering and humming slowly loses itself in the chatter and static of the station until it disappears completely. Carrie gulps and takes a step ahead of her. The doors shut behind her with a hiss and a click and speed away.

Carrie was only a pair of eyes hopping over a sea of people with their own businesses to mind. What was she looking for again? Brown hair? She feels stupid, expecting to catch him immediately. Did she really expect to see another person who's looking around just as frantically as her? Did she really think that there would be a bright beacon of light she could find? Was there supposed to be an electric shock if she made eye contact with him? What was she even thinking?

Obviously, she wasn't thinking at all, leaving her train out of impulse over a small text message. She never expected to see him at all, why did she want to so badly? The train she got off of was long gone, and she'd have to wait for another one. She's forgotten the importance of her destination; the reason why she was on the train, the reason why she has her bags. It's not urgent, she bargained with herself. Carrie starts to think how much this would set her back—how long it would take for the train to come back. She should get some snacks—

"TAB!" a man shouts.

Her thoughts are on pause. She looks up and around herself, not sure if she heard that correctly. She stands on her tippy-toes and searches for another face surfing the crowded subway. Most people kept to their own business, and some turned their heads towards the general area the shouting was from in scorn and judgment. She listens for another one.

"TABI!"

A mixed expression awkwardly forces itself on Carrie's face. Her eyes widened and a smile was stretched across her face. Her face wrinkled with her eyebrows furrowed in embarrassment. He's making a fool of himself shouting her online alias in a crowded subway station like that. He's such an idiot, Carrie thinks, but she is no brighter.

"LIRIO!" she shouts in response. Many people flinch at the sudden volume change. Some look at her, moving out of the way, just in case this random woman was just crazy and they were just avoiding problems. Carrie waits for a response.

"TABI!" the man shouts again, but in a different tone. Suddenly, this becomes a game of Marco Polo, but both are blind and looking for each other—a game of Tabi Lirio. Carrie drops her heels and begins cutting through the crowd, following his voice. She begins shouting his name too. 

There were two bubbles in the ocean of people, the water parting around each shouting lunatic. The bubbles were slowly gravitating toward each other until they became one larger bubble. For the first time in their lives, these two adults meet after being friends since their teenhood. Carrie sees him, a tall lanky man with wavy brown hair—the beacon of light she was looking for. She looks at his eyes, surprised at how incredibly blue they were—that electric shock she expected to feel.

"Hey—" Lirio is interrupted as Carrie drops her bags and wraps her arms tightly around him.

"You're such an idiot! Did you know how loud you were?" laughs Carrie, squeezing him tighter. Lirio reciprocates the hug, picking her up and spinning around.

"I couldn't have been louder than you!" he laughs, "and uh." He puts Carrie down, and they both look at each other, taking in every moment they're spending together. "Now that we're in person, do you think we can start calling each other by our real names?"

Sparks fly around Carrie as she responds, "Heck yeah! Good to see you, Kole!"

Kole grins like the mischievous yet good-hearted fool he is and shouts from the top of his lungs, "IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU TOO, CARRIE!"