"I'm glad you didn't fall, too."
He looked back at the stairs he'd just come down and then back to her. "I should have been paying more attention, or just waited until I got down the ground."
She waved a hand at his words. "The stairs from the train around here are ruthless. I swear they built them as an homage to Darwin."
He stared back at her, unsure if his voice would even work if he tried to use it.
A moment later she looked uncomfortable and winced. "Darwin was a scientist who's most known for-"
"Natural selection and more recently, the Darwin Awards, but I doubt he thought we'd ever come up with that."
She brightened, holding her textbooks to her chest as she rocked back on her heels. "It's crazy how stupid humans have become."
He nodded and looked down at the phone in his hand, turning it around for her to see. "I managed to mess up my phone on my first day in Center City."
She winced. "That does suck."
They both smiled at the straightforward way that she'd summed up his problem.
He opened his mouth to ask her a question, but she was already a step ahead of him. "I did something similar to my phone a few weeks ago. I wasn't looking and dropped my phone in the road. It was raining and before I could run out and get it an ambulance ran over it. Which is kind of insult to injury given that I'm studying to be a nurse."
She shrugged and he looked at the text books in her arms.
He recognized a few of them from his own studies to qualify as an EMT.
"I almost took it as a sign to change my career, but I'm too stubborn for that!" She nodded her head with a certainty that made him unwilling to say anything. Instead, he nodded, too.
"So, I know of a place a few streets over that can probably fix it, if you want them to try."
He didn't want to turn her down, but, "Actually. If there's a Tellnet Cellular store around here, I paid through the nose for insurance so I can probably get it replaced."
She nodded and her gaze moved away from his face, giving her face a thoughtful look.
A moment later, she nodded. "I think I've seen one a few streets over."
He smiled when she looked up at him.
"I can take you there before my next class starts if you don't mind walking fast."
He wanted to tell her that in Hawaii, they talked about Hawaiian time, meaning that things were usually laid back, but he didn't want to miss the chance to get to know her.
And look for a chance to get her contact information.
"I'll keep up."
She raised an eyebrow at his words and gave him a look from head to toe.
He might have sucked in his stomach a little when her gaze moved over his middle, but he'd never admit to it.
She nodded, knowingly. "I think you can."
"Oh, I can," he assured her and then had to take a few ground eating strides as she took off walking.
Her legs might be shorter than his, but she walked like she was running, her legs moving quickly as she made her way down the sidewalk.
He had to adjust the hold on the strap of his duffel bag so it stayed tight against his back. The sidewalk was busier where they were walking and he didn't want to bump into anyone and knock them off of their feet.
The duffel bag that he had on his back was heavy enough. He'd paid to ship his bigger items to Center City, his clothes were mostly in the bag he'd slung over his back. Everything else he'd just buy while he was there. There had to be stores that carried the things he needed.
