“Want to go somewhere quiet? Trust me, you don’t want to be around this place when the lunch crowd comes in.”

I really didn’t know what he wanted with me, or why he’d given me his number after we’d seen each other for only a few minutes. However, I knew that I desperately wanted to talk to him alone. I couldn’t place it, and I still can’t to this day, but there was always something about Nate. He had a magnetic quality about him. Even after all these years, loving him, running away from him, I always find myself coming back. He’s like my safety net, and I don’t know what I would do without him. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. All I knew was that he wasn’t just some guy, like Will, the one I was currently seeing. He was different, even though most people probably passed him on the street without looking twice.

He rose from the booth in the cafe and followed me out. We headed toward Tompkins Square Park, the place where we first saw each other. To this day, it’s the place where we always meet.