Waiting for Superman~short story

by **ReadtheRavishing** Tue Dec 02, 2014 10:36 pm

Heyyyy awesome people!
I bring you a short story for your review and critique. I posted it on Wattpad awhile ago but wanted to know what y'all's thoughts were. It's my first attempt at anything romance-y so it's a bit rough. Please tell me what you like or don't like!

(based on the song "Waiting for Superman" by Daughtry)

She’s talking to angels,
Counting the stars
Making a wish on a passing car
She’s dancing with strangers,
She’s falling apart
Waiting for Superman to pick her up
In his arms

She walks through the revolving doors of the office building into the bustling street, glad to be homebound after a long and trying week. First her presentation was deemed "Wrong, it's just all wrong!" by her manager, then the elevator in her apartment building broke down, and of course she lives on the fifth floor, and to top it all off, she bumped into a sidewalk salesman this morning and spilled her coffee on her jacket. Not to mention her boyfriend--or ex-boyfriend now. He dumped her on their two month anniversary three days ago. Considerate, wasn't he?

She crosses the street amongst a hoard of people. Rush hour was always the worst time of day, but it's not like it could be avoided. Normally she would be upset at the crowds, but today all she wants to do is go home and hide from the rest of the world for the next two days. Taking a shortcut through a small park, she sees several couples on park benches or walking along the pond and can't help the icy dagger that she feels piercing her heart. She's twenty-seven years old for heaven's sake; when is she going to find someone who will truly love her?

She's had...she takes a moment to tally them up...six 'boyfriends' in the past two years alone, and frankly is starting to give up hope that she will ever find her knight in shining armor. It's not that her life is horrible by any means...she's just tired of the city and its busyness, its people always in a hurry, never stopping to smell the roses.

She passes a poster for the new Superman movie at a theater and stops despite herself. She looks at it with a certain fondness.

She's seven years old again, playing in the backyard of her family's home. "Come on!" her brother yells. "You be Lois Lane and I'll be Superman! I'll save you from the bad guys!" He dubs the family dog as the villain and chases him around the yard until the poor thing runs around to the front of the house. She cheers from her perch in the treehouse. He helps her down. "I, Superman, have saved the damsel in distress!" They run around the yard in celebration, his costume cape fluttering behind him.

She returns to the present time. The city is filled with taxis and people and lights and chaos. She looks at the poster one last time before walking away and shakes her head. The time for childhood games and dreams of superheroes in capes saving the day is long gone, replaced by the demands of work and adult life. If only there was someone to save her from this mess…

Snap out of it! She tells herself as she nearly misses walking into a street sign. She stopped believing in fairytales and superheroes long ago.

~~~~~

She's only a few blocks away from home when she sees him. Her eyes widen in shock, not because he's handsome; she isn't paying attention to looks right now. No, she notices that he's crossing the street absorbed in his phone screen only a dozen or so yards away from a delivery van with obviously no intention of stopping. Instinctively she darts into the street and grabs his wrist, yanking him out of the way with only a second or two to spare as the van whizzes by them. He's confused at first until he realizes his phone is laying in the middle of the street, shattered.

"Oh my God! Oh...I…" He turns to her, registering what just happened. "You saved me! I...thank you!"

Her heart is racing from the adrenaline but she composes herself. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks to you! I don't know how to repay you."

She shakes her head. "Oh, it's fine, don't worry about it. It was no big deal."

"At least let me buy you a coffee or something?"

"No really, that's ok. It was nothing."

He laughs. "Hey now, I don't consider my life to be 'nothing'. Please? It's the least I can do for you, Supergirl."

Her eyes widen at his words. Slowly she puts her hand in his outstretched one.

"Okay."

And she smiles, oh the way she smiles.