The prettiest girl on the subway knows it. She knows it all the way from Eighth Street up to 59th and Lexington. There was a moment, at 34th Street, when the doors opened, when she thought she might have to get off the train prematurely because another pretty girl was on the subway platform and looked like she might be making her way toward the doors to enter, but it didn’t happen, so the prettiest girl on the subway was safe. Which was a good thing, because she didn’t want to have to get off the train and wait for another one when this one had taken so long to come in the first place. But she would have had no choice.
The prettiest girl on the subway knows that all the men in her car have picked her as the girl they would have sex with. Because she knows that’s what men do when they’re on the train and don’t have a newspaper to distract them. And even if they do have something to read, they do a quick look-around to see if there are any pretty girls. She’s happy to be there, so they can find a really pretty girl, and not just one who would “do” in a pinch. She knows they go back to their offices and tell their guy co-workers, “You should have seen this girl on the subway. You just don’t see girls that pretty on the subway that often.” And then they make lewd remarks that, if she heard them, she would pretend offended her.
The prettiest girl on the subway sighs and blows a few stray hairs out of her eyes. When she does this, her lips pout nicely and the men on the subway want to kiss her. She crosses her right arm over her chest to scratch her left upper arm. When she does this, she creates temporary cleavage that the men on the subway admire and desire. The hair-blowing and arm-scratching also make her look a little vulnerable and slightly less than perfect. Even the prettiest girl on the subway has her problems.
The other girls on the subway feel shabby in the presence of the prettiest girl. They notice she is not only the prettiest but the best dressed and the thinnest. They try to find fault with her and decide she is probably the stupidest girl on the subway.
The prettiest girl stands a few seconds before her stop and knows that all eyes are on her. And then leaves the train, happy to have served her community so well.
Later, she takes a taxi home!