I didn't need to pay attention to the world when I had my headphones in.

Not that the world paid attention to me or anything... No, I was a background character. I was the person who people didn't look twice at. I was the kind of guy who would say something that nobody would really listen to, just hear. I was the person who everybody knew of, but didn't know.

But, I didn't worry about being invisible in a world that was invisible to me when I plugged in my headphones, getting lost in my thoughts and walking aimlessly along the sidewalk. I didn't have any reason to pay attention to the world that never paid attention to me when I was listening to the sweet beats of Ram Jam or the high notes of Whitney Houston.

It was a relief, until... I saw him.

I had just happened to peak up from my feet on the concrete, watching the plethora of New York cars in traffic. My eyes had wandered to a cafe only a couple dozen feet in front of me, and I saw him smiling, chatting with someone right outside of it.

He had blonde hair, blue eyes... a typical white guy, but he was special. I couldn't tell what it was, maybe it was the way his happiness seemed to be the only authentic joy I'd witnessed in weeks, or maybe it was the way he seemed so present and grounded in himself. I couldn't hear a word he was saying, but I could tell he meant every bit of it. He wore a knitted sweater, tan stripes, and his tan was deep on top of his freckles. He was real, something not a lot of people were nowadays.

I swallowed, stopping in my foot tracks. After a moment, I started walking closer to him, turning my music down just a little to hear what he was saying as I passed by.

Albeit, for the first time in a long time, I actually wanted to take my headphones off and say hello.