RUSH HOUR CRUSH
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It was not the first time I had seen him on the bus but something about him intrigued me today. I was not sure what it was but I could not take my eyes off him. The bus was already full, I knew he would be standing and it would not his first time. I was lucky to be sitting myself. I watched him squeeze past other people as he made his way through the bus. I silently prayed he would stand beside me. My prayers were almost answered but he stopped just in front of me. Maybe, just maybe he would see me. Shut up, silly girl ! I looked away. What was the point of him seeing me? A fine guy like him probably had a thousand girls on his mind.
The bus jerked forward and we moved. Maybe he was out of my league but he was not out of my sight; there was no harm in looking. I curved my neck slightly and snuck a look at him. Oh gosh!
He caught me! His eyes had pierced into mine almost as if he just scanned my mind. And it could have been my mind playing games on me but I could have sworn I saw him smile. Maybe I should check again. This time I kept my neck straight, only my eyes would be involved in the looksee. I turned my eyes as far as they would go and… dang! He was busy pushing buttons on his phone.
Well, that was fun while it lasted. I brought out my phone, I had several episodes of Suits to watch anyway.
“Stadium wa o”
My brain heard it and snapped to work. The woman beside me was alighting at the next bus stop, this was my chance.
I leaned forward and tapped him, he looked at me and I pointed at the seat beside me. It was not his first time on the bus, he knew what that meant. He nodded and moved closer, positioning himself for the takeover. I smiled, I should have known I was going to have a very lucky day when I woke up before my sister – for the first time in years and got to eat the last two sachets of noodles. Last set of Noodles to having a very handsome dude sit beside me in the bus; at this rate, my luck could win the lottery if I was brave enough to buy a ticket.
The bus stopped, the woman stood up and I expertly used my legs to block any other person from taking the seat.
“Thank you.” He said as he took the seat.
“You’re welcome.” I replied in the sweetest possible version of my voice.
Oh, why did he have to have such a lovely voice? I could feel the heat in my cheeks. And despite my dark skin I had a bad feeling my cheeks had turned pink. It was impossible but still I felt embarrassed.
The bus picked more passengers and I began planning a clever opening to start our conversation with. I threw away one clever opening after another, they were not so clever. This was one of the times when I wished I was my sister; she always knew what to say.
“Excuse me?” He tapped me and my heart did a somersault.
“Yeah?” I said, flashing him a very toothy smile.
“I need to get up.” He said.
“What!” I said and before I could stop myself, added. “Why?”
He pointed at an old woman standing in front of me. He was giving her his seat. Oh no! Why didn’t the woman stand far away from us? She wasn’t even that old. Idiot! I pinched myself, that thought was evil. He was doing a good thing. Something I should have done myself if I wasn’t so busy figuring out how to talk to him. I guess I wasn’t as lucky as I thought. I would hold on to the Noodles, that was enough luck for a day.
The old woman settled into her seat and in spite of my good home training, I wasn’t exactly happy for her. The guy went back to his phone and I went back to my sulking. I eyed my phone and looked away, not even the cuteness of Patrick Adams or the sexiness of Gabriel Macht was enough to attract me to watching
Suits now. I had real life cuteness and sexiness in front of me, why would I waste my time fantasizing over people locked away in Hollywood? I sighed, rested my head on the seat in front of me and shut my eyes.
I spent the next twenty minutes berating myself for not coming up with something clever to say on time. He was still close to me; I could have carried on the conversation if I had started it when he was sitting beside me.
Coward! I opened my eyes and saw one of his legs and his slightly open bag resting on it.
My eyes brightened, I had a brilliant idea.
It was the idea of a coward but brilliant all the same. I sat up, dug into my bag and searched around for my business card. I smiled, I found one. I put my head on the seat again, the bag was still where it was and the slight opening was still there. Today is your lucky day after all. I slipped my card into the bag.
I smiled, I was too darn clever.
Oh wait! What did you just do? It was not a brilliant idea, it wasn’t even a good one! What if he never found it? Even if he did, he would probably think it was creepy? Hopefully he would not know it was me. People always said I looked Igbo, hopefully the Yoruba name would not sound like me. Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten the noodles, it definitely was not helping my thinking.
I kept my head on the seat; I had no interest in seeing his face, not now, not ever.
The bus slowed to a stop and I stole a peek at the bus stop. It was Leventis; it was his bus stop. I saw his leg move, he was leaving. I raised my head and watched him go off the bus. I prayed he would never find the card or maybe his bag gets stolen before he opens it. Whew! I leaned into my seat. What a crazy morning. I could do without any more drama till I got to work.
My phone buzzed and I swore under my breath. If it was the crazy network providers messing with me, I would strangle somebody.
I opened the text.
“ All you had to do was say hi. See you in the bus tomorrow. – Josh.”
I gasped. He got my message! Josh? The name suited him. Ah, lucky me!
There was only one problem: I was about to die of happiness!
The End
