The Good Pair

I saw her again today. She is quite beautiful. She catches the same bus as me. You probably think me foolish to fall in love with a complete stranger, someone that doesn’t even see me. There is that special something about her. The gentle way she glances out of the window, the way she gets up to get off the bus, the way she walks away from the bus stop to work or college or even home as she might work at night…

I travel two more stops and get off myself. If I had any sense I would get of at her stop and walk the extra few metres and she might notice me then. We might even strike up a conversation, about the weather or work or how late the bus is. But I don’t. I don’t relish making a fool of myself. What if she laughed in my face? She might even say “Stop pestering me”. I couldn’t bear that. I am at the mercy of my timidity and the possible humiliation of stuttering some feeble excuse…

I rarely see her at night so I think she may be a student after all. I travel alone on the bus then. No, that is not true there are 40 or 50 others crammed on but I feel alone because she is not there. Well at least I like my job, they think well of me, well as much as they can think well of any data entry operator. In time I might become a senior data entry operator or even a data entry supervisor. No, I agree that is nothing to get excited about…

I am upset because she is not on the bus this morning. It’s not the end of the semester so she must have moved. That is what I have worked out. I don’t fancy having to make the journey without some interest. I’ll have to start doing a crosswords or something. I start digging in my briefcase…

“Excuse me” say a voice. “May I take that seat” I shuffle across to the sit by the window and then look up. “Oh, hello” says my beautiful girl. “I often see you on this bus don’t I?” I am dumbfounded but manage a weak smile. I nod and am about to say something when she carries on, “I’ve just moved house, I am batching with some other girls. Trouble is the bus is more crowded nearer the city”. I finally pluck up courage and blurt out, “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you”. Her look was so beautiful I knew at once I had said the right thing…

“Sophie” she said.

“Steven” I responded.

We sound like a good pair, don’t we?