Meanwhile, her head was a mess, she kept going over every minor details of her night. Did she regret what happened? How could she she rush into this so fast? She had wanted this since she met him, but that was no excuse. She craved his attention since the first day he has said hello to her. But what happened tonight was not fair to her.
Her internal monologue was disturbed when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Sorry, is this yours?" said the voice of a boy with a black T-shirt, worn out jeans, and a cross body gym bag hanging heavily off his back. He was holding Riley's house keys, which she suspected she dropped while trying to rush to catch the previous bus that was passing just as she was running up to the bus stop.
"Oh yes, thank you so much!" She said with gratitude. As she took the keys from his hands she noticed his black T-shirt was not plain but has the iron man symbol on it in red.
"Yeah, no problem!" He said as he took a seat a few feet away on the same bench.
A few moments passed as both of them listened to each of their music and watched the traffic flow.
Riley glanced over curiously to verify that his shirt did in fact have the iron man symbol with its robot shaped face and stark red eyes. It did. In that moment their eyes meet and she gave him a closed lip smiled which he matched with a similar smile.
"Your T-shirt is cool!' She exclaimed slightly taking her headphones off in case he had a response to her comment.
"Thanks! I like it myself." He responded.
Just as she was about to pop her headphones back on, he stated, "Weird question but you seem really familiar, did you go to Jackson High?"
"Yeah about 6 years ago now." She explained.
Which he followed up with, "me too, about 8 years ago now. What's you name?"
"Riley and we must have seen each other in the hallways or something!" She guessed.
"Right Riley, and yes we must have."
After a few more moments after Riley had observed him for a bit, she remember who he was and said, "Oh yeah, you're Nick, you played soccer for our high school team. You were really good from what I remember."
"Yup, that's me!" He said with hollowness.
"What did you end up doing after high school? I am sure you got a lot of offers to play for colleges." Riley said.
Nick did not answer her questions, and Riley worried that she may have asked a sensitive question, so she tired to change the subject. "Where are you heading tonight?"
"Home, just finished a shift. I work at a restaurant just a few street away." He finally answered this question.
"Oh yeah? Nice!" Riley commented.
"You?" He asked after a few moments of deafening silence.
"Going home as well." She didn't not want to elaborate.
There was not much else left to say, so Riley again began to put her headphones in. This time she got both of her headphones into her ears, however just as she was about to press play to one of those upbeat songs and engulf herself with only her music, Nick said, "Late day at work today? 10:00 is kinda late to be going home?"
"No, No. Bunch of my coworkers and I went out for happy hours, one thing led to another and now its 10:00 o clock." Again, she did not want to elaborate.
It seemed Nick noticed Riley's discomfort because he said, "Sorry, did that sound nosy? I don't want to be nosy...Well maybe just a little bit." He then smiled. "Just curious what a fellow Jackson High alumni has been up to?"
"It was nosy, but since you asked a nosy question, can I ask you...Did something happen with you in college?" She spoke hesitantly.
"That's definitely way more personal then, are you going home from work!" He exclaimed, although there was joking tone to his voice.
"You don't have to answer!" she defended.
There was a pause but then he said, "My mom got really sick my freshmen year of college. So I quit school to take care of her. Then, I needed money and started working odd jobs and just never went back, and now I am wasting my time at this restaurant." He sounded unsettled and somewhat embarrassed.
"Is she okay now?" Riley asked, hoping the answer was something positive.
"She pasted away last year."
"I am so sorry Nick!"
"No it's okay, I am glad she isn't suffering anymore. The last few years were bad. She had stage 4 throat cancer and chemo really took a lot out of her. Can we change the subject now?" He demanded.
"Sure, I can give you my pathetic reason for waiting at a bus stop at 10 at night." She suggested. Not knowing what else to talk about. She didn't really want to get much into it, but she saw that he was having a hard time talking, and it wasn't like she was ever going to see him again. This was just a chance meeting. He was just a familiar stranger.
"I though you were coming back from a happy hour?"
"Happy hour ended at 7, I went back to a co-worker's place. He lives around here." She hesitated before she continued with, "we've been flirting for weeks now, and I made a very not so smart choice to go back to his place." She sighed.
"Why is that bad? Seems like you both like each other." His voice had no judgement in it.
"Right after we...we were done, he got a call from his girlfriend saying that she was coming over. He practically shoved me out the door. I didn't even know he had a girlfriend. So kinda feeling foolish tonight." She finished.
Nick gave a hollow laugh and said, "At least you only feeling it tonight, that's pretty much been my default feeling since I left college."
"It's not like you did it on purpose, you had your reasons." Riley defended Nick. She thought he was being too hard on himself.
"Today when I saw you I immediately recognized you. I remembered seeing you around the hallways, we even smiled at each other a few time. When you started talking about how good I was at soccer, it made me realize most of our school probably thinks I am up to something great, but here I am waiting tables. Stuck!"
Nick kicked his feet to the ground in anger and defeat. Riley not knowing what else to do, closed the gap between the two of them on the bus bench and place her hands on his, which was griping the end of the bench.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, you don't owe anyone anything. If you see yourself through others, you will always come up short. Personally, if I had gone through what you have, I wouldn't even be able to function." She comforted.
"Thanks." He said looking straight ahead, it didn't seem like he bought her words.
"Change of subject again...so what are you going to do about work now?" Nick asked, still starting straight.
It seemed he was just trying to fill up time till his bus got on, but Riley noticed he hadn't moved his hands from under her. She wanted to tighten her grip for some reason, but instead moved her hands away.
"Pretend like it didn't happen, and hopefully get a new job in due time and never see him again. Then work on my insecurities so I don't make stupid mistakes like this again" She said.
"You shouldn't have any insecurities, you're a very beautiful girl" he was now facing her. He looked at her for a few seconds and then continued with, "you can always come work at the restaurant with me. I can put in a good word for you." He smiled moving the hand Riley had encapsulated to pointed at himself when he said "I can put in a." When he went back to place his hand on the bench it fell on Riley's. They sat there looking at each other knowing that their hands were touch, but they both didn't move
"It's strange how we went to the same school, entered the same building for at least 2 years together, but today is the first day we have a conversation." Riley observed.
"Things happen the way they are meant to I guess." Nick said and as he did, he tightened his grip on her hands. The pressure and warmed she felt from his hand was more satisfying than her 3 hours with her coworker.
"Yeah exactly. We have very little control in life." She almost whispered. Their hands rested together for a while.
A bus was pulling into there stop and Nick who was facing the direction of where the bus was coming from, noticed it, and stood up, taking his hand with him.
"It was nice talking to you. Thanks for dealing with my bad attitude today!" He said apologetically as he gripped his hand on the strap of his bag.
"Not at all."
"Listen..." He paused, seeming to contemplated something, but finished with, "See you around!"
Nick walked away from Riley as he got closer to the bus. Then he got on and the bus began moving towards its next stop.
Riley stayed sitting, thinking about her day today. It was pretty regular, granted she didn't go home with a coworker on the daily, but still that event didn't make this day extraordinary. What did make it a day worth remembering was having someone just touch her hand slightly and it sending waves of excitement through her body.
She felt the sadness sink and sit in the pit of her stomach as she realized she might not see him again. She should have at least asked what restaurant he worked at, or maybe she would just come to this bus stop everyday at this time and wait for him.
Somehow that plan felt more pathetic then what she did next. Riley looked up and noticed that the bus was stopped at a red light not too far from the bus stop. She also saw that the roads were decently empty.
Riley took action quick and ran towards the bus hoping the light stayed red for just a few more seconds, Thankfully it did.
When she reached the bus's entrance, Riley banged on the double doors, and the driver obliged her request and swing the doors open. Once she got in, she looked around and saw Nick with his headphones starting out the window a few seats down. She went up to him and removed one of his headphones from his ears. This grabbed his attention.
"Maybe we can get each other's numbers? I really liked talking to you tonight and would like to do this again soon, but at a normal hour and a normal place." She asked.
He smiled and said, "I wanted to asked you the same thing, but I come with a lot of baggage."
"I know, I heard some of it tonight. If there is more baggage, I can listen some more!" She said.
Just as the bus started moving again, he said, "I think your on the wrong bus, you might not get home till midnight."
"It's fine, its a Friday. Plus, you can make sure I get home okay, can't you?" She asked.
"Of course! We'll get off on the next stop and get you on the right track!"
She took the empty seat next to him. He looked at her and handed her one of his head buds. Riley placed them in her ears, but there was no music playing but the headphones created a link between the two.
"When I saw you around in school, I always though you were really pretty. Quite and Shy I guessed, but really pretty. Wish I talked to you then!" He regretted.
"Me too!" She said facing him. "I thought you were pretty too!" She giggled.
Nick mid Riley's giggles pressed his lips against hers lingering only for a few seconds.
On the next bus stop, they waited for Riley's bus, but this time not as far away from each other as before.
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