Introductions
It’s Friday morning. I’m standing outside, waiting for the bus to work. I had just gotten off of the train from downtown, and was having a cigarette. No one bothered me for a cigarette or offered to buy one off of me. That was nice for a change. The sky was a bit cloudy, but the weather reports indicated that it was supposed to clear up by the end of the afternoon. I was a bit tired, as I tend to be at the end of the week.
I look to my right, and I see a woman walking towards me. I couldn’t tell from the distance how she looked, I just thought in my mind that I’d like to get a better look at her. I’m a guy, and I can’t help but think things like that. It’s in my nature. Anyway, she had a bag over her shoulder, and what appeared to be a coffee in hand. As she drew closer, I realized it was this woman I had seen on the bus fairly often, but not regularly. She’s pretty, with long straight light brown hair, freckles, in the thin side, is several inches shorter than me, and we always smile when we see each other. It’s one of those “familiar stranger” things that happen more often than not. I just never got up the nerve up to say anything to her. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I always sleep on my way to work.
I was quite surprised when she walked up to me and asked me about some earlier runs of the bus we take. I didn’t know where they stopped after they went by my work. I never cared to know, since it was a rather unimportant detail to me. I did tell her about a time last winter during a snowstorm when the buses were running late. It was so late that the bus I wanted to catch after work was going by in the wrong direction, 45 minutes late. The driver let us get on, and that was the only time I went in the other direction. She told me where she was going, to help her mother out at work, which was not far from after I get off of the bus. Then afterwards, she was going to spend the weekend with her mother, out in the country. We talked for a bit about living in the country: me, with my experiences growing up in the sticks, and her liking the peace and quiet of living in the middle of nowhere.
On the bus, we talked about other things: she was actually drinking a Tim Horton’s iced cappuccino, and it was sweating and dripping water. It looked good, and she complained a bit about how wet it was, but also that it tasted so good. We exchanged names, and talked about her interest in applying to where I work, and her work experience. I told her a light overview about what we do. She seemed genuinely interested. Then, another guy, somewhat ginger in appearance with almost strawberry hair and on the portly side, jumped into the conversation. He was sitting across from us on the bus, and told her that his work was hiring salespeople. He gave her some contact info for the HR people at his place. At first, I was a bit annoyed, but then, I thought, it was alright.
Basically, I’m sitting talking with an attractive woman, someone that I wouldn’t mind dating. If she were to actually work with me, I couldn’t date her. That’s because I have a rule: don’t dip your pen in company ink. I’ve been there, and done that, and it never ever ever worked out well for me. So in a way, it was serendipitous that he told her that they were hiring. If she gets a job there, I might see her more often, and since we didn’t work together, it wouldn’t be a stretch to ask her out for coffee or a movie.
Before I left to get off of the bus, I did tell her that I’d enjoy speaking with her again, perhaps over a coffee or a beer. She said that we’d see each other next Friday. It wasn’t until after I got off the bus, that I realized that wasn’t going to happen, due to the holiday weekend. That saddened me.
I was so very tired at work, after all that. Maybe I’m getting old, or maybe I’m just used to that sleep schedule and getting a nap in before I go into work, but I was so fucking tired all day Friday. I was so tired that on Saturday morning I overslept, and missed a meeting I was supposed to attend. It wasn’t mandatory, but it would have been nice to be there, even if 8:00 AM on a Saturday is obnoxiously early. Funny thing is, she commented on how I always slept on the bus while we talked, and was curious how I was able to wake up every day at the right time. I told her that I had it timed just right, and I know from a couple of turns that the bus makes that it’s time to get up. Had I napped instead of talking with her, I’d have probably made my meeting.
Women. They will be the death of me. Still, I can’t live without them, and there’s nothing better than enjoying the company of a beautiful woman.
