It was the beginning of the next week. I was headed home from work once again and again the bus was all but empty. Some mother fussed with her child near the front of the bus and some middle aged man who appeared to be homeless took refuge in the back of the bus. I settled somewhere in between the two and began to scroll thru posts from a new dating app a coworker had told me about. With no car I still wasn't dating, but that didn't mean I stopped looking. Two stops later and Gisele got on the bus again. She was wearing a thin white t-shirt pulled tight and you could see every detail of the black laced bra underneath. She was wearing a leather jacket that hung off her shoulders and a leather mini skirt. She finished the outfit with fishnet stockings and thigh high boots. Her hair was swept up into two matching pigtails and this time even when I heard her chuckle I couldn't look away.
"Well looks like I picked the perfect outfit for the day ummm," Gisele said, brimming with confidence as she claimed the seat right next to me. She let her hand brush against my leg as she sat. She gave me a little smirk as she withdrew her hand and my leg muscles tensed in anticipation, "Sorry these are so close together. You know I've decided to give true love a shot."
"O, um, that's good. So how did she respond? Did it pay off for you?"
"If only I was that confident. She's smart and kind, sexy and elegant, she's really got her shit together. To make matters worse she's straight. So I don't know if it's gonna happen with her, but I'm gonna try. I deleted all my dating apps. I broke up with everyone I was dating. I feel good about where I'm at, but I still have a long way to go before I'm good enough to stand beside her. You know you're the first new friend I've made in a long time and I don't even know your name."
"R right, um, Julia. It's nice to meet you. I would love to meet your crush I can't image a girl your not good enough to stand next to."
"Ha ha ha, that's so kind of you to say. You really are the sweetest, but anyways how's your search for love going?"
"Not good. It seems like anybody who is available is scum and anyone who I might like is already spoken for."
"O, so there is someone you like?" She leaned into me wrapping her arm around my shoulder and pulling me tight to her. My arm sunk into her cleavage and my mind went blank. I had never once even glanced at another woman in a romantic light, but here I was my heart racing and my mind blank. Like some degenerate teenage boy, "Well your amazing so just don't let them go. I'm sure if you fight for them they'll chose you. At least you got believe that if your going to have any chance of winning. That's what I'm doing. You know it took me six months to gather the courage to even introduce myself to the girl I'm chasing. We don't really travel in the same circles so it took a while longer before I had a chance to introduce myself. At the end of it all, even if all is for naught I'm glad I'm being true to myself."
"Well you could be right. I'll try to gather my courage."
"Great." With that the conversation stalled out for a moment and I realized while she had relaxed a bit she had never withdrawn from my side. Maybe it was best if things didn't work out with us, I thought to myself. She was way too friendly I would die a million times a day from jealousy watching her cling to other people this way.
Eventually the conversation picked back up, but it was basic, get to know you type stuff. She told me the bar she worked at was called the Shooting Star Oasis. I told her I worked for an office building, not a specific company in the building, but a shared position for the whole of the building. She seemed interested, so as boring as it was to me I told her about the tedium of my job. The whole time her arm rested on my shoulder and she leaned against my arm. We were three stops past my stop when I realized I had screwed up. I quickly darted from my seat and waved back at Gisele. I would have to walk almost half a mile back to my place, but I felt light on my feet and excited for what tomorrow might bring.