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Faces
Looking back, I realise how completely insane the action was. It was just…spontaneous; I figured I’d never see him again.
I was on the bus. It was one of those days when the air is closed in, and the heat is getting to you. And it’s always worse on the bus. The sun was glaring through the windows and making everyone even warmer than they would be if they were outside. For some reason, that day, everyone had decided to take public transportation instead of just, I don’t know, walking in the summer sun.
I had an excuse. I lived too far away from my college to walk. I had to get the bus.
The bus was packed with people. Every seat was filled, mostly with the elderly. And there were people standing up, too. They were holding the bars to balance themselves, trying not to invade each others personal space, especially in this heat, but ultimately failing. Everyone was in everyone else’s way.
It was cramped, it was stuffy, and it was making me cranky.
I got this bus, at this time, once every week, and normally it was reasonably empty. But not today. Irritably, I pushed my hair out of my face. The back of my neck was hot. My hair is long, and dark, and on a day like that day, a complete nightmare. I wondered why the hell I hadn’t tied it back that morning.
As the journey wore on, people started to get off at different stops, and slowly the crowding dissipated. Finally, I was able to breathe, although there still wasn’t enough space to sit down just yet. I didn’t think there would be by the time we got to my stop. I was standing at the front, to the side, and refused to move down. Have you ever tried getting off a bus packed full of people? It’s not fun.
We rounded another corner. I held on to stop myself from unbalancing, and the bus slowed to the next stop. The doors opened, and another few people got on. I sighed to myself. I hate crowds.
I looked up briefly to see a guy get on, behind two other people. Now, the fact that I was a female, and a teenage one at that, made me very aware of the fact that he was insatiably gorgeous.
He was quite tall, with broad shoulders and a lean frame. His hair was jet black, probably dyed, and curly. Not curly in a frizzy way, but curly in a defined, silky ringlets kind of way. One ringlet brushed his eye as he leant forward slightly to pay the driver his fair. Hair like that wouldn’t work for a lot of people, but he pulled it off without any effort.
His skin was fairly pale, and his cheek bones were high and sharp. A plain black shirt covered his solid chest, and dark jeans fit comfortably on his legs.
He took his ticket from the machine with long, elegant fingers and shoved it in his pocket. Just as he turned to walk down the isle between the seats, I turned my head away, not wanting to be caught looking. Someone as gorgeous as him was probably well aware of it.
He slipped past me, and ended up standing behind me, a little way away. Well, to the side of me, I was facing the side of the bus instead of the front. He obviously couldn’t walk any farther down. He was taller than me, I realised, but that’s not uncommon. I was only average height, so I think I came up to about his shoulder.
I turned my head slightly, intending to glance at him just briefly, but what he was doing shocked me enough to stop me from turning away.
The sleaze was checking me out! I watched numbly as his eyes started at my feet, and travelled upwards. He focused on the way my jeans hugged my calves, my thighs, and my hips. His eyes travelled up from my slim frame, and lingered on my breasts for a moment, which enraged and embarrassed me at the same time. He was being so obvious about it. His eyes slid over my long, dark brown hair, my skin, tanned from the summer heat, and then up to my face.
His eyes snapped to mine for the first time, and I matched his stare. His eyes were an incredible light blue, that when matched with his dark hair and fair skin made for a breathtaking combination.
Still, just because he was heavenly in appearance he did not have the right to rape me with his eyes. So, my dark brown orbs did not disconnect from those blue ones of his. Instead, my ever present insane attitude reared its ugly head. Boldly, I rose and eyebrow at him, giving him a ‘what-the-hell-are-you-looking-at’ look.
He seemed surprised for a moment, which I kind of expected. He was probably used to girls blushing madly or flirting shamelessly with him. And there I was, almost glaring at him for his shamelessly wandering eyes.
Still, it only took him about a second to recover, and when he did, a slow, annoyingly handsome smirk spread over his face. And then…
He winked at me!
My mouth opened in shock. He was actually arrogant enough to wink at me? Oh dear lord, men are idiots. Of course, he saw my open mouthed shock, and his smirk grew into a full grin. I gave him a glare and turned my head, so that I couldn’t see his reaction. It was my fault he did that in the first place. I should’ve known he wasn’t the type who would just look away they moment a girl caught them staring.
I stared out the window for approximately two minutes, wondering at the audacity of that man, when the bus stopped again. An elderly woman made her way to the front, moving around Mr. Arrogance, and then slipping past me. I pushed myself back as much as possible to get out of her way, and looked up briefly to find him watching me again, his shockingly blue eyes trained on my face.
After a few moments of his staring, without looking away, I became more than a little irritated. If I wanted to be stared at, I would have gone and sat in the monkey cage at the zoo.
As I looked at him, I realised something. This guy was just a stranger. He was someone I didn’t know, never would, and would never see again once I got off this bus. Why should I just ignore him, when I could just act rude and obnoxious and forget all about him once I left?
It was in that moment of utterly tragic brilliance when I should have realised how idiotic I was. I needed to start medication of some variety to make me human proof. Maybe sleeping pills would work. Or cyanide.
So, once I got sick of his staring, which took about three seconds, I stuck my tongue out at him, scrunching my face up in the most unattractive manner and squeezing my dark eyes shut.
When I opened my eyes again, I was disappointed to find that he wasn’t completely freaked out by my lack of sanity, but instead seemed incredibly amused, if the wide smile on his face was anything to go by.
I was miffed to see him drop his gaze again, and check me out once more, in that slow, obvious manner that made my blood boil. I was not his property! When his eyes connected with mine again, he made a deliberate show of licking his lips, slowly, and suggestively.
I scowled heavily and looked away, trying to resist the urge to stamp on his foot.
The bus came to a halt at another stop, and another elderly woman got off the bus. I had to move back and closer to Mr. Arrogance this time, because this woman had a lot of shopping bags, and she couldn’t get through with me in the way.
He was right behind me then, once I’d moved out the way, and without really being able to help it, I looked back and up at him. He responded by looking down at me.
After a few moments, he crossed his eyes, and stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth. He looked like a dazed dog, it was ridiculous. Although, it was extremely hard not to laugh at, I begrudgingly admitted to myself. I resisted the urge to laugh though, because I was not going to give him the satisfaction. I scrunched my nose up at him in distaste, then turned back around, and moved back to where I was before, now that the woman had managed to step off the bus with all her shopping bags intact.
The next time I looked at him, we’d stopped at a traffic light. He was still watching me. As soon as I turned, his eyes latched on to mine, and he scrunched his nose up, and then bit his bottom lip with his front teeth. I almost laughed. He looked like a rabbit.
I had to look at the floor to stop myself from giggling. These stupid faces he was pulling were making me forget my annoyance. When I looked up again, I caught the smirk on his face, and I knew he’d seen my smile. I rolled my eyes at him, and he licked his lips in that flirtatious manner again.
I decided to play him at his own game. I dropped my gaze to the floor, and then slowly let my eyes travel up his legs to his hips, subtly avoiding his…ahem, crotch. My eyes skimmed over the black T-shirt, noticing silently how well it fit his lean, muscular frame. When my dark eyes finally met his again, he had a self satisfied smirk on his face. I scrunched my nose up again, and shook my head, implying that I’d seen better looking men than him, and that he was nothing special. He got the message, but clearly didn’t believe me, because his smirk turned into a full out grin and he shook his head gently. The action clearly meant ‘Ha! Yeah right.’ Or something along those lines.
I looked away again, annoyed and amused at the same time. He was so arrogant he expected me to think he was hot, even after I’d implied that he wasn’t. The fact that he was, as I’ve said before, insatiably gorgeous, is beside the point.
The heat was starting to get to me, and I pulled my long, heavy hair away from my neck for a second, in order to give it some air. It felt heavenly, but I had to drop my hair back down eventually, so I reluctantly did so. It was too hot today.
I flicked my hair back and saw him staring out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head to look at him, I realised he was looking at the back of my head, where I’d just exposed the skin of my neck. When his eyes travelled back up to mine, I rolled my eyes back in my head and opened my mouth, playing dead.
He laughed; his voice deep and rough. I ignored the shiver that went down my spine after deciding that it wasn’t cold enough to blame it on the weather.
I looked away again. I suddenly realised what the hell I was doing. I was on a bus full of people. Pulling faces at a guy I didn’t know.
Yep, it was official. I’d lost all sanity. I thought of my best friend for a second. She’d laugh her head off when she realised what I was doing today. She always told me I was crazy.
When I looked back at Mr. Arrogance again, he was looking out one of the windows. I was just about to turn away again when he looked back at me, and a smirk graced his lips when he realised I’d been staring. I was about to pull a face, but he beat me to it. He stuck his tongue into his cheek on the inside of his mouth, making it look like he had a lump on the side of his face. Then he squinted his eyes and gave me his best fake glare.
When he stopped, I puffed my cheeks up with air and scrunched my nose up, glaring back at him. He started laughing again, and as his rough, smoky laughter filled my ears I had to look away again, fighting a losing battle with the smile that was making its way onto my face.
This was nuts. Who the hell does this sort of thing?
When I next looked out the window, I was a little shocked to find that the bus was only a few minutes away from my stop. I was even a little…disappointed. As crazy as this situation was, it was kind of funny.
Shaking off the disappointment, I bent down to pick my bag up off the floor. I turned back just in time to see him giving my butt an approving glance. I rolled my eyes and he looked at my face again. He flicked a black ringlet of hair out of his eyes, a devilish grin on his face. He winked again.
I gave him the finger.
He laughed again as I pressed the bell, hitching the bag up on my shoulder. The bus slowed to a stop and I got off, not looking back at the irritating man with the shockingly blue eyes.
But, as the bus pulled away I couldn’t help but look back up at the window nearest the front. Immediately I saw him, looking out the window at me. Once he realised I was looking back, he brought his fingers up to his lips and blew me a kiss. I reached my hand up and pretended to catch it, and then threw the ‘kiss’ over my shoulder, faking a look of disgust as I did so. The last thing I saw was his laughing face before the bus drove away. I stopped and stood still for a moment, frowning to myself.
Had I just spent the last twenty minutes of my life pulling faces at an insanely attractive man, on a bus full of people?
What the hell is wrong with me!?
-
The next week, on the same day, at the same time, I was on the bus again. I’d almost completely forgotten about the week before. After the initial weirdness of that encounter wore off, I just shrugged it off as a funny story to tell at parties and carried on as normal. My best friend had found it hysterical, and the whole incident had basically just convinced her that I was a lost cause. I was a prisoner to the insane side, and I was never coming back.
Ah well, I’m sure I’ll live. Insanity is so much more interesting anyway.
This week, the bus was the complete opposite of the last time I was on it. It’s amazing really, because it was even hotter today than it was then. The point is, there were only about a dozen people on this bus. I’d made myself comfortable at the very back, staring absently out the window I was closest to. I’d been clever enough to tie my long hair up today, so it wasn’t agitating me as much.
I sat there for a while, minding my own business, when the bus stopped to let someone on. I almost died of shock when I saw Mr. Arrogance get on. That incident was supposed to be a one off! That’s why I made an idiot of myself.
I prayed he wouldn’t see me.
Five seconds later, he looked up and saw me. I resisted the urge to cringe.
He made his way down the isle with a grin, heading straight for me, flicking some dark ringlets out of his eyes as he did so. He sat down right next to me, at the back, and looked down at his lap as he shoved his ticket in his pocket.
I stared at him for a few seconds, and he finally tilted his head to the side to look at me.
“Hi,” he said, and my ears instantly remembered the deep, rough edge to his voice. He smiled at me, a real, genuine smile, and not one of those irritating smirks I’d been on the receiving end of last week.
I looked at him for a few seconds more, involuntarily noticing a small, amused smile forming on my lips.
“Hey…”
We were silent for a moment. And then he started talking again. His eyes were so indescribably blue.
“You have an interesting range of facial expressions,” he said, lips quirking in amusement. I grinned.
“So do you. You also seem to be in possession of a pair of wandering eyes.”
He laughed at that. “I know, they just do their own thing, they have a weakness for pretty girls with dark hair and eyes.”
I gaped at him for a second, before snorting in a most unladylike manner.
“I don’t fall for lines,” I told him.
“I wasn’t giving you one,” he said with a smile, and I pulled a face, scrunching my nose up in distaste anyway. He laughed again, that deep, rough, smoky sound.
We were silent for a few more seconds, and then he extended his hand to me.
“I’m Daniel,” he said. I stared at his hand reluctantly for a few seconds, before slipping my much smaller one into it.
“Melanie,” I replied. He smiled at me again, and I found it hard not to smile back. Slowly, he shook my hand, his blue eyes holding my brown ones.
“It’s nice to meet you, Melanie.”
-
The same time next week, I was sitting near the front of the bus. There was no reason for it really, I felt like a change. Besides, all the delinquent teens sit at the back of the bus; why not shake things up a little?
This week, I hadn’t forgotten about Daniel, or dismissed him as a ‘never to see again’ guy. My best friend laughed her arse off when I told her I’d seen him twice. And talked to him this time. She called us ‘bus buddies.’ It’s disgusting.
When we rounded the corner he got on before, I saw that he was there again. I resisted the urge to smile. He was too damn charming. Last week we talked until I had to get off the bus, pulling faces at the same time, just to see who could make the other laugh the most. It was…interesting, I guess.
As soon as the bus stopped I saw his eyes scan for me as he stepped on, and he grinned widely when he saw me. I rolled my eyes in amusement. He walked towards me and sat down next to me, like last week. I frowned at his appearance, even though there was nothing different about him since I last saw him.
“What?” he asked.
“Your hair is really curly,” I commented. He regarded me in a sort of bemused amusement.
“You’ve only just noticed?”
“No,” I said, pulling an exasperated face to match my tone of voice. “I was just commenting. You have ringlets.”
He grinned at me devilishly. “I know, they’re sexy aren’t they?”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t answer. He took that as a yes.
We talked for a while, about how our week had been, and the little things. He was studying to be an architect. I told him I was taking English studies at college. He didn’t like the taste of blueberries. I told him I didn’t either. He liked old rock music and retro arcade games. I told him he had good taste. He told me that he thought dark chocolate was better than white chocolate. I called him an idiot.
When the bus approached my stop, like last time I found myself reluctant to leave. I didn’t let it show though. I pushed the bell, and just as I was about to get up, he tugged on my arm gently. He’d never touched me before. I looked into his eyes.
“Go out with me,” he requested. His eyes were earnest, he was interested in me. I got up and shrugged, feigning nonchalance, but was unable to stop my smile.
“Sure.”
-
“Ok, my turn. What’s your favourite film?” he asked, looking over at me. We had just been to see a film, and were now walking along, no direction in mind, licking from ice cream cones. I contemplated the question for a moment, brushing my dark hair over my shoulder.
“The Day After Tomorrow,” I decided finally. He looked interested.
“Why?” I’m sure he was expecting a serious answer, and I did have one, but I chose to explain the other, less important reason I loved that movie.
“Jake Gyllenhaal is cute.”
He made a disgusted face, sticking his tongue out as well. He moved closer to me, holding his ice cream cone in one hand.
“I’m cuter.”
“Of course you are, you have ringlets,” I said in a baby voice, tugging on one and laughing. He took my hand and placed it on his hip, those amazing eyes of his looking into mine. The hand that wasn’t holding the ice cream softly touched my jaw, tilting my face upwards. He kissed me lightly, his lips applying very little pressure to mine. I closed my eyes and let him, smiling against his lips. His hand travelled back and weaved its way through my thick hair, which I’d left loose tonight, at his request.
Gently, he broke away, and looked down at me with sparkling eyes.
“You’re cute too,” he said, with a dazzling smile, one more brilliant than I’d ever seen from him in the short time I’d known him. His eyes were incredible, and his hair was falling over one of them, and his lips were stretched into an adorable grin.
I silently decided that it was the best face he had ever pulled.