Before Thirty

On the Bus

GWEN

I've been having so much fun chatting to Blake that I'm not even sure how long we've been on the bus. A couple of hours, maybe? He's not the most talkative person I've ever met, but it's nothing I can't handle. Introverted people are my specialty. They're more listeners than talkers, and since I'm the opposite, it's perfect. A seat match made in heaven.

Doesn't hurt that this guy is pretty heavenly to look at too. Shaggy dark hair that's longer than I normally like, but it somehow suits him. Mysterious and sexy. The few times we've made eye contact, his blue-green eyes have raised my curiosity even more.

That introverted thing might even be a bit guarded. Not that it matters. I've cracked tougher nuts than him, and we'll be sitting next to each other for two weeks. There's no way he'll be able to maintain this stoic silence for that long.

"It's wild that we're the youngest people on this bus, isn't it?" I say, checking out the sea of white and gray heads ahead of us. "When the booking agent said mature, I expected adults, not retirees."

"Hmm," Blake says. He leans forward and digs around in the bag at his feet, dragging out a pair of headphones. He shows them to me.

Oh, maybe he's going to offer to let me listen to some music he likes. Or an audiobook. I could handle that. I'm just about to reach out to take them when he slides them onto his head.

I stare at him for a moment, puzzled. Well, this is weird and rude. Who does that?

"Do your headphones mean you want me to stop talking?" I ask.

He raises his eyebrows and points to the headphones as though he already can't hear me. Bit of an asshole move, but I've got one to trump that. I pluck the arm of his headphones off his ear and say, enunciating each word, "Did you want me to stop talking?"

Whatever he says in reply is too low for me to hear. If he can't speak loud enough to be heard, he must not feel strongly enough about the whole headphone trick.

"Where are you from?" I ask, still with the arm of the headphones in my hand. When I let it go, he moves it back behind his ear.

Obviously, he still wants to hear me.

"Out east."

Ahh, that explains the accent. British accents are better, but really any lilt or change in pronunciation makes someone sound exotic. Judging from the chatter happening around us in a variety of languages and accents, the bus is full of people from a wide range of backgrounds. Which reminds me that I have another question for him.

"Were you somewhere warm before you came here? You're so tan."

Without me realizing it, he's slid the arm of his headphones back over his ear, and he taps it as though he's listening to something. Though I know he's not, at least not loud enough to drown me out. Noise canceling might get rid of some external noise, but people on the other side of those headphones can still hear if they're switched on.

What an asshole. I huff out a sigh and drag my phone out of my bag. Not that I have any messages or anything. I'm on the cheapest possible cellular level for the next six months. Without a Wi-Fi signal, my phone is pretty useless. Basic services only.

When he switches on the music in his headphones, I'm surprised that what's playing doesn't seem to be in English. I can't place the language or region by trying to covertly listen in. He doesn't have it loud enough to make out much more than a few words and a beat. But it does make me think he must have been in a foreign country not that long ago. It would explain the great tan in this cool weather.