The girl's footsteps faltered as she approached the bus stop once again, finding not only the boy from many days prior already there, but another unknown man sitting where she usually sat. He seemed to be in his forties with shaggy hair and a beer belly. It was older men like him that the girl was always weary of.
Never-the-less, the girl didn't want to be too quick to judge. As she always did, she silently approached the bus stop and sat down, this time in the middle of the two men. A familiar one on her right that had always seemed to make her feel safe and a new one on her left that made her a little uneasy.
Like always, she reached into her bag and took out her book to begin reading. There was about three feet between her and each man beside her and she chose to ignore the urge to move closer to the younger of the two. He once again had his head tilted back against the seat, his eyes closed as he listened to his music.
"How you doing there, girly?" A deep gravelly voice spoke from her left only a few seconds into her reading and the girl swallowed. Oh no.
She turned to the man and forced a smile, "I'm fine, thanks." Then she looked straight back at her book. Don't continue the conversation. Don't tell him where you're going. Stay strong.
"Where are you headed?"
Red flag. Red flag. Huge red flag.
"Uh, just leaving work." The girl dodged his question, keeping her gaze set on her book although she wasn't reading anymore. She felt her leg start to shake as anxiety took over her. This was one of the many parts of being a girl that she hated.
The man slid closer to her on the seat, "To go where?"
Quickly, the girl slid further away, towards the familiar dark-haired boy. At this point in time, she would much rather sit next to him than the creepy man beside her. For weeks now he had sat next to her silently, not speaking, not scaring her, not doing anything to cause concern. A minute with this other man and he was already making her feel beyond uncomfortable.
The boy with dark hair suddenly opened his eyes then, looking towards her as she scooted closer to him. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed before he looked behind her at the man and his gaze hardened. Looking back at the girl beside him, he scooted down the bench a little more so that he was sitting right on the edge, subtly nodding his head as a gesture for her to come closer.
The girl let out a relieved breath. She hadn't wanted to get too close to him, afraid that she would be pushing boundaries, despite feeling every need to get away from the other man. With the go ahead from the green-eyed boy, she moved herself and her bag even closer so that they were only a few inches apart on the bench. He closed his eyes once again, leaning his head back while the girl tried to focus on her book. Glancing at her watch, she realised she still had fifteen minutes before her bus came and she let out a shaky breath.
"Why you moving away, girly?" The man continued, sliding even closer to the girl. She tensed up immediately, squeezing her eyes shut in hopes that he might just go away. Ignoring him, she just sat there, trying to control her breathing.
Suddenly, she felt the boy next to her get up and her head snapped up, eyes widening in panic. He wouldn't just leave her with him, right? But the girl had no reason to fear. Instead of leaving, the boy moved to sit between the girl and the older man, tilting his head back and continuing to listen to his music as though nothing had happened.
The girl breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing slightly. She was really starting to like this dark-haired boy.
"Hey, buddy. We were in the middle of a conversation!" The older man's tone grew angry as his attention now turned to the boy. The girl froze. She didn't mean to put the boy in the line of fire.
But the boy hardly seemed to care, taking out one of his ear buds and rolling his head to the side to look at the man. "Doesn't a conversation require two people? Looked like you were just talking to yourself." His voice was deep, slightly raspy and his words made the girl beside him smile.
"Watch your mouth with me, boy." The man growled.
A smirk pulled up the boy's lips, "No thanks."
At that moment, the bus arrived, and the girl quickly scrambled to put her book in her bag. Turning to face the boy, she worried about leaving him alone with the creepy man. But he was already stood up as well, pulling his hood up over his head. His eyes locked with hers briefly and he nodded once, green eyes saying a million things that the girl couldn't quite catch.
Standing just a few feet apart, the girl spared the boy a small smile. "Thank you." She whispered before turning to walk onto her bus.
The boy waited at the bus stop for an extra moment, ensuring that she left safely before turning and walking away. His actions had the girl furrowing her brows. Why was he at the bus stop if he wasn't actually waiting for a bus?
~ Pink Flamingo
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