The girl on the bus

Chapter 1 : Drenched in rain

Zed
"Okay you guys are done for today"
my coach yells over the gym pointing at me and Luke practicing. Throwing one last kick, Luke collapses to the floor
"thank fuck for that" he moans " I'm so tired" he says as he rolls around the floor. "
Come on bro, lets go" i sigh trying my to best to pull him back up
"why the rush?" he rolls his eyes at me. sassy much I think to myself. He has been like that since he was a kid. We met at boxing competition 15 years ago and really hit it off. We joined the same academy and I could never imagine my life without him. We are always training together, both trying to get to the professional level. But there is no hate or jealousy between us, so I think that is why we get along so well.

Luke looks up at me again, " shit bro I got you bad, does it hurt" he points to my face and the bruise that is forming on my cheekbone. Gently touching it, I feel the pain spread across my skin.
" does it hurt" Luke questions once again
" yeah a bit, don't worry though it's a small one" I answer while Luke stands up
" I'm sorry bro" he says clearly feeling bad,
" Luke it's okay, don't worry it happens, we were boxing" He nods his head and we make our way towards the changing room.
"Are you both leaving"
coach yells from behind
"yeah why" we both yell back in unison.
"It's raining like hell outside do you have an umbrella?" he says as he comes out of his office
" I have one yes" I answer as Luke rummages trough his bag " yes I have it too" he says in relief
"okay then take care you two, see you both tomorrow " coach says before he turns around to go back to his office. He shuts the door before we say goodbye. I throw all of my stuff on the bench, and pull my towel and some shampoo out of my bag. I'm sweaty and I hate the feeling of it, Luke is already showering, so I step to a shower next to his and turn on the water. I don't really have that much time, I have a bus to catch, so I quickly smear the shampoo all over me and turn the water on again, trying to wash away all the foam. I carefully step out of the shower and I see my reflection in the mirror by the sink. My eyes emidiately land on the bruise, that has formed on my cheekbone, he did get me good, I think to myself. Without giving it much thought I walk back to the changing room and sit by my bag drying myself up. Staring at the old poster that is hanging on the wall I completely zone out.
" bro you okay"
Luke waves at me in an attempt to bring my attention back to him,
" yeah I'm fine, I zoned out" I reply grabbing my clothes from the bag.
" it's like four in the noon already you have to hurry up or else you'll miss your bus" Luke says in a warning tone. I'm already halfway dressed by now, trying to pull the hoodie that I put over my neck down.
" yes I know I have like fifteen minutes left" I say more to my comfort than to his, Luke just rolls his eyes and laughs.
" good luck" he says before going back to the sink to dry his hair up. That is the only thing I'm happy about not having. I buzzed my hair so it's easier to take care of it. Luke however has some impressive curls up to his collarbone so he always spends a lot of time on them. Time that I don't have.
" bye" I yell back as I walk trough the hallway, double checking my bag in case I forgot anything. I grab my pocket, reaching for my phone. 16.05 I'm running out of time, but there is still ten minutes.

The door creeks as I push it open and it's indeed raining hard. Coach was right. I open my umbrella, and walk towards the bus station, it's not that far, I can already see it, but I'm completely drenched in rain, as my grey sweatpants stick to my skin. Making me shiver with cold. I make it to the bus station just in time, I can hear the loud bus engine approaching, so I close my umbrella and prepare my card. The bus stops right by me, and the door slams open. I press my card on the monitor and get inside.

The bus is packed to say the least, and I'm standing by the foggy window trying to move away from the people around me. I hear a thud and I know it's the bus door closing. I shift my attention back to the fogged up window, I can see trough it a bit, and I notice a girl. She is running towards the bus, completely drenched, stepping in every puddle of rain as she runs towards the bus. The driver saw her, he opened the door again, the girl entered and thanked the driver, who then returned a small smile. I move closer to the window so she can get trough but the bus is full, so she stands right by me. So close that I notice tiny rain droplets falling from her wet hair. I now observe her more. She is beautiful. She has long curly hair, and brown eyes covered with now wet glasses. I try to stop looking at her, it feels wrong but my eyes keep wandering around her. She looks sad, her pink shirt is sticking to her body, as she tries to adjust it shivering with cold. Totally lost in my thoughts I haven't even noticed we had started driving, and I'm only brought from my trance when the bus comes to a harsh holt, and the girl comes crashing into me. My arms tangle around her waist trying to prevent her from falling. And after a few seconds when everything settles down and the bus moves again, I realise what i had done. Her shocked eyes now meet mine.
" I am so sorry, I should have been more careful"
her cheeks turn to a shade of pink as she tries to apologise. About to answer her I look down and realise I'm still holding her, feeling like a total creep I remove my hands from her waist
" it's okay don't worry" I smile, trying to ease the tension. The air around us is still thick, and I try to distract myself by looking out the fogged up window again. The girl is still really close and I'm trying not to look at her after that awkward interaction. As the bus drives by the first three stops, the bus becomes somewhat emptier and the girl moves away, now standing by the door. When we stop again, she leaves the bus. I watch her as she slowly walks on the sidewalk, as if the rain is not a problem for her. Even by her walk you can tell she is sad. Well either that, or I'm overanalysing her. Is there something wrong, I think while watching her slowly disappear in the streets. Trying to clear my head and remove the girl from my thoughts I think of my lunch. I have a match in a few weeks, so everything I eat has an effect on my boxing performance. So for over a month I have been eating "clean" the way my coach called it. It wasn't even bad, I always felt full after my meal and they taste great. Thinking of the lunch that Theo My brother prepared for us keeps me occupied for like five minutes, and then my mind spins back to the girl. Who is she. I'm walking down the street so ingrosed in my thoughts I didn't even notice it stopped raining, nor did I notice I'm home.
I unlock the door, and the smell of fresh food hits my nostrils. Making my stomach growl with hunger.
"Zed are you home" I hear a faint yell from the kitchen. As the sound of falling pots cuts him off.
"Yes" I reply, shaking my sneakers off as my bag falls on the hallway floor.
" It smells amazing" I say as I enter the kitchen.Theo is hunched over the stove, mixing the mashed potatoes. His hand aggressively stomping the potatoes with a fork.
" it better smell good, I put my blood, sweat and tears into it" he laughs. He has the steak and broccoli on the plate already, as he puts the big pot of mashed potatoes on the table.
" dig in" he points to the pot and I put some on each of our plates.
"So I see the training was successful " Theo says pointing to my bruise. Confused I look back at him
" it was, why would the bruise be success for me?"
Theo eats another broccoli before laughing " nah I'm fucking with you, I just wanted to ask about the bruise" the smirk plastered on his face makes me laugh,
" you are enjoying this huh?" I ask annoyed by his remark "Luke hit me accidentally, it's all good" I reply his question.
" yeah, expected" he says.
" how was your day" I continue the conversation.
" nothing much really, I got to stich up a real person today but that is all"
Theo is a medical student, he is currently a volunteer at the city's hospital so he gets to experience things he learns about. He is really good at it, especially with kids. They like him a lot. He knew how to talk to them and make them feel safe, he is training to become a child doctor because of it. He is three years older than me, and at 24 he is in his second year of the medical college. I do collage on the side too, with online classes, but is not like I really need it, my boxing career is much more promising than my schooling. We ate dinner and I spent my evening just mopping around, trying to think of anything else but the girl who can't seem to leave my head.
Scrolling trough my phone, in hopes of distraction i finally manage to get her out of my head. I can hear Theo watching the television downstairs, and a thought to join him crosses my mind, but I'm to tired to even stand up. Deciding to stay in my room I scroll trough my schedule, pressing the small icons around adjusting the timetables. And I do it again. The image of the curly haired girl crosses my mind. Groaning I press my pillow to my head. Stop thinking. I don't even know her and I somehow got attached, I'm slowly starting to think I might have some serious issues. But then, I probably won't see her ever again, so this has to stop. Concerned as to why I'm still hoping to see her tomorrow I put my phone away defeated but I pick it right back up almost emidiately when I remember I need an alarm for the morning. And I grow even more concerned when I change my morning training session to the noon one, just so I could see her again on the bus tomorrow, when there is a high chance she won't even be there. I'm going insane, I think to myself as I put my phone away and close my eyes, trying to fall asleep.