Him

(1) The beginning

It was a breezy summer morning. Birds were chirping. The world was quiet. Life is good.

It was my day off of summer school as a tutor. I have been a student in this summer school since I was in Kindergarten. According to my parents, it will help me get into my dream university, this is why I have been both a student and a tutor. Thankfully, this is my last year of Summer school before seeing where my fate will lead me to.

I was at the bus stop, sitting on the red bench, looking at the display screen, then at the nature surrounding me.

This bus stop is literally in the middle of nowhere. Other than the red bench, the display screen and the bus stop sign there was nothing but nature surrounding us.

I was waiting for my bus to take me to the city, but it seems like it will not be coming anytime soon, so I will probably have to walk or even cancel my day off and return to my dorm.

But I wore my good outfit today.

My long floral green skirt, puffy sleeved white T-shirt and my pretty blue sandals.

And of course my blue tote bag

It would be a shame if the bus was cancelled.

Luckily I wasn't waiting alone, it seemed like another man was waiting for the same bus.

I took a quick glance at him and wow...

My heart began to beat so quickly and I think my cheeks turned red.

He is so handsome.

He was also wearing a white Polo shirt and black pants and white shoes. I like his style.

I think he noticed me looking at him because I noticed him in my peripheral vision turning his head towards me and looking at me for a while.

"You are also taking bus 3012?" He asked, startling me.

I looked at him to see if he's talking to me and as soon as my eyes met his, he gave me the sweetest smile ever. I didn't return the smile, as to not give him the idea of trying to persuade me. My mother taught me to never ever smile and laugh at a male, because they will think of it as flirting.

"Yeah, I'm going to the city" I said, trying to keep my composure to appear confident.

"Really? So am I! But the bus doesn't seem like it's gonna be here anytime soon" He said looking at the display screens, hoping that the bus will actually come soon.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I'm not used to talking to people I don't know, it makes me nervous, especially talking to males.

"Yeah, what a shame! Today was my day off." I said, appearing more confident and making eye contact.

"Mine too! Where do you work? I work at the Reading Nook bookshop" he replied, scooting closer to me.

" Hey, I always go to that bookshop! I have never seen you there though!"

"On which days do you come to the bookshop?" He replied coming closer and closer and with that my heartbeat got faster.

"On Fridays"

"That's why you probably have never seen me there, it's because it's also my day off"

"Oh! Yeah that makes sense" I looked back down at my hands.

"You never told me where you work" he said but this time quiet and in a deeper voice, probably since we were sitting so close to each other.

" Evergreen summer school"

"Summer school? May I ask how old you are?" He said, having a confused look on his face

"I'm 19 and I teach... or tutor actually at the school because that's what my parents want in order for me to get into a good university." I shrugged, " like an internship"

"That's really cool" He said in a low voice, making me look up at his beautiful sage green eyes and admiring his honey blond coloured hair.

He gave me a small smile before extending his hand and introducing himself.

"I'm Robert Edwards" He smiled, which was so contagious, I started smiling too. He stretched out his hand for me to shake, still holding eye contact and the beautiful smile on his face.

I looked down at his hand unsure as if I should shake it or not. I don't really ever interact with men. Ever. Let alone shake their hands... or even touch them.

"Nice to meet you Robert! I'm Shahrazad Salman." I finally decided to shake his hand. Nothing bad will happen. It's just a handshake. Nothing bad will happen from me interacting with him. A man. Right?

We shook hands for a while, I felt his thumb caressing my hand, it almost felt like we were holding hands and I'm not complaining, his hands were very soft and warm which my cold hands needed.

His hand left mine and I felt the warmth escaping my hands. What a shame, I loved 'holding' his hand.

"Sooo Shahrazad" he spoke, not looking at me anymore, instead looking in front of him at the other side of the road, where there is nothing but green landscape.

"Yeah?"

"Are you meeting someone in the city or are you going alone?" He asked slowly looking at me.

"I'm actually not meeting anyone, I'm going alone to the city to escape the school" I answered, rolling my eyes after mentioning the school.

He seemed relieved by my answer and even letting out a big sigh.

Suddenly we hear a big vehicle motor in the distance. We both look at the direction of sound and nonetheless our bus has finally came. Thank God!

It finally stopped at our stop and we both got in, showing the bus driver our ticket. I usually sit in the middle of the bus, because the windows are big and I can watch the landscape and think outside of the loud school.

We both sat down but not together, Rob sat one seat behind me.

We started chatting about random things and it felt like we were alone in this whole world.

I told him about my love for History and Languages and he shared my likings.

Did I mention that he is really funny?

I enjoyed the ride, the nature and of course his company.

The whole ride lasted about half an hour, but it felt so short. I wished we had more time. This is not something that I should be saying... or even think about... I should not be talking to him.

We arrived in the city.

People flowed out of the bus, I couldn't see Robert.

Everyone went their separate ways, even the bus drove away. Finally after the road cleared up from all of the people I finally got to see Robert, who also seemed to be searching for me and when he finally spotted me, he had this relieved smile on his face.

It was just me and Rob looking at each other. Standing at the bus stop. Buses coming and going in this busy city.

I guess this is where we separate ways.

As I was about to say my goodbyes, he spoke.

"If you don't have anything, let's spend today together, I know some great places here." He spoke softly, but he didn't look at me but at the ground. As if he was nervous or something. I would love to visit new places actually. I always go to the same three places that I'm familiar with. Bookstore. My best friend's house. And my favourite restaurant.

I was taken back a bit but was actually very happy that he asked.

Life's short... I should have my own life and identity outside of culture and my family...

"I would love to, Rob" I smiled at him, risking it all, he finally looked me in the eyes and smiled at me. But his face had this expression as if he didn't believe that I'd actually agreed.

"Well then Miss, shall we?"

"We shall"