Prompted

Apology Accepted

Include your characters driving together and person A is worried about waking up person B. (Characters themselves do not have to be driving/operating a vehicle. They could be riding on a train, in the backseat, on a boat, etc.) 

Prompt Creds: exoticfinn 

Julia was never known for her punctuality. She took the term, "fashionably late" to a new level. At this point in the evening, she was neither fashionable, nor late. Her blonde hair swarmed violently around her small frame, sticking to her dollar store lip gloss in clumps. In one hand, she was clutching a bouquet of flowers that, a few blocks back, stopped being a bouquet and started to look a lot more like the colossal disappointment her night had become. A stream of colourful profanity spewed from under her breath, but the rain was falling so hard that she herself could scarcely tell what she was saying. She barely made it onto the bus before it pulled away from the stop. Another petal fell from the bouquet and she cursed once more before shoving her enormous duffle bag though the door and stepping into the sweet safety of public transportation. 

She observed the bus from behind the mass of hair covering her face. There was a decent amount of people riding tonight. A rather large African-American man sat in the seat closest to her, next to a slender, lanky Chinese girl wearing an abundance of gold bangles around her arm. Julia pushed her way past them and the elderly couple sitting across the aisle from them. She noticed young university students with their heads buried in textbooks or their partner's shoulder, or their cell phone. A few of the men looked up as she passed; scanned her over with calculating eyes. They squinted at her like an equation, searching her army green trench coat for something other than what they saw, which was a girl that was terrified of other college men and left her pepper spray at home. Getting rather anxious, Julia scrambled into the first empty seat she saw. More relieved than ever, she flopped into the torn cushion closest to the aisle, and nearly threw her bag on the mound of a person next to her. Quickly, she apologized, and shoved her bag under her seat. Gaining no response from the mound-person to her right, she apologized again, and explained that she was an absolute mess of a human being at the moment. The last thing she needed was another person angry with her on a night like this. 

She turned to continue her stream of apology, and noticed you had a on a pair of red, off-brand headphones. Nodding once to herself, she decided not to bother you anymore. After all, it must have been a fairly good song if you didn't hear her babbling apologies at you. Her voice was very...distinctive, to say the least. She pulled a hair tie from her wrist and desperately tried to wrestle her hair into an, at best, pathetic excuse for a ponytail. She glanced at you from the corner of her eye once more. You were laying sideways in a half-fetal position, with your head resting on the window. Julia noted the way your hair swept across your forehead in the strangest of ways. She looked away quickly after this thought crossed her mind. If she were to be caught staring, she would have to come up with a believable excuse as to why she wasn't just simply staring at you, which would be difficult, because she most certainly was. The bus stopped again, and she sighed. It was to be another long ride home tonight. The elderly couple at the front of the bus stepped out into the night. As the doors shut behind them, Julia said a small prayer that they get home safely. Resting her head back against the seat, she decided that she might as well get comfortable. The ceiling had a collection of scratches and small pieces of pencil graffiti. A heavy sigh escaped her lips, and she fidgeted restlessly. She sneakily looked over at you again, just to check if you were still asleep. You shifted slightly, and hope fluttered in her stomach, but it was for nothing. She had a better view of your face now. Your mouth hung slightly ajar and she giggled, before covering it up with a cough. She thought to "accidentally" nudge your foot with her elbow, so that she'd have a chance to start a conversation. Even if it were just another apology, at least you'd hear it this time. However, you looked more than exhausted, and would most likely ignore her anyway. 

She noticed your phone laying on the armrest between the two of you. As if on cue, the bus stopped suddenly, sending your phone sliding off the armrest. Julia squeaked and scrambled to snag the device before it hit the ground. She caught the edge of it just in time and breathed yet another sigh of relief. Glancing back over at you, she shook her head at her inability to un-invest herself from strangers. Realizing she still was in possession of your phone, she quickly set it on the seat in front of you, tucked safely between the seat cushion and your knee. Being careful not to wake you, she moved the armrest to an upward position, so you could ease some of the tension from your legs. She then scooted to the edge of the seat so that she could avoid crowding your space, even though you were technically using half of her space as well. Julia didn't mind. She subconsciously clicked at the dried paint on her jeans. Another stop, another three people disembark. Julia tried to count the stitches in the seat in front of her. She tried seeing different shapes in the carpet until she eventually got too dizzy. She even made up exaggerated backstories about each person on the bus, The middle aged man holding yesterday's newspaper was a secret agent, on a mission to assassinate the beautiful brown girl sitting in the seat in front of him who kept popping her gum. The chubby girl with pink hair and a Sublime shirt that was a few sizes too small a few rows in front of Julia was running away from home. Then she looked at you again. She wasn't entirely sure where to start. Your expression showed frustration, for you slept with your brow furrowed. She had the sudden urge to smooth out all of the lines on your face. You were definitely around her age, maybe a little, but not much older than her. Julia decided to go back to counting stitches.

She wondered why you were on the bus at such an atrocious hour, but then imagined that one could ask her the same question, and the type of people who are on the bus this late at night probably wouldn't appreciate someone asking why they were on the bus this late at night. At any rate, she wondered about you. You had holes in your shoes, and the only thing you seemed to carry with you was your phone, headphones, and a possible wallet, though she couldn't see one in your pockets from where she sat. Your phone illuminated, lighting up your features in a blue glow. Julia knew she shouldn't look, she really did know better than that. However, the text you received was from, "Mom," and she immediately thought of how concerned she must be about you if you were out at this time of night. She reached over your legs, keeping a close eye on your face the entire time, and slid the bar across the screen to open the message. It read: "Baby, I'm sorry. I'm so worried, you haven't answered my calls. I just need to know you're safe. Where the hell are you? Please come back home..." Julia swallowed hard and looked at you again from the corner of her eye. She couldn't have just sat in a seat by herself, oh no. She had to become involved with the life of a complete stranger on the bus. She prayed for forgiveness for her following actions, and hoped that her goodhearted intentions would make them the right ones.

You squinted at your phone screen as you stepped off at your stop. "1 New Message From: Mom" A guilty tar started bubbling in your stomach as you opened the message. It read: "Thank you thank you thank you. I can't say that enough. Thank you for keeping my baby safe. You are a true blessing, thank you. The world needs more people like you."

Confused, you scroll back to the previous message, and read through it. "Hello ma'am. My name is Julia. I'm 21 years old. I know you're probably extremely worried about your child tonight. I don't know what happened between the two of you, but I thought you should know that everything is fine, and he is completely safe. I'm sitting next to him on bus 233 as I'm typing this message, and I can assure you that your baby will be coming home tonight. Please forgive me for intruding, but I wanted to at least make sure something was resolved tonight. I promise not to leave this seat until the bus is empty, and he has reached his stop. After doing some serious investigative work, I found out that your child will be getting off at the corner of West Jefferson and Oak, near the Pawn shop. You may want to be there waiting. Sorry again for intruding, hope you forgive me. Have a good night, God bless. -Julia xoxo"