The Life of a Hobo

Chapter 2 - Our Perfect Disgusting Bus Ride

Well, I'll tell you a little about my first day on the streets, the place I call home now. The bank took everything, and my family neglected me because I was a disgrace to the family name. Yea, it was harsh, but my parents never really showed much emotion towards anything; therefore, it didn't shock me. For the second time in my life, I took a bus. I took the bus to get to downtown.

The second time. The first time was with Lucy. We had only been dating for a little over than a month, but I slightly knew, even then, that I was going to marry that spectacular woman one day. Growing up rich, not only did I have countless cars at my disposal, I had my chafers to drive them. Public transportation was only a concept they briefly glossed over in school. Other than that, I never really gave it a second guess.

Lucy, on the other hand, didn't have the same luxeries. She walked everywhere until she turned fifteen, when her parent got her a bus card to make having a job and having good grades more plausible. She was an expert at buses. Me, not so much. When I finally admitted that I had never been on a bus, Lucy burst out laughing. She laughed because an important detail in her everyday life since forever barely lingered across my mind. As we realized more so at that moment than any other, we came from such different backgrounds with such different support systems yet still had the same goals and values and morals. I never stopped pondering that. But, she did. She couldn't ponder it anymore. She was thoughtless.

Lucy's face lit up as she recovered from her laugh that was quiet enough that she didn't disturb anyone but loud enough to express how completely hilarious and ridiculous that statement I just told her was. I later came to recognize that glow in her face as her I-have-an-amazing-idea face. "Oh my god," she giggled in a low voice, "I have a surprise for you, but we need to leave just about right now if we want to do it."

Unsure of what was going to happen, I let myself just relax and allow someone else to be in control. That was the first time I had done that. I payed the bill which took longer than needed because Lucy demanded to pay half. She was a broke waitress that just moved to this city, I was not letting that happen. We ended up playing Rock, Paper, Sizzors Shoot to determine if she was going to pay half or not. It started as just the best of three of Rock, Paper, Sizzors, but we got a little competitive when one of us when half a second after the other.

Not to brag or anything but I ended up winnig two of three. I payed the bill as Lucy looked at me begging to let her pay half. She was persistent, but I wasn't budging on this. We ran out of the restaurant almost like teenagers, receiving a weird look from our waiter because our lobster had only just arrived five minutes earlier. "Where are we going?" I asked her as we ran with our fingers intertwined. All I received was a quick grin and a simple shrug of her shoulders. Somehow, I knew that this moment would be big night for us. Not us as individuals but us as in US.

With her heels in one hand and mine holding her other, we arrived at a bus stop with a large vehicle with two open doors waiting for us to get in. Of course, I had seen buses on the rare occasions I drove but never that close. The only time I saw what the inside of a bus looked like was when I took Spanish 1 in my freshman year of high school. "Autobùs," Señora Rodriguez would say while pointing to the picture.

Lucy lead me inside. It was nothing life the picture in my Spanish textbook with Pablo and Carlos smiling. The diversity of people and the dirtiness caught me off guard. Nope. This isn't me. I can't. I NEED to get off. She can't change me. I don't do things like this. I'm getting off. I glanced at the doors of the bus ready to run out of them.

Splash. A drop of rain splashed on the sidewalk as Lucy's hand met my shoulder. She could sense my panic at the differences from my world to this bus. "You're okay. Clay, look at me," I move my line of sight from the door to her beautiful, soft eyes. "You can do this. Just relax. Enjoy the new things. First, focus on my face then my body then the buildings in the windows then the people here." I did exactly that. I was able to forget about my uncomforted caused by that vehicle and observed my surroundings. I was trying to understand the situation.

I saw an exhausted mother coming home from what was probably her third job. I heard her low voice in her phone, "Hola, Sofia. Mija, casi estoy en casa. ¿Como estas?... ¿De verdad?...Sí. Bien." That lady went from being a person I would ignore out of disgust to a woman, a mother whom I respect because she does all that she can to help provide for her child and still keeps going because her daughter needs a mother's ear. (Hey, Sophia. Sweetie, I'm almost home. How are you? Really? Yes. It is good.)

I noticed similar things about the other people on the bus. Something that seems so minuscule to me was something beautiful and respectable that took everything they had and some to do. These people were hard workers. I didn't sympathize them. They didn't need or want that. I respected them.

Somehow, Lucy knew exactly what I was thinking. Her hand gave me upper arm a slight squeeze as her lips smiled. My eyes went back to her as a cause of her squeeze. God, this is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The way she looked to the ground when I looked at her face. The way her dress clung to her curves. Her small framed body. The slight muscle in her arms hinting at her job as a waitress. The black stud earrings she worn to compliment the tiny black gem on a silver chain wrapped around her neck. The silver ring on her right ring finger that she always wore. Her toned thighs were a huge give away that she loves to run. Her bare feet with her black heels in her hand. She loved going bare foot. She hated shoes.

I knew I was falling for her. I know, clique, but it's true. I leaned into her face, one hand on her hip and the other on her cheek. Our lips met, and our eyes closed. Our lips moved slowly together as if they knew the way. We kissed lightly.

Lucy pulled back. I kept my eyes shut hoping this wasn't all just a dream inside my head. I opened my eyes to find a smiling, beautiful woman in front of me on a bus while rain fell from the sky all around our haven.

Lucy. My first bus ride. Our first kiss. Why couldn't both of my experiences on a bus be the same? One was the beginning of a never ending love while the other was the beginning to a life of misery and loneliness. Why?