Heartbeats

Chapter 2

The next day I hurried my way through masses of people at the station, trying not to bowl any of them over in the process as I went, my books still at bay in my arm.

Okay, just relax. Getting this worked up over some petty guy is silly.

And for once, I had to agree with my head. Since when was me, a blushing stammering 19 year old, ever going to interest anyone if all I did was giggle like a little school girl?

The train doors opened and I hurried inside, the smell of body odour and breakfast burritos hitting me hard. I covered my nose and found a seat this time, sitting upon it I discovered it was already occupied. By a pair of bright pink headphones. I went to pick when a tanned hand shot out and scooped them up, leaving me confused for a moment before I followed the arm tat belonged to the person and my eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

It was the boy from yesterday. Today he’d decided to go with a more casual look, his scruffy black hair lost underneath a blue woollen beanie, a purple scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. His black jacket seemed snug and his jeans clung to his perfectly… I’d lost my train of thought, and apparently the ability to close my mouth.

“ Sorry about that. I must have left them.” He smiled and I remained in my frozen state. His voice was deep and smooth, like velvet. I struggled to find my words as they seemed to be lost in my throat so the only sound that came from me was an odd gurgle, to which the boy smiled politely before he turned around and sat down on the opposite side of the train.

Away from me, I assumed.

I sat down and clutched my books, mentally cursing for leaving my iPod at home. God knows what was going to happen to it when left in the hands of my best friends. I tried my best to focus on my day ahead, studying, my classes, maybe I’d go out for lunch and get one of those pie’s I’d heard so much about…

That’s when I noticed it.

The small very insignificant detail on the boy opposite me’s wrist. I tried not to stare but there was something tattooed on my soft skin that made me curious. He couldn’t be any older than 20, yet here he was, tattooed and all. He flipped his wrist over and I saw the letter A there before he turned his arm back over and placed his headphones in, leaving me even more curious than I was before.

I wasn’t usually one to pry, despite what my friends say. I normally keep to myself and don’t invade others privacy, but there was something about this boy, it made me want to know more. I looked at him for a moment and decided he needed a name, and there was no way I was going to go and ask him what it was, so I made one up.

Obviously I couldn’t use a real name, that would be freaky and sort of stalker like, so I went for a subtler one.

Olive.

His skin tone was olive so I thought it went well, until I started picturing all sorts of odd images of olives, so that name went down the drain.

Hmm… maybe Oliver?

Yes! I glanced over at ‘ Oliver’ and he seemed to be deep in the book on his lap, the pages old and torn slightly, but he still looked interested. I shuffled the books on my lap as the train bumped up and down, my shoulder occasionally knocking into the persons next to me, earning me a small look of annoyance every know and then.

For about fifteen more minutes I sat in silence as the boy flipped from page to page, his headphones still in his ears. He looked up at me about twice and gave me a little smile before he returned his attention back to the old pages. I felt a small form of relief when my stop approached, and I jumped out of my seat a little to fast, once again knocking my books onto the floor, hitting the same old ladies shoe.