I'm Ezra, by the way ~

On the way home ~

Kiss me, touch me, 'cause

I have lost myself into you ~

God, why am I so tired? Alright, I have a seat, I'm still a whole bunch of stops away from mine… maybe I should sleep. No, I've slept past my stop so many times already, I'll just put up with another hour or so till I'm home to my bed, to my comfy fluffy blankets. Speaking of blankets? Where did I get my favorite one from? How long have I been hugging it now? Well, who cares… it feels so nice, and it has pandas! Cute baby pandas in an irregular pattern. So soft, so perfect, so… Auch!

I woke up to a bunch of angry people scolding me for not giving up my seat after an elder got on the bus. Embarrassed, I stood up and apologized as I offered the old lady the seat, angry people still going on over how rude I was in words I'm thankful I could only partially understand. Apologies kept flowing out of my mouth when suddenly someone grabbed my by the wrist and pulled me down and off the bus with them at the very next stop.

Confused as ever, I stared at the figure standing in front of me. It was a boy, about my age, perhaps a little older; a foreigner, like myself. Before I could try and make out some sense from what had just happened, he turned to me, worried eyes, perplexed tone:

“Are you okay?”

Words failed to form inside my head, so I just nodded while looking straight into his eyes, still not sure I knew what was even going on right there.

He let go of his grip on my wrist and just sighed, seemingly relieved though clearly still upset.

“I have no idea what just happened there. I saw people suddenly seemed mad, and then someone just hit you out of the blue! What's wrong with these people?!”

Honestly, I wouldn't have normally reacted that way, and I don't know whether it was the sheer concern I could see in his eyes – which, by the way, melted my cynical heart –, or just how overall handsome I was starting to notice he was – I get hormone-ridden when burnt-out –; whatever it was, it made me smile.

“It was my fault”, I began explaining, “an elder got on the bus and I didn't give her my seat. That was rude of me, of course people were going to scold me”.

“But you were asleep!” He protested. He sounded like he'd just heard the most outrageous of nonsense. “How were you supposed to even know she'd just taken the bus?!”

“It doesn't matter” my tone was calm and I couldn't help but smile as I threaded the ideas together for the utterly confused kid, “the only thing that's important here is this: she's old, I'm young, ergo, she gets the seat. The end”.

“It's a cultural thing, I suppose”, he looked like he was having trouble wrapping the idea around his head, but at the same time, trying to convince himself that that was just the way things were. He reached his hand out to me and drew some kind of a smirk on his plump, cherry red lips. “I'm Ezra, by the way”.

“And I'm Luz, nice to meet you”, I said as I shook his hand, possibly looking a tad more delighted than the situation gave room for.

We were still at the bus stop, and as it got later into the evening, it grew colder as well.

“The next bus should be here any time now, right?” He said, an eye on the direction we came from.

“That was the last bus for today” I replied, only then realizing how far I still was. “A cab will have to do”.

It was written all over his face that he was little to mortified that he'd just caused more trouble than he had saved; but again, it was far too late for any of it to be undone, so he decided to make it up to me instead.

“How about we grab something warm first, then? Or maybe have a drink?” He offered.

“Why not both?”, I suggested. “Drinks on you, snacks on me… deal?” Closed my offer holding out my hand at him, which he shook in return at the sound of a “deal” and a pleased look on his face.~