The Boy In The Train

A Formation Of A Habit

For the next few months, there was an array of messages, calls, and video chats that were exchanged between Chrissy and Samuel. Both of them had suddenly found a reason to wake up every morning and a reason to smile before they go to sleep.

They would meet up at the station every morning and wait for the other near the notification board, which they had made their meeting place.

They would sit together and talk about various topics and gossips.

It was only after the sixth month that Samuel had the courage to confess his feelings to her. Had he got the chance he would have done it way earlier but he didn't want to scare Chrissy away.

On hearing his confession, Chrissy was shocked. Somewhere she knew that both of them had feelings for each other way more than a mutual friendship.

Therefore she agreed when he asked her for a date. They weren't officially together​ but Chrissy strongly suspected that he will ask her to be his girlfriend on the date.

On the morning of the date, Chrissy's happiness knew no bounds. Samuel had informed her earlier to dress casual and comfortable and like every flustered teenage girl on her first-ever date, Chrissy was as indecisive as one could be.

In the course of the last two months, they had a habit of talking to each other whenever they felt like they absolutely had to. Apart from the usual conversations, they had poured their heart out to each other.

It was surprising on Chrissy's part, but for some reason, she felt as if she could trust him and she did.

As he did not have a car himself, he asked her to meet him near the Town Hall which was near to place Chrissy lived.

Dressed in a pale blue shirt and dark wash jeans which were tucked in her favorite boots, Chrissy made her way to the Town Hall.

On the short walk to the Hall, Chrissy remembered what he said to her the day they first started holding each other's hand as a measure of comfort when they were talking about something serious.

"Your hands are so smaller than mine but for some reason the touch of them makes me feel complete. I never imagined I would ever say this but I think -now I know- that I'm falling for you, Christene Halls. I'm falling in love with you."

Those words still managed to bring up color in her cheeks. She smiled as she looked up at the sky and wondered how in a matter of six months, a small and amiable crush transformed into something way more than that.

She looked at her watch and jumped. She was so lost in her thoughts that she was late. A good ten minutes.

Quickly picking up her pace, she started running her way towards the Town Hall.

However, when she reached she could not see the boy she was eager to see. The only people present there was an old man who was reading a newspaper on the steps of the Town Hall and a local vendor who had stopped there for a break.

Deciding to wait for Samuel, she made her way to the small bench that was placed near the foot of the stairs.

The mid-afternoon heat in no way helping her with still for long. Finally, when she couldn't take it any longer, she removed her scarf around her neck and started fanning herself with it.

Another twenty minutes had passed and there was still no sign of Samuel. People threw wry glances at Chrissy, wondering why she was bearing the heat when she could have just stayed home and enjoyed her air-conditioned room.

Finally, she started getting worried. She called him numerous times but they would either go unattended or would go to voicemail.

Had he stood up on her?

She wondered.

The street vendor having noticed her forlorn look approached her.

"Are you okay miss?" He asked her.

"Oh yes. I'm perfectly fine. I'm just waiting for my friend to show up" she said with a smile that did not reach her eyes.

The vendor puzzled said," You have been here for the past two hours miss. If your friend had to come, he should have been here by now."

This little news startled her.

Had it really been that long?

She stared at the man with a wry expression before releasing a soft sigh.

"I hope he comes soon. He is never the one to break his promise and I'm pretty sure he has a good reason to be late" she said.

The man shook his head and said in a sad tone.

"One never has a reason to be late miss. They only have a  reason to justify that they aren't the bad guy in the case."

Chrissy did not understand the meaning behind his words but one look at his expression and she knew that he was not talking about her.

Soon later the vendor gave her a candy bar and made his way to the local market where he would sell his wares.

The sun had started to settle down and by now Chrissy knew that Samuel is definitely a no-show.

Forlorn and disappointed, she stood up, brushed off her pants, and started to make her way home.

One part of her argued that he must have been stuck in something that demanded his entire time and attention while the other part argued that he could have at least left her a text instead of making her wait for him for almost three hours.

Deciding that she would deal with the problem and the problem-maker in the morning, she changed into​ comfortable clothes and slipped under the covers.

What she did not notice was the phone which pinged with a message from the boy who stood up on her.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_