HE ALMOST MISSED his train. Of all the times for my car to break down, he thought. He had known it wasn't the best idea to party the night before, but Stella had begged and begged to go.
Ah, Stella. He could refuse the perky blonde nothing--even a party on the night before an early start, planning for his brother's wedding. Well, what the hell, he figured. You only live once, right? That had become his motto since he started college. The motto had served him well in the years since; depending on the definition of 'well'. To him, it meant living with no regrets and enjoying life. At twenty-five, he had been living this way for a long time--mostly with the Stella girl Mickey, his brother, had set him up with months ago, along with two other girls. Stella was hot as hell, but certainly wasn't the brightest bulb in anyone's box. They didn't have a thing in common besides a love of the night life. The same could be said for the other two women, he supposed. This way of living had been fine with him, and he figured he could live this way forever.
Until, that was, he'd seen her--sitting on the Trimet train car, a sketch pad on her lap and a bundle of colored pencils clutched in her left fist. She was running her tongue along the outside of her teeth and her head tilted from side to side as her arm made sweeping motions over the paper. Her auburn hair was tied in a ponytail high on the back of her head.
"Excuse me," he said, leaning a hand on the empty aisle seat next to her. "Is this seat taken?" His arm nearly gave out when the most beautiful pair of green eyes he'd ever seen looked up at him under the brim of her baseball cap.
"NO, NOT THAT I know of," Sarah replied before turning her attention back to the drawing on her lap. She hoped her aloof answer would be enough to get the man to find another seat. The man had jock written all over him and she was not in the mood to be picked up. I was looking forward to the long train ride as the first alone time she'd had in weeks.
"In that case, may I sit down," he asked.
"Why not," she said, choosing a different pencil. "Last time I checked, this was a free country."
She heard him chuckle as he plopped onto the seat. The sound was annoyingly pleasant. "You're right, I must have forgotten."
She barely kept from rolling her eyes. Instead, she tried to recapture the trance she had been in when he interrupted her.
"Hi, I'm Jay," he said, sticking his hand in front of her sketch pad.
"Sarah," she said, roughly shaking his hand. Maybe if she granted him this, he would take the hint and go away.
"Sarah, really," Jay said, leaning his elbow on the armrest separating them. "I've always thought that was a beautiful name, reserved only for the most beautiful girls."
She laughed, she couldn't help it; that pick up line was just so predictable. Everything about this guy was predictable. The moment the sound escaped her lips she regretted it. Jay flashed a toothy smile.
"And I suppose you've met many Sarah's in your day," Sarah said, sweeping her hand across the page once more.
"Well, anything's possible. However, even if I have met many Sarahs, you would be by far the most beautiful," Jay said, leaning forward.
"Of course I am," she said, laughing. "I bet you say that to all the Sarahs," she tilted her head towards him and rolled her eyes.
He gasped, a hand coming to rest over his heart. "Do you really think I'm the kind of guy who would say that to just anyone?" Yes, she thought.
"How would I know? I mean you just plopped yourself down like two minutes ago. You could be anybody."
"Ah, but you see, I'm not just anybody." Jay leaned his head back against the seat, his hands resting on his thighs. His blue eyes drifted closed and he let out a soft breath.
