bite me! ¤ endgame

[02 ¤ deadlines are for losers]

《DEADLINES ARE FOR LOSERS》

[FIVE YEARS LATER]
[SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA]

MINA WAS IMMERSED in her essay.

She'd had two disastrous attempts at rough drafts and many breakdowns before she'd gotten anywhere good. She'd spent the better half of the day typing, her fingers flying against the keyboard as she grew ideas and moved fast to catch them.

She had been cooped up in her apartment all day, her boyfriend Shaun dropping off coffee for her in the morning had been the only human interaction she had encountered all day. Though that hardly counted, she supposed, as he had hurriedly put it on the table, kissed her and then left for work, which he was running late for.

Her and Shaun were still fairly new and if she were being honest with herself, it kinda freaked her out that she had met someone else at all. She'd spent the last 3 years rejecting date offers and attempted romantic confessions from people but then found herself falling for a certain man she met on the bus home from college.

He had sat next to her on the crowded bus the first night they met, shoved slightly into her by the passenger next to him. He quickly apologized, trying to squeeze his broad arms into himself, and Mina gave him a smile, watching him failing to contain himself in his tiny space bubble. She felt bad for him, he seemed genuine in his earnest apology and she found herself suddenly opening her mouth.

"It's fine. I'm from New York so I'm used to getting elbows to the face." She heard herself saying, followed by an awkward laugh and a rush of embarrassment. She felt her cheeks heat up and started to cringe into herself, before she realized he was smiling down at her and his mouth was saying something.

"-Still feel bad about. I kind of make it a habit not to elbow an innocent passengers face." Was what she caught when she tuned in and she returned his playful grin.

"So what you're saying is if I wasn't an innocent passenger, I'd be getting an elbow in my face?" She questioned jokingly. "Now I'm interested, what about me makes you think I'm innocent? And what exactly are the qualifications for innocent passengers?"

"Well..." The man crinkled his eyebrows in mock concentration and Mina looked more closely at him, her heart skipping a beat when she realized she was talking to someone way out of her league. Jesus, he could have been a model, she thought to herself.

The man picked up his sentence, snapping his fingers suddenly and Mina looked at him expectedly. "The qualifications are you a human being. And you paid your fare for the bus. And you don't get mad when a random stranger shoves you. Accidentally, of course."

Mina grinned up at him before sighing and shaking her head in mock disappointment. "I guess I get an elbow to the face then. I didn't pay my fare for the bus. My innocence has been revoked."