Petty Happenings

III. (three)

Not long after she had gotten her companion's water, they awoke.

The guy, Zayn, had been moving about in his sleep for the last ten minutes. Then, with quite the startled jump, he became conscious once again. The young woman's heart stuttered for a moment and she became fascinated with the cord of her earbuds. She turned the volume down once again, having only listen to four songs since Sarah came over, and observed Zayn out of her perephrial vision. He turned about in his seat before slumping back down, his head hitting the wall with a thump. The young woman looked at him fully and he gave her a tired, half-hearted smile--really, it was more of a grimace.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly, feeling a surge of bravery.

He shrugged. "I guess. Just a stupid nightmare s'all."

The young woman nodded slowly. "Do you get those often...? Wait, shit, sorry. It's really none of my business, I shouldn't have even opened my mouth. Sorry."

Zayn managed a slight, soft smile, his head still leaned against the window. "No worries. I do get them a lot, yeah. Makes it hard to sleep most nights."

"I'm sorry to hear that; I can relate."

"You apologize a lot," he commented, not rudely.

"Sorry... Wow, there I go again."

"Bad habit," he chuckled. "Smoking is one of mine. I'm Zayn, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I can't give you any insight on smoking, but uhm... yeah, I don't know. Sorry." Her cheeks became flushed and she ducked her head in embarrassment. She didn't know why she kept talking.

"It's bad, I know. Not much a stranger can do to help me, anyway."

His words hit the young woman's heart as if it were socked by a professional boxer. Just a stranger... She should leave conversations with Zayn to her friendlier female companion.

"Right. Sorry again for my curiosity."

"Hey, you're good. It was a nice change talking to someone after a nightma--"

The conversing two paused and turned towards the silent third. Novaleen had moved in her seat, slowly opening her eyes and stretching as she woke up from her short nap. She glanced around noticing us watching her and then accidentally knocking over the water bottle.

"How'd this get here?" Novaleen looked straight at Zayn but he shook his head, noticing his own water bottle next to him. Two pairs of eyes turned to the young woman.

"Uh, Sarah--I mean, a worker came and was handing out water. You both were asleep and I thought maybe you would want some...," the young woman trailed off, staring at her shoes as if they were the most intriguing thing. Novaleen glanced at Zayn quickly and then spoke again.

"Thank you, that was really nice. How much were they? I can pay you back no problemo."

"No, they were free. You're good." She forced a smile towards the other girl and looked back down. "You don't need to drink them if you don't want."

"That was really cool of you, I'm practically dying for some water! Thank you," Zayn said enthusiastically.

The young woman met his eyes and found them full of understanding. He threw her a smile.

"You're welcome," she whispered, and gave him a thankful smile in return.

Little did she know that the man she had barely held a conversation with understood why the young woman apologized for everything and couldn't make eye contact. Maybe not the exact reason, but he could sympathize with the girl whom he didn't even know the name of. He wanted her to know that, even if they would only be in the same space for a few hours and never speak again. Sometimes kindness from strangers is the best help someone can receive.

Novaleen had been watching the exchange very closely. Obviously her two companions had been talking while she was asleep. A hint of jealousy rang in her mind, but she tried to brush it off the best she could. Novaleen wanted to become friends with the other two before they got off the train and she was determined to do so--no matter how difficult.

And as the train continued on, each of the three became lost in the depths of their minds, completely oblivious to the grey clouds were slowly gathering outside the cold train window.

...      ...      ...

Why hello there. It's been a while, friends.

I think this is the longest chapter yet. Hm, hm, maybe?

I'm in a Verizon store and getting Applebees soon, ayY.

Vote, Comment, Whatever! It's all appreciated c:

-lexie x