squeal shut again as the guy walks down the aisle toward me. I look down into the magazine that had been sitting inside the terminal and start reading an article about Brangelina.
I sigh with relief when he passes me up and takes the pair of empty seats behind me.
Finally, an under-populated bus I might actually get some deep sleep on. It’s all I really want to do. The longer I stay awake, the more I think about all of the things I don’t want to think about. I don’t know what I’m doing, or where I’m going, but I do know that I want to do whatever it is and get there soon.
I doze off after staring out the window next to me for an hour.
Muffled headphone music blaring right behind me wakes me up sometime after dark.
At first, I just sit here, hoping maybe he’ll notice the top of my now fully awake head bobbing over the seat and decide to turn the music down.
But he doesn’t.
I lean up, reaching back to rub a crooked muscle in my neck from sleeping on my arm and then I turn around to look at him. Is he asleep ? How can anyone actually sleep with music blasting in their ears like that? The bus is pitch dark except for a couple of dim reading lights shining down onto books and magazines from above the passenger’s seats and the little green and blue lights at the front of the bus in the driver’s dashboard. The guy sitting behind me is covered by darkness but I can see one side of his face lit up by the moonlight.
I contemplate it for a second and then push myself up with my knees on the seat and I lean over the back of it, reaching out and tapping him on the leg.
He doesn’t move. I tap him harder. He stirs and slowly opens his eyes, looking up at me with my stomach hanging over the top of the seat.
He reaches up and pulls the earbuds from of his ears, letting the music funnel from the tiny speakers.
“Mind turning it down a little?”
“You could hear that?” he says.
I raise a brow and say, “Uhhh, yeah, it’s pretty loud.”
He shrugs and thumbs the MP3 player for the volume button and the music fades.
“Thanks,” I say and slide back down in my seat.
I don’t lie down across the seats in the fetal position this time, but lean against the bus and press my head back against the window. I cross my arms and close my eyes.
“Hey.”
My eyes pop open, but I don’t move my head.
“Are you asleep yet?”
I raise my head from the window and look up to see the guy hovering over me.
“I literally just closed my eyes,” I say. “How can I already be asleep?”
“Well, I don’t know,” he whispers. “My granddad could fall asleep in two seconds flat after closing his eyes.”
“Was your granddad narcoleptic?”
There’s a pause. “Not that I know of.”
Wow, this is awkward.
“What do you want?” I ask as quietly as he had.
“Nothing,” he says grinning down at me. “Just wanted to know if you were asleep yet.”
“Why?”
“So I can turn the music back up.”
I think about it for a second, uncross my arms and lift the rest of the way from the seat, turning at the waist so that I can see him.
“You want to wait until I’m asleep to turn the music back up so that you can wake me up again ?” I’m having a hard time getting this.
He smiles a crooked smile.
“You slept for three hours without it waking you up,” he says. “So, I’m guessing it wasn’t my music that did it, must’ve been something else.”
My eyebrows draw together. “No, ummm, I’m pretty sure I know it was the music that did it.”
“OK,” he says, slipping away from the seat and out of sight.
I wait for a few seconds before closing my eyes in case this might get weirder and when it doesn’t, I drift back into the Land of No Dreams.
6
THE SUNLIGHT BEAMING IN through the bus windows wakes me the next morning. I lift up to get a better view, wondering if the scenery has changed any yet, but it hasn’t. And then I notice the music blasting from the earbuds
I sigh with relief when he passes me up and takes the pair of empty seats behind me.
Finally, an under-populated bus I might actually get some deep sleep on. It’s all I really want to do. The longer I stay awake, the more I think about all of the things I don’t want to think about. I don’t know what I’m doing, or where I’m going, but I do know that I want to do whatever it is and get there soon.
I doze off after staring out the window next to me for an hour.
Muffled headphone music blaring right behind me wakes me up sometime after dark.
At first, I just sit here, hoping maybe he’ll notice the top of my now fully awake head bobbing over the seat and decide to turn the music down.
But he doesn’t.
I lean up, reaching back to rub a crooked muscle in my neck from sleeping on my arm and then I turn around to look at him. Is he asleep ? How can anyone actually sleep with music blasting in their ears like that? The bus is pitch dark except for a couple of dim reading lights shining down onto books and magazines from above the passenger’s seats and the little green and blue lights at the front of the bus in the driver’s dashboard. The guy sitting behind me is covered by darkness but I can see one side of his face lit up by the moonlight.
I contemplate it for a second and then push myself up with my knees on the seat and I lean over the back of it, reaching out and tapping him on the leg.
He doesn’t move. I tap him harder. He stirs and slowly opens his eyes, looking up at me with my stomach hanging over the top of the seat.
He reaches up and pulls the earbuds from of his ears, letting the music funnel from the tiny speakers.
“Mind turning it down a little?”
“You could hear that?” he says.
I raise a brow and say, “Uhhh, yeah, it’s pretty loud.”
He shrugs and thumbs the MP3 player for the volume button and the music fades.
“Thanks,” I say and slide back down in my seat.
I don’t lie down across the seats in the fetal position this time, but lean against the bus and press my head back against the window. I cross my arms and close my eyes.
“Hey.”
My eyes pop open, but I don’t move my head.
“Are you asleep yet?”
I raise my head from the window and look up to see the guy hovering over me.
“I literally just closed my eyes,” I say. “How can I already be asleep?”
“Well, I don’t know,” he whispers. “My granddad could fall asleep in two seconds flat after closing his eyes.”
“Was your granddad narcoleptic?”
There’s a pause. “Not that I know of.”
Wow, this is awkward.
“What do you want?” I ask as quietly as he had.
“Nothing,” he says grinning down at me. “Just wanted to know if you were asleep yet.”
“Why?”
“So I can turn the music back up.”
I think about it for a second, uncross my arms and lift the rest of the way from the seat, turning at the waist so that I can see him.
“You want to wait until I’m asleep to turn the music back up so that you can wake me up again ?” I’m having a hard time getting this.
He smiles a crooked smile.
“You slept for three hours without it waking you up,” he says. “So, I’m guessing it wasn’t my music that did it, must’ve been something else.”
My eyebrows draw together. “No, ummm, I’m pretty sure I know it was the music that did it.”
“OK,” he says, slipping away from the seat and out of sight.
I wait for a few seconds before closing my eyes in case this might get weirder and when it doesn’t, I drift back into the Land of No Dreams.
6
THE SUNLIGHT BEAMING IN through the bus windows wakes me the next morning. I lift up to get a better view, wondering if the scenery has changed any yet, but it hasn’t. And then I notice the music blasting from the earbuds
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