Filling a prompt sent in by luijeebes. c: I totally wanted to incorporate the plot twist, but as I kept writing, I wanted to run with this idea. 654 words.
7:28. Trish's bus came rolling up to the stop right on time. It was the only bus she could ever count on to do so. After that, it would drop her off at the subway station, and she would be jostled about for another 47 minutes until reaching her destination, right outside of her internship building.
Trish was almost never able to grab a seat for herself, which was fine with her––it was only a 15-minute ride. However, it seemed that there were extra bodies onboard, so she found herself wedged in the middle of a few businessmen and college students. When the bus jerked away from the station though, she was that unlucky person who was jostled an extra bit. She subsequently tumbled onto the person sitting beside her.
"Ow, sorry, I'm really sorry about that," Trish said as she slung her bag over her shoulder and stood up again, gripping the hand bar extra tight this time.
"No worries!"
Trish looked up from the floor at the peppy redhead in front of her. She was shorter and slimmer than Trish was, dressed all in pastels. "I could've crushed you," Trish deadpanned.
The redhead shrugged and smiled brightly at her. "Better you than, say, the entire bus."
Trish raised her eyebrow. She wasn't totally sure what was up with the little fairy thing in front of her, but she had spirit. She considered it to be a good character trait in people she met. "I'm Trish," she said, sticking her hand out.
"Colleen!" The redhead responded with a firm grip. "Hey wait, are you Trish from my history class?"
"Uh, Roman Empire? Dr. Hernandez, Tuesday-Thursday at 8AM?"
"That's the one!"
"I have never seen you in there before."
"Oh! That might be because I don't usually come dressed like this." Colleen gestured to the pretty fabrics currently adorning her body. "I usually have to drag myself out of bed just to get myself to that class, and there's no point in getting all dressed up anyway."
Trish studied Colleen's face a little bit more. She slowly began to recognize Colleen as the girl who sat right in front of her, and she was mortified. The Colleen she was used to seeing usually showed up with her hair tied up into a haphazard bun, and baggy sweatpants.
"I am so sorry," Trish said, her cheeks colored pink with embarrassment. "I swear I'm usually much better with names and faces."
Colleen laughed and said, "It's fine, really!"
Trish smiled at her, finally. "So what are you all dressed up for today, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Oh, I'm on my way to auditions for grad school."
"Really? What do you do?"
"I'm a dancer."
Trish nodded. Giving Colleen another once over, it made sense with the way she was built.
"What about you?" Colleen asked. "I've seen you come in with an instrument case."
"I'm a violist. Just a minor though, my major is in economics."
"Nice! I usually just meet violinists or cellists."
"Yeah, we violists are a bit of a rare breed," Trish said dryly.
They conversed for a few more minutes, finding out that they actually had a lot in common. The two made plans to have lunch over the weekend, to hang out and commiserate over their upcoming midterm exam.
The bus arrived at Trish's subway station.
"Hey, this is my stop, but Saturday at 12:30, yeah?" Trish asked quickly, waiting for people to file off.
"Yeah!" Colleen said. "And I'll see you tomorrow in class!"
Trish walked away with a laugh and a wave.
As the bus began to roll away, Colleen noticed a wallet on her lap. "Oh no." She opened it and sure enough, Trish's driver's license was sitting in the little window.
And at the entrance station to the subway, Trish grumbled as she searched for her wallet containing her subway card in her purse.