Constant Strangers

This piece was written as an assignment for a creative writing class

Write about a person sitting on a bus. A man sits next to him or her and says, “I knew your sister. I never liked her though.”

“Oh” she said while stealing a quick glance at the stranger. She didn't recognize him and returned her gaze toward her turning thumbs on her Ipod wheel.

“Yeah,” he replied “She always seemed so stuck up. You seem different though.”

“Which sister are you talking about?”

“You have more than one? Katie.”

“Oh” She answered once more. The bus glided to a less than perfect stop, the jolt at the end caused the man to press against her slightly.

“Excuse me” he offered as she shrugged off the touch. A small smile came across his face. “She did talk about you a lot though, your sister I mean.”

“How did you know her?”

“We met at some parties a couple of times. She was pretty wild.” His smile widened as she recalled some of the stories her sister would tell her when she came back home from college for holiday. It was always after their parents went to sleep and usually in a dark room. “You must be a freshman then?”

“Sophmore actually.”

“Wow! A Soph already! I must be getting older than I thought.”

“Did you and Katie graduate together?”

“No” He paused for a second mulling over the words in his head. “Well, we were supposed to. I took what I like to call the slow track to graduation.” The bus screeched to a halt, sending the man almost on top of the girl. He slowly collected himself and sat back down with his thigh touching hers. “Bumpy ride.” The bus pulled away from the curb once more.

“So how did you know it was me?” The girl asked.

“What?”

“How did you know I was Katie's sister?”

“Oh,” he paused in slight shock “I saw a picture of you in her room once, and like I said, she always talked about you.”

“I thought you didn't like her, what were you doing in her room.”

“Who says you have to like someone to be in their room?” He failed to hide his erupting grin as the memory of that night flooded back to him. The girl flipped her hair and turned away towards the front of the bus.

“My stop is coming up.” was all she offered.

“Well hey, let me get your number and maybe we can hang out sometime. Maybe the next time Katie is in town we can all get together.”

“Okay” she gave in without bothering to resist. He finished pressing the buttons on his phone and clapped it shut causing a small burst above the noise of the bus pulling up to the curb. She stood up quickly and walked toward the front, a small bag swinging from her arm.

“Bye!” He called out after her. Her hand gave a small wave back as she walked down the steps and out the door.