“Y… yeah,” I stammer back awkwardly. “You have a big day today? Can I ask what?”
I knit my eyebrows together, confusion flooding me. This is so weird. She’s definitely playing games with me, trying to keep me on my toes and I don’t know what the hell to think about it.
“Oh, well.” She rolls her eyes dramatically. “I had this really bad day a couple of weeks ago, when I had a job interview.” Okay, I’m going to have to roll with this game to see where it leads. “I had a fall in the building and now they want to give me a check for it.” She tosses her head back and laughs. “They don’t want to give me the job but they want me to be quiet so they’re paying me off. Awesome, huh? I don’t have to work with all those damn stiffs my whole life. I hated that building. I don’t even want to go back there.”
I hide a secret smile to myself. It seems I didn’t do the worst thing in the world to her after all. I’ve been feeling terribly guilty every since that coffee flew out of my cup, but now I can see I didn’t ruin her life. I guess this is her playful way of getting over that and starting again. I can roll with that. I’m intrigued enough to.
“The check must be good then, if it’s dragging you back in.”
“Oh yeah. I mean, I don’t know the exact amount but I’m sure it’ll be good. It was one hell of a fall it put me in hospital.” She gives me a one shouldered shrug. “Plus, they were dicks to me so I want my cash.”
I laugh at her blasé manner, chuckling along with her. She’s even better this time around, I really do like her. I kinda knew that the first time around, but now I’m certain. She’s fiery and cool. Funny too. Of course, I’ve seen a crazy side to her but I don’t mind that. Not when I get to see the good as well.
“Well, it sounds to me like you deserve it. What do you plan to do with it?”
This is the moment a vulnerable side bursts out of her. She pouts out her bottom lip and blows out a deep breath of air. “I don’t know, really. I want an adventure. I keep getting told that I need to settle down and be an adult but I got trapped in a bit of a crappy situation for a while which trapped me. Now, while I know that is should be looking for something bigger and better, but I don’t know if that’s what I want.”
I feel a pull from her, loving this second impression. She’s a lot like me, I want to fly free as well. “Oh, I know what you mean,” I reassure her. “That’s why I’m planning a world wide trip.”
Her eyes almost bug out of her head with excitement. “You are? That’s awesome. I would love that. There’s so much of the world that I want to see which I just haven’t had the chance to yet. Maybe I should do that too.”
Because I’ve been fantasizing about her for so long and I feel like I know her, my brain immediately starts imagining what it would be like if we went together. I haven’t ever thought about sharing my trip before, but with her the idea isn’t so terrifying. God I’m a freak… I still don’t even know her name. What is wrong with me? That’s a question I seem to be asking myself over and over again. It’s unhealthy.
“Well, we’re only here once, aren’t we? We should enjoy it while we can.”
She gives me a knowing look as if she understands me. Then she holds out her hand for me to shake it. “I’m Tamara, by the way. Sorry I’ve been a crazy fool and just come to talk to you without saying hi.”
“It’s okay.” We both know why she’s saying that! “I’m Logan, nice to meet you.”
As she grasps my hand I feel a bolt of electricity racing right through my system. It hits me hard and knocks me sideways. I feel more powerfully attracted to her than I ever have anyone else before. This is bad. I’m never going to be able to get over her now. It’s shaken me deeply. Maybe if the bad meeting hadn’t come before I would be asking her out on a date right now. Just because I want to know where this could go.
“So, Logan, where do you need to get off? I still have three more stops.”
I glance at my watch, making the decision to be five minutes late. I’m never normally late so any excuse I can give will fly. It’ll be fine. “Yep, three more stops for me as well.”
Her face breaks out into the biggest grin, making me smirk. Today is going to be a really good day, work will not be able to bother me after this. I’m the happiest that I’ve been in a very long time. I can feel it buzzing and bolting around me, encasing me in a wonderful warmth.
“Great, so I’ve been talking a lot about me, Logan, so why don’t you tell me about your day? Take my mind off what’s happening to me. I want to know all about you.”
6
Tamara
“Oh right!” He actually looks surprised by my interest which makes me giggle. He seems like such a sweetie. Honestly, I really do like him a lot. I could tell that from the other side of the train which is why I came over to speak to him. Ever since the doctor told me that I could have died had I hit my head harder, I’ve decided to be bolder, to just go with the flow and to make things happen for me. Carpe diem and all that.
Actually, there was something a little familiar about him too, but I can’t work out what. Maybe it’s nothing, maybe he just has one of those faces that feels really familiar, whatever it is I like it.
I’ve been constricted for far too long, mostly because of my own failings. I lazily let things stay the way they are. Then I started trying to live how Katherine told me I should, but that isn’t me either. I don’t know what I want to do yet, but I’m going to use this time to work it out. With money coming my way, I can buy myself a while before I have to take the plunge and try and join the real world again. Now is all about fun, and right now I want this fun to include the super handsome guy sitting right next to me. He seems awesome.
“I work in a boring office, a bit like the one it seemed you managed to avoid, but I suppose much less pretentious. We make and sell office equipment to other just as dull companies.”
I laugh and slide my body closer to his, inhaling deeply. I like his manly smell it makes me feel things deep in the pit of my stomach. I haven’t ever been the sort of forward person to think about sex so quickly before, but now screw it! Why shouldn’t I? I could be freaking dead at the bottom of the stairs for crying out loud.
“Sounds like you hate it,” I enquire. “Why don’t you leave? Because you’re saving up for your trip?”
I love the idea of his trip, it sounds incredible. Seeing the world, being as free as a bird, that’s what I want.