He sits next to her in the bus and makes a mental note to thank heavens for giving him this opportunity again. As the bus winds itself down the road, he steals glances at her to see if she recognizes him. This was the third time they were sharing the same bus, and sitting next to each other. At first he had thought it was luck and had enjoyed the pleasure of sitting beside a beautiful woman. The second time he had thought it to be fate, especially when he had been rewarded with hearing her sultry voice for the first time as she had answered her phone. It was not her beauty that called to him. She was beautiful, he could see that, though he doubted many people did. There was a trait in her that stood out. A personality he couldn’t quite put a finger on. And the way she carried herself, head held high, made one to either want to know her or stay as far away as possible. She had a lovely smile, he had been lucky to see it a couple of times, but her smile never reached her sad eyes. She was a mystery, he loved mysteries. Solving mysteries was his passion.

“I like your hands.” She says as she glances sideways to catch him staring at her. That gets him off guard and he just stares back at her for a moment before responding.

“Thanks.” She nods her head and turns her attention to the lightened streets outside. He is left speechless for a while, not exactly sure how to keep the conversation lines open. But he doesn’t have time on his side either. As the bus comes to a stop at her station, he gets off too. She turns and gives him an odd look.

“You sure this is where you get off?” she asks, one of her brows raised.

“Well, I figured you wanted to talk about my hands.” He says an instantly feels stupid. But his response brings a big grin to her face and he knows he’s made progress. She turns and starts walking down the road, the grin still in place and he immediately falls into a stp next to her. “So, you going to welcome me to your home?” He says jokingly. She stops and turns to him.

“Why would I want to do that?” She asks, but he can tell she is not very serious. The smile is still playing at the corner of her lips.

“Well, we have the hand issue to discuss!”

“Oh God! I notice different parts of people all the time. If I were to invite them all to my hhouse for a chat, what do you think that would make me?”

“A very chatty person?” He says jokingly and they both laugh. He likes her laugh now, especially the fact that it brightens her eyes now. “So you just stop someone on the streets and say something like ‘hey dude, you have a cute round butt’?” He asks and she laughs louder.

“Never thought of checking out butts before,” she says amidst laughter, “thanks for the tip, I think I will start doing that.”

“Great! So I gave you a good tip, will you welcome me to your home now?” he asks again. He doesn’t really expect her too, but he likes talking to her and doesn’t want to stop.

“No.” She says again, a smile still in place as he big beautiful eyes meet his.

“Can I at least walk you home then?”

“No! That’s a raw deal. You are going to know where I live and I don’t even know you. What do I get to know?” She says as she starts walking beside him again as they head for the apartments where she resides.

“My telephone number?”

“Well, less than ten minutes of talking to you and I’ve had you laughing. Am an enjoyable guy, you can’t not want to call me.” That widens the smile on her lip.

“This pick up line works a lot for you?” She asks as she stops next to the gates of her apartments and turns to him.

“Wait a minute, you picked me! You are the one who started with the hands thing.”

“And eyes,” she adds, “you have beautiful eyes!” He sobers up at that. Looks into her eyes for a while as she struggles to hold her gaze on his intense one.

“Have a drink with me.” He says seriously. He knows he wants more time with her, he already enjoys her company yet he doesn’t even know her name. He sees her refusal before she says it.

“I can’t.” She has another smile on, only this doesn’t reach her eyes again. “Thanks for walking me here though.” He is tempted to fight the moment of goodbye he sees coming.

“So I guess you don’t want my number either.” He says sort of jokingly and a mischievous smile replaces the one that was previously on her face. For a moment he thinks she is going to ask for it, but she doesn’t. She just holds his gaze again then reaches for the gate. He is tempted to pull her back, take her number, ask her name, but he doesn’t. At least he knows where she lives now. It may not be so hard to track her down again talk to her, he thinks to himself. “Goodnight then.” He says as he lifts his hand and waves.

“Oh don’t look so dejected!” She blurts out as she stops on the half opened gate. “It’s not like you won’t be seeing me again! I’ve been sitting next to you three times this week…what, you thought that was fate?” And with a wink and a mischievous laugh she closes the gate behind her and calls out through the closed gate, “see you tomorrow…on the bus.” He is too shocked to speak, and then he bursts out laughing. Had he just met his match? Either way, he can’t wait for tomorrow. For he would have his game up, and would most definitely steer things his way. And most importantly, get to know her name. He turns and walks back along the road they had just taken. He has a feeling, he would be taking that road a lot for the next many days to come. And the feeling brings him nothing but joy.