Steve had one goal for this train ride: sleep through it, and wake up ready for a night out clubbing and catching up with his buddies. Steve found sleeping on trains easy, so it was a realistic goal. He was never really bothered by the railcar shaking or how it might tip unexpectedly. Even the Conductor's voice, modulated specifically to wake up passengers, bellowing "Next stop! So-and-so station!" didn't wake him. So Steve always set an alarm on his watch to wake up before his stop. He found the seats comfortable, especially ones with the flip-down footrest. That and the rocking movement would induce deep sleep quickly and consistently.
The one thing that could disrupt his snoozing goals was the random seatmate who either wanted to chitchat or had work calls that were impossible to ignore. Steve had boarded the train earlier, so he had his preferred window seat. But his seatmate was still an unknown. When a middle-aged woman took the aisle seat, he crossed his fingers hoping she was not a chatterbox. But it was promising because women, especially professional women, often wanted to avoid eager men, yammering away, so they rarely opened the conversation.
Their introduction seemed to indicate that both appreciated personal space and quiet. She appeared to be friendly enough, but she also gave off that vibe that said "
It's been a long but productive day, and now it's for some quiet
." Both she and Steve used performative pleasantries and introductions to politely express their desire to
not
try to start a conversation. It was simply "I'm Steve", and she followed "Nice to meet you, I'm Robyn", and then they both looked down and successfully made it clear that neither wanted to yap. Robyn, in fact, quickly refocused on her Kindle and started to sip her glass of business-class complimentary wine. Steve was therefore hopeful that he'd sleep through most of the ride, so he curled up a bit against the window and closed his eyes.
Steve gloated a bit regarding his plan. He would take advantage of the early sunset so that the window would already be dark, thus there would be no distractions there. He'd already had dinner, so if the train was on time, he had over 3 hours and about 5 stops to kill, and sleep would make it go quickly and recharge him for the late night ahead. And at this time of the evening, each stop meant fewer and fewer passengers. Perhaps soon he'd even have his row to himself and could stretch out if it turned out that he had trouble falling asleep.
************
Steve's watch buzzed on his wrist, startling him awake. He awoke rather disoriented and surprised he'd fallen so hard asleep and so quickly. He was a bit panicked by the possibility he'd slept through his station. But Robyn, with her Kindle still in her hand, looked over her reading glasses, and said, "You're fine sleepy head, you still have two more stops."
"Oh, thanks, I was out cold," Steven replied while wiping a bit of saliva off the left side of his chin.
Robyn just let out a "mhm" with something like a smirk that Steve did not understand.
Steve poked his head up and surveyed the train car. As expected, there were only a few people still riding. All of the remaining passengers had spread out to have a row to themselves, except a married couple about ten rows back. And, of course, his row, with Robyn smiling at him.
As he continued to awaken, he started to take stock of both the situation and his awakening body. His head had flopped to the left while asleep, and there was stiffness down the left side of his neck and shoulder. His mouth was dry, telling him he probably had it wide open while asleep, and that caused him to focus on his mouth, it helped explain the drool he had wiped off his jawline before.
Steve started to push himself out of his slouching position and finish his recovery from sleep when he noticed that it might be a bad idea. As if to confirm, Robyn nodded toward his groin.
"That's why I stayed in the row. I thought I could shield that from the other passengers as they passed by to the door."
