Taking the bus on a long-distance trip can be a real hassle. Here I am, going from Charleston, SC, to Fresno, CA., and the bus is full. Hot, sweaty people squished into rows of three seats on each side of the aisle. Yuk, this was going to be a bad trip. At least we weren't going to stop in every little dinky town along the way. This bus went farther between stops. So, I put the seat back, closed my eyes and settled in for the nightmare. The two ladies beside me did the same thing. A few hours later the bus slowed and pulled into Savannah, GA. It was right around supper time, so the driver gave us one hour to get something to eat and be back in our seats ready to leave.
When I got back to my seat, there was a gorgeous man sitting in the seat by the window. Guessing that he was in his thirties, he had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, wore a green pull-over shirt and jeans. He had sneakers on his feet. As I took my seat he looked over, said hello and turned to look back out the window. He seemed to be looking intently at or for something or someone, so I followed his gaze. Standing near the bus was a beautiful, slim blonde and she was waving at him and was signaling something to him. He nodded his head like he understood her and smiled broadly at her. Hum, just my luck. He had a girlfriend. Not just a handsome man, but I mean all out gorgeous and not available. Ugh...oh damn!! Then he looked away from the window and turned in his seat and looked right at me. Oh God. Now what do I say.
"Um, hi, my name is Dixie."
"Hi, I'm Ricky. Nice to meet you. You are very pretty." He then took my hand and held it to his lips and kissed it gently and let it go.
My face must have turned ten shades of red because he said, "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. But you are. You have the sexiest green eyes and the most luscious red hair." He reached up to touch my hair as my hand knocked it away.
"How dare you try to flirt with me after you just said goodbye to your girlfriend!"
I was completely offended by this time. The look on his face went from puzzled to humorous in the blink of an eye. His smile grew bigger and his eyes brightened.
"Wow!! We just met and already you're jealous! I'm flattered."
"Well, don't be. I'm not jealous. I don't even know you. It's just that one minute you are waving and smiling at the blonde on the platform and now you're flirting with me. I don't get it. Nor do I like it very much. It's not very flattering for either of us, meaning her nor I." I stated flatly.
Again, Ricky's smile covered his face and I wanted so badly to reach up and slap it off.
"What the hell is so damn funny?" I asked.
"You are jealous. You wouldn't be acting like this if you weren't."
"You sir, are so full of yourself." I started to turn away from him, but he stood up and took a hold of my arms. He stood so tall that he had to duck his head to keep from hitting the ceiling of the bus. He sat me down in my seat and then returned to his own seat, turning to look straight into my eyes.
"Look Dixie, if you weren't paying attention to something that wasn't your business, you wouldn't be acting like a jealous schoolgirl. But I will let your jealous self-know that the woman on that platform is my sister, not my girlfriend. We were saying goodbye because I won't be seeing her for the next few years. She is going away to college in Massachusetts next week for medical school. And, I will be clear across the country with my law practice. So, miss know it all. Are you satisfied?" With that, he turned and looked out the window as the bus pulled out of the terminal.
I sat there starring at my hands that were sitting in my lap. I had no idea what to say. Stupid didn't even begin to describe how I was feeling at the moment. We sat there in silence for a couple of hours. The lady sitting to my left was sound asleep within a half hour of us being on the road. This was really going to be a shitty trip. I pushed my backrest back and closed my eyes.
Ricky was reading a book...probably some law stuff. And I had already made enough of an ass of myself...so I chose to remain quiet.
Soon, with the rumble of the road, I was sound asleep. At some point I had turned in my seat and my head was resting on Ricky's shoulder as I slowly opened my eyes when the bus came to a stop. He leaned over and told me it was time to get off the bus and take a walk.
"The legs need to be stretched and moved around or you can develop blood clots."
"Sounds like you've done this before." I said in my sleepy voice.
"Yeah, a few times. I enjoy this trip a lot. I meet interesting people and I enjoy the scenery, present company included." he answered with a grin.
As I stood up my lower back ached. I reached around to rub it. Ricky saw what I was doing and brushed my hand out of the way and proceeded to rub just above the waistband of my jeans. God that felt so good. I could have let him do that forever. But I wanted to go into the terminal restroom and freshen up and change into my sweats for the nights ride. I could sleep better being more comfortable. So, I told him thank you for the back rub and I would see him when we got back on the bus.
Little did I know that Ricky had followed me and watched to make sure I got into the restroom with no problems. I did a quick sponge bath with baby wipes and shampooed my hair and dried it under the hand blow dryer. My hair came almost to the middle of my back and wasn't quite dry, so I pulled it up in a ponytail and tied it off with a band. I put on just a dab of makeup and changed into my purple nylon/rayon, fleece lined sweat suit. Putting back on my socks and sneakers I went back out into the terminal heading toward the restaurant. I was famished, having not eaten since Savannah earlier that afternoon. As soon as I turned the corner, out of the ladies' room, there was Ricky.
"Hi. Wow! I didn't think you could look any better, but you look fantastic." he said with a huge grin on his face. "May I escort you to wherever it is you are going next?"
"What are you doing...following me?" I asked him. I tried to look perturbed, but I couldn't. I really was kinda glad that he was there watching over me. Being a single woman traveling alone and all...
"No, I just happened to come out of the men's room and saw you coming out of the ladies' room. So how about it? Can we go somewhere together and get something to eat? Are you hungry?"
The man could read my mind. "Sure. Where do you want to go? I'm starving."
"Well, we can grab a bite here in the terminal or we can go across the street and grab something to go and take it back and eat it on the bus. What would be your pleasure, ma'am?" Ricky still had a grin on his face.
"Well, let me see. The food in the terminals usually isn't very good. So, let's go across the street to the diner and get something to go," I answered with a smile.
"Damn baby, you sure are gorgeous when you smile," he said and leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. I was so surprised by the gesture that I stumbled as we moved toward the door. He took a hold of my arm and led me out and across the street.
We entered the diner and walked up to the counter. Looking at the menus, waiting for the waitress, I wondered what I should get that would be easy to eat on the bus. As the waitress came over, she looked at us and said, "Well, what will it be, and you better hurry if you want to catch your bus." How did she know we were from the bus? I looked around the room and to my left sat the bus driver, finishing up his dinner and drinking his coffee.
"I'd like a cheeseburger all the way with French fries and a mountain dew in the bottle, to go, please." Ricky ordered the same.
As we waited for our food we dabbled in small talk. I discovered that he was on his way to Madeira, only a short way from Fresno. He was a lawyer in a small law firm with two other lawyers. They were primarily defense attorneys of criminal law. He was single, divorced recently with no children.
I told him I was also divorced recently, two months ago, and was on my way to my aunt's house in Fresno to restart my life. I told him that at the age of twenty-eight, I thought my life was pretty well set. But my husband had found a new "love of his life" and wanted out. So, I gave him his walking papers. I also told Ricky that I am a court stenographer, so we had a little something in common. We both know our way around a courtroom.
The waitress brought us our food and Ricky insisted on paying for it, then we went back to the bus. We ate as the bus rumbled down the road.
After finishing eating, we both settled down with books and started reading. He with whatever it was he was reading and me with a good erotic romance. I noticed that every once in a while, he would slide a sideways look over at me. I would smile to myself as I kept on reading. I was into a really good part and was starting to get really warm when he reached over and took my hand in his. He kept on reading, content with holding hands. Almost two hours rolled by as we read and just held hands. It was very relaxing and with no pretensions.
Once in a while I would set my book in my lap, take a drink of soda, set the bottle between my legs and pick the book up and start reading again. The last time I did that he asked me, "Is the book that good that you need to cool yourself off?"
"Um," (and I swallowed really hard), "it was just an easy place to put it, that's all."
