A few weeks ago I was at Victoria Coach Station in London, about to board a night bus to Aberdeen, where I'm at university -- a journey of over 500 miles, and 12 hours. Just before I set out for the coach station I'd had a huge row with my fiancée, and I was feeling fed up and not looking forward to a long, uncomfortable, exhausting journey. Given the argument I'd had, one of the other passengers waiting to board the bus didn't help my mood.
She was a Goth girl, draped all over her boyfriend as they smooched loudly and sloppily, putting on a show for anyone who cared to watch. He was tall, skeletally thin with an acne-scarred face and bleached blond hair gelled into a spiky Mohican. She looked like a younger version of the lead singer from an '80s punk group, Siouxsie and the Banshees. Jet black hair, short and spiky; a thin bony face with a long nose, a gold stud in one nostril; panda eyes, rimmed with black make-up; and black lipstick on her thin lips. She was dressed in a black denim jacket, black-and-white hooped T-shirt, cropped to reveal a flat white stomach, a silver ring piercing her navel, a short black cotton skirt and stockings that matched her shirt. (I could tell they were stockings because when she reached her arms around her boyfriend's neck her skirt rode up to reveal a glimpse of pale thigh.) She looked maybe 19, about three years younger than me.
The two of them murmured to each other in an East European language, I guessed Polish. As the bus drew into position they had a last snog, the bloke's hand slipping under the girl's skirt and giving her skinny bum a squeeze. Trying to ignore them I got on board. It was a double-decker coach, and I went upstairs and slumped into a seat near the back. There were only a handful of passengers, and I hoped I'd get some isolation and a chance to try and grab some sleep. No such luck -- I'd just got settled when the Goth clattered up the stairs in her Doc Marten boots and threw herself down in the seat directly across the aisle from me. Apparently oblivious to me, she reached into a huge shoulder bag and fished out a pink mobile phone. As the bus pulled out the girl started talking and giggling in a flirty manner into the phone, presumably to the guy she'd been snogging barely five minutes earlier.
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. We'd reached the outskirts of London, and I was starting to drift off, when I became aware of an annoying buzz. I glanced across at the girl and she was rolling her head in time to the music coming from a personal stereo. It must have been deafening through her ear jacks, because I could hear every note and every word of a loud, aggressive rock song. I had visions of having to put up with that for the next 12 hours, and glared at her. It took several seconds before she sensed my eyes on her, and her head swivelled to look at me. When I didn't look away she tossed her head irritably and said, in an overly loud, heavily accented voice, "What, you want photo of me or something?"
I told her no, I wanted her to turn her fucking music down. A frown crossed her face, then she ripped the ear jacks out and snapped "What?" I repeated my request. She glared back at me, snarled "Fuck off" and plugged back into her music, throwing herself petulantly back in her seat and closing her eyes. A couple of minutes later, though, I noticed that the volume did drop considerably.
The coach wasn't due to make its first stop for three hours, but with the combination of its movement, the lumpy seat, muted conversation from other passengers, the rain which had started to lash the windows, and the mixture of annoyance and guilt over the row with my fiancée, I found it impossible to get to sleep. Laying full length on the double seat, my head resting against the cold window, my gaze naturally fell on my Polish travelling companion. Through half-closed eyes I studied her as, her own eyes squeezed tightly shut, she nodded in time to her music. She had taken off her denim jacket, and I saw that her T-shirt was sleeveless, one skinny white arm bearing a crude Celtic-style tattoo. At one point she stretched her arms above her head, yawning, and I was a little surprised to see a soft down of black hair in her armpit.
Despite my earlier irritation with her, I began to study her more closely. She had a small bust, but her nipples were forming quite prominent hillocks in the material of her shirt. She had removed her boots and doubled up her legs, her heels resting on the edge of her seat. This had made her skirt slip up almost to her waist, giving me an unrestricted view of her bare thighs. Her legs were slim but shapely, with well defined calves under her striped stockings. As I gazed at her ghostly white thighs, I realised with a start that I could actually see a shadow of black pubic stubble extending down the inside of the right one.
I felt an unbidden stirring in the front of my trousers, and my mouth went dry. Obviously I should have looked away, but...still pretending sleep, I casually shifted my position, trying to see under the skirt to her underwear, but the angle was wrong. I glanced up for a moment -- and my eyes locked on hers, staring at me with a frown! With a pout, she asked "You liking the view?" Feeling myself blush furiously, and mumbling an apology, I sat upright, staring straight ahead of me at the front of the coach. When I glanced sideways at the Goth a few minutes later though, she was still showing off her thighs, and seemed to be smiling to herself about something.
I glanced across at the girl again, shortly before we pulled into Birmingham bus station at 2.30am, and saw with a shock that her hand was between her thighs, apparently stoking her pussy through her pants. She glanced sideways in my direction but I whipped my gaze forwards, pretending not to have noticed, and feeling myself blush again. In the bus station I stared fixedly at the brightly lit, deserted platform until we pulled out, with two-and-a-half hours until the next stop.
Once we were out of Birmingham, and back on the motorway, I risked another glance at the Pole and got a further shock. She was now sitting facing me across the aisle, her back against the window, her feet up on the seat and her legs apart, giving me a perfect view of silky black thong panties, with equally silky black pubes curling out either side. I tried to drag my eyes away, but at that moment she saw I was looking. Rather than adopt a more modest position she opened her thighs even wider, a sly grin on her face. No longer listening to her MP3 player, she arched her eyebrows and asked quietly, "You want give me ten pounds?"
I was stunned. Surprised at the huskiness of my voice, I replied, "Why would I give you ten pounds?"
Her grin widening, the girl said, "So I jerk you off." She made a wanking gesture with her hand.
I have no real excuse for what happened next. All I can say is that I was feeling frustrated and fed up, I wasn't going see my fiancée again for months -- even assuming she was still my fiancée after the row we'd had -- and I was faced with a funky, sexy young chic offering me a hand job for a tenner. Trying to keep my voice from shaking, I answered, "I can do that for myself for nothing." Going for broke, I ran my tongue suggestively around my lips..
She looked momentarily surprised, but then the grin returned. "Dirty fucker! Okay, for twenty I suck you. No swallow though." I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. I glanced around me, but in the low-lit coach there wasn't another person sitting within eight rows of us. After a moment's stunned hesitation I scrabbled my wallet out of my pocket, dragged two ten pound notes out of it, and slipped across the aisle to join her on her seat. She swung her feet to the floor to make room for me, put the money in a pocket in her skirt and rested a hand on the crotch of my jeans. With a chuckle she muttered, "Oh good, you got ready for me."