A short story written after I saw one girl stare at another on my train. And I admit to avoid proof reading a much longer story. Enjoy and, as always, comments welcome.
It was so much easier, now that the trains had bike compartments. No more struggling to get the bike onto the train and no more getting in everyone's way.
Following my afternoon ride, I eased my bike into a stand in the compartment at the back of the carriage. Standing I stretched, trying to iron out the kinks that a twenty four year old body definitely should not have. As I stretched, I glanced through the window into the seated part of the carriage.
And I saw a very familiar blond head of hair. My girlfriend, Annie, had obviously got on the train before me, presumably at the university stop, and was heading home. She was seated and looking down at her lap, presumably engrossed in her iPhone.
Just as the train doors closed a girl jumped on the train. Both Annie and I noticed her as she plonked herself down on the seats across the aisle from my girlfriend. As the girl settled herself, she glanced across at Annie and then looked around the carriage.
In the instant after the girl boarded the train, I managed to check her out. And I was impressed. Longish brunette hair flowed around her pretty olive skinned face. As she moved to her seat, I couldn't help also noticing her cute bubble butt and long legs tightly squeezed into her jeans.
As the train picked up speed, the brunette glanced at Annie again, and the second glance lingered just a half second longer. Hardly noticeable, almost imperceptible, but I definitely saw her gaze fix on Annie, before jerking away.
Slowly, casually the brunette moved in her seat, twisted her body so she sat with her back to the window, and swung her legs up onto the empty seat next to her.
Now that I could see her face more clearly, I guessed she was around twenty one and even more achingly pretty that I had first imagined. Even more impressive for a breast lover like me, her loose blouse more than hinted at ample breasts constrained by her green bra.
For a moment I thought she had only rearranged herself into a more comfortable relaxed position. But when she glanced a third time at Annie, her eyes seemed to linger on Annie's body, albeit seeing only her side on profile as Annie bent slightly forward, still presumably engrossed in her iPhone.
The brunette then looked down at her lap, and a little smile flashed across her lips. She raised her iPhone so she held it in front of her. The brunette gave the impression that she was an ordinary girl sitting comfortably, just idling away the time by looking at her phone.
But I just knew from the flow of her glances and movements that she had different intentions. Now she could sit and, by looking past her iPhone, surreptitiously check out my girlfriend. And Annie hadn't noticed her plan and seemed quite oblivious to the cutie opposite her.
As the train started to leave the next station, the brunette began to twirl her hair with one of her hands. Her body language started to unambiguously say she was interested in someone or something, maybe what she was looking at on her phone or maybe my girlfriend sitting opposite her.
A movement from Annie then caught my eye, and I watched her turn her head and stare out the window, seemingly deep in thought. Maybe I was over reading the situation but the brunette continued to check out Annie, even though Annie was focussed on watching the train pull into the next station.
For about ten minutes and two stations, Annie continued to thoughtfully look out the window, while the brunette continued to look at or past her phone. But when we left the station immediately before the one at which Annie and I would get off, Annie's attention drifted back down to her lap and she seemed to be doing something with her hand bag. I was confused as to what Annie was up to, but after a minute or two she stood up facing the girl.
And the brunette's eyes drifted up from her phone and meet Annie's. Annie smiled, her cute dimpled affectionate smile. And the girl broke into a radiant smile in return. Annie stepped into the aisle and I was the only one who noticed Annie's hand stretch out and a small piece of paper flutter from her hand into the girl's lap.
In chaos theory they say that the flap of a butterfly wing can start a chain of events that leads to a storm. The flutter of that piece of paper was my butterfly wing, one small thing that led me down an unexpectedly stormy path.
Both the brunette and I watched Annie walk down the aisle of the train, with a sexy little swing of her hips, and wait by the door. We stopped at our station and Annie got off. But I was frozen by what I had seen. I couldn't move, let alone think that I should get off the train.
The brunette just stared down the aisle even when Annie had stepped off the train. But when the train moved forward, she looked down at the piece of paper Annie had given her. And when she tapped something into her phone, I just knew that it was Annie's phone number.
We all build up pictures of how our loved ones behave when we aren't present. I have loved Annie for four years, and I know she is kind of regular in every way. Well not in every way, she is completely gorgeous. But she is kind of traditional and conservative in her appearance and habits.
But that action, namely giving a random girl her phone number, was shocking inconsistent with my picture of how Annie would behave.
I was still shell shocked as I began my bike ride home. It had taken two more stops before I recovered my wits and actually got off the train. Almost five minutes of replaying what had happened in my mind, looking for what I had missed.
As I peddled home the penny finally dropped. When Annie turned to look out the window she might well have seen the reflection of the brunette in the window. That sometimes happened to me, especially in stations. And if so, she had likely realized she was being checked out.
I almost stopped peddling when I thought about the implications of that. God knows we all get checked out, and Annie is pretty enough for it to happen a lot. But mostly we ignore it, and indeed I have seen Annie be almost rude to any guy that hits on her.
But today, the fact that she was checked out and then gave out her phone number stunned me. What did she want to happen next?
Fortunately I had more or less calmed myself before I got back home. Maybe, I thought, maybe it really meant nothing.
Annie was sitting in the kitchen, phone in hand.
"Hi, Zac. Have a good ride honey?" she asked.
"Really good," I said as I kissed her, "But I need a shower."
"You sure do. I will put dinner on in a moment," she said, as her phone pinged with an incoming text.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"A friend from university, Sara. She was on the train coming home. She is a second year but I think she needs some mentoring."
"Cool. That's kind of you to help her."
Annie smiled sweetly at me and her eyes returned to her phone. She began to reply to Sara's text as I went to the bathroom.
Perhaps I hadn't over read the situation at all. Damn it, if Sara was really a friend from university, she would have spoken to her.
As the water splashed over me, all I could think about was that this did not add up. I wanted to understand what Annie and Sara were texting about.
Our evening was really pleasant. Annie, as usual, was the Annie I fell in love with, sweet, funny and affectionate. But behind what I hoped was my equally sunny disposition, I was surprisingly anxious and I guess I wanted to reassure myself by about Annie's surprizing behaviour.
I could ask, but what could I say without looking an idiot. And it seemed such a breach of confidence to look at her phone even though I knew I could, as ages ago we accidentally discovered we both used our birthdays as our phone codes.
That night we make love which was as good as ever, and I slipped into a more relaxed sleep.
I woke before dawn, got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. As usual we both had left our phones charging in the bathroom. Just seeing our IPhones reactivated some of the previous night's anxiety. I knew I shouldn't look but despite that I had to know.
Although feeling guilty, I knew I couldn't stop myself and so I locked the door and picked up Annie's phone.
