She was nervous as she parked the car. What was she doing here? You know what you are doing here, her inner voice mocked. She shook her head and got out of the car and started heading towards the restaurant.
There he was. He was only a little bit taller than her, with warm chocolate eyes, thick dark hair and beautiful dark skin. Her heart skipped at beat when she saw him leaning against the building, waiting for her.
He held out his arm as she walked up. "It's nice to see you."
"It's nice to see you too." she blushed.
They went to a quiet Italian restaurant. It was a few miles outside of the city. She had never been there before and found the dark, quiet booth calming as she sat down.
He looked at her and they shared a smile. She realized quite possibly that maybe he was nervous too. Despite the stress of their first meeting, she began to relax.
They ordered drinks and a pizza. He talked about how he became a bus driver. She talked about how she wound up commuting in a city. He was a good listener. It was nice to actually get to talk to him finally. She didn't feel rushed and they weren't in front of dozens of people on the bus, watching them. There were no distractions. She felt totally in the moment with him, memorizing his facial expressions when he kindly laughed at her corny jokes; watching him as he reminisced about old friends and co workers. Every morning for months she would wake up excited, knowing the best part of her day was when he would pick her up in the morning. Would he talk to her? Wink at her? Honk as he drove past after dropping her off? And every day she would feel just a little bit disappointed that there wasn't more. She wanted to go out to lunch with him but thought it too bold a move to pull in front of an audience of people. But it left something to be desired.
Then one day she found a message on an online local forum. It read, "Latino driver looking for his bus stop cutie. 712". Her heart stopped when she read it. 712 was their bus line. She tentatively answered the ad, not sure what to expect. Maybe it wasn't even for her. But she didn't have long to wait before finding out it was from him - and he was looking for her. So they made plans to meet up for dinner. The next day when she saw him after their online conversation, he puckered up his lips at her as she got on the bus. She was so excited to spend time with him alone.