Josie was driving home when she stopped for petrol. She stopped at the place she usually went, without especially thinking about it. It was petrol, just part of her everyday, boring routine, so she stopped when she saw the service station almost by habit.
She went to the middle of the row of pumps, because she thought the attendants were quicker to unlock the pumps there. Where they could see you properly, she supposed, and didn't have to peer to make sure you weren't someone on their list of drive-away petrol-thieves.
She stopped, and got out, and tore a strip of paper from the hand-wiping roll, then put that around her hand and used it to touch the pump. She waited until the pump clicked on, and began to whir, then stood there, watching her car fill, thinking about nothing particular.
Another car pulled up next to her. A small sporty car. A woman got out. Josie watched, because she had nothing much else to do, and because the woman had a short skirt, and Josie had caught a glimpse of slim legs as she got out. The woman turned around and leaned back inside the car, looking for something, so Josie kept looking, slightly embarrassed she was being so obvious, but looking anyway.
The woman was hunting through her bag, Josie decided. She rummaged for a moment, then looked up and suddenly grinned. She'd seen Josie in her car's mirror, Josie realized. She'd seen Josie perving at her, and seemed to think it was funny.
She'd found what she was looking for, a wallet, Josie thought. She slid back out of her car. She stood up, and looked at Josie, and Josie didn't know quite what to do. Josie wondered if she should apologise, but the woman didn't look especially upset. Maybe it hadn't been completely obvious she was staring. Or maybe it was, and she didn't care.
The woman looked at Josie, and then Josie's hand. "Oh," she said. "Hey, that's a good idea."
Josie was confused for a moment, almost thinking she meant perving at strangers was a good idea. "Sorry...?" she said, puzzled.
"The paper towel. It's a good idea."
"Oh yeah," Josie said. "It keeps your hand clean."
"Obviously," the woman said, and grinned, and got a sheet of paper herself. "It's a good idea, that's all."
Josie nodded.
The woman started filling her car. "I think I've seen you here before," she said.
It was around six in the evening, and the road beside them was filled with commuters going home. It wasn't impossible she had, Josie thought. She nodded slowly. "Probably," she said.
"Do you live around here?"
"Nearby, yeah."
"I'm sure I've seen you before," the woman said.
Josie nodded again. "You might have."
Josie wondered why they were talking, and why the woman in the sports car didn't mind being perved at. Maybe there was some kind of spark between them, Josie thought. She wondered if there was. She was never confident, never felt sure, not when she'd only just met someone, but right now, it seemed like there might be a spark.
Josie stood there, thinking, deciding there was. Deciding there was, and that she ought to do something about it.
Beside her, the petrol pump clicked off.
Josie looked at it, disappointed, wondering how the universe could be so unfair.
The woman saw her glare at the pump, and grinned again, almost as if she was thinking the same thing. A quick grin, before she turned away, as if she'd wondered about a spark too, and now was thinking, oh well.
Josie was annoyed. It was pretty terrible luck.
Of course it was, she thought, a little bitterly. Of course the pump had clicked off. She was never going to meet someone here, not on a petrol-stop during her commute. Nothing interesting was ever going to happen during her drive home from work, in a service station beside a main road in a boring suburb of Sydney.
She sighed, and hung the pump handle back up, and went inside to pay.
When she came out, the woman was still there, still filling her car. She smiled, slightly distantly, as Josie got into hers. Josie started the engine, and sat there for a moment, wondering if she should say something before she left. She decided not. Hitting on people at a service station seemed a little creepy, and the woman was probably tired, and on her way home, and Josie had probably misunderstood anyway. The woman had probably been oblivious to Josie's stare, and had just been chatting while she filled her car, nothing more.
Josie put her car in gear. She was about to drive away, when someone tapped on her window. She jumped, and looked sideways.
The woman from the other car.
Of course it was her. It wouldn't be anyone else. Josie wound down her window, surprised.
