A Girl on the Bus

"Where are you parked?" I asked, as the bus pulled away, its internal lights casting flickering shadows of Delilah and me onto the pavement. Other commuters, dark figures in the night, moved quickly into the gloom.

"The top car park. It is close. Up there." She pointed, but there was nothing to be seen but the darkness. Rain blew in under the shelter, and Delilah automatically pulled my jacket about her body for protection. Her skirt blew against her legs, clinging to their slender length. I was warm inside, from standing body against body in the crowded bus, but my clothes were wet through, as were hers.

"Follow the path then, don't slip. Come on, let's go."

Delilah took my arm and we stayed close together as we walked quickly up the path, the click of her heels a steady step.

"There," she said. "The little blue one." She knew the car was blue, but in this gloom without colour, it was black. I heard the zip of a bag and a tiny clink of keys. "Always in the right place," she said, and I knew then that she was a methodical woman, tidy in her actions, not wasting time. My car keys were in the pocket of my coat, so she had them.

With a press of the remote the driver's door unlatched, and the car's headlights came on, along with the interior light. She pressed the remote again, and the passenger door unlatched. "It is for my safety, how the lights come on. Quick, we are wet. Get in."

She pulled her skirt in around her legs. I closed the door and went around the back of the car. She'd leaned across to push the passenger door open, and I got in. I reached down for the seat slide, to push it back.

"I'm sorry," Delilah said, "I'm not used to a man. In my car." She smiled at me with that quiet smile of hers, her slightly crooked teeth revealed, and I knew she'd said those words filled with precise meaning.

"Here, take this." She placed her bag in my lap. Delilah started the engine and turned around, her arm across the back of the passenger seat so she could see clearly out the rear window. It was an automatic gesture, I'm sure, done a thousand times, but I felt I was caught within it. The interior light dimmed and finally went off, and I saw the blackness of her eyes and her lips were black too, in the dark. She reversed, and straightened the car up between the rows. She brushed wet hair away from her face, then placed the car into drive. "My place, Adam, and we get dry, out of these wet clothes. It isn't very far."

Delilah concentrated on her driving in the dangerous conditions. The streets were black and the only distance was in her headlights; everything else was uncanny, mysterious. I thought of four dark riders, and wondered if this was how the apocalypse started. I still didn't know what had happened, other than the city was black and the rain fell.

I looked at Delilah, seeing her face in the glow of the dashboard lights. She sensed me looking. "Nearly there, Adam." She had my name, she had my keys, she had me in her car, and we were nearly there. I didn't know where we were going, but Delilah drove me there.

She pulled up in front of a group of small apartments, a mirrored pair in each block. "I have a garage around the back, but it's more convenient to park out front."

The parking bays were paved with brick, and the car wheels rumbled as Delilah came to a halt. She sat still for a moment after the engine fell silent, then touched my arm. "You're cold without your jacket, Adam. I'm thinking what I have to keep you warm." She looked at her hand, then patted my arm twice, as if to check I was solid. "But look at us, sitting in my car. One last dash through the rain, and we're inside. Are you ready?"

I wasn't sure if Delilah meant ready for the dash, or ready for the door. "You go first, Delilah, since you know the path. I don't think I can get lost between here and there, can I?"

"Between here and there? It might be a wild garden, Adam, full of strange creatures with terrible teeth. All this rain, anything might grow."

"If the wild creatures are sensible, they'll be in small caves or sheltering under bushes. Only crazy creatures would be out in this storm."

"We'd better go in then. I wouldn't like to be a crazy creature."

We got out of the car and she clicked the remote. "The lights, they stay on for a minute."

"Mine turn off straight away."

I followed her to a little porch, and held the light on my phone so Delilah could find the lock. Opening her front door we entered darkness, but finally, we were out of the weather. I shivered, dripping water on her floor. Delilah slipped out of her shoes, placing them under a small stool. Crouching down, her skirt in a wide circle on the floor, Delilah undid my shoe laces, tugging them loose. She tapped my ankle, lift your foot. I watched her perform such a simple task and remembered my own children, when they were small. She stood, and touched my shoulder again, patting it twice as if to confirm I was there.

"We are lucky, I have gas for hot water and my kitchen. The water should flow, shouldn't it, even if there's no power? The little flame, what is it called? The little blue flame that never goes out?"

"The pilot light. Yes, your hot water should work, and matches will light your stove."

At the mention of a kitchen, I realised indeed I was hungry. Getting here had taken some time - leaving Rachel and Jo in the rain seemed long ago. I'd been a long time on my feet, too. I could happily fall down.

Just then, a beep beep beep started sounding. "Oh, the alarm. I forgot it." Her fingers quickly flickered over the key pad, and the warning fell silent. "There. We're safe now. Even if it is still dark. But Adam, come with me. You must have the first shower to get warm, and then we will find something to eat. I'll find candles."

She took my hand and led me up a flight of stairs to a bathroom. "Get under the shower, and I'll find a towel and something for you to put on." She touched my arm again. "It is nice, Adam, to have a man here." She turned away. "I won't be long."

As I undressed I smiled. Delilah was still wearing my jacket.

Feeling around in the dark, I found an empty towel rail and folded my pants and wet shirt over it, then placed my underwear and socks on the floor. The shower door was a sliding one, a little bit tight on its runner. I suddenly pictured Delilah naked in the mornings, struggling with it, putting up with something slightly broken. I made a point to look at it later, to get it running smoothly.

My god, warm water! Adjusting the tap with one hand, and measuring the temperature with the other, I stepped under the flow. Such simple bliss. Standing under the shower head, I let the warmth soak over me. In the darkness I felt for some soap, or a bottle of something to make a lather. I found a bottle - it might have been soap, it might have been shampoo, I didn't know. Whatever it was, it was delicate and feminine. I grinned. I smelt like Delilah's hair. I lathered myself all over. My balls were shrunk small from the cold and my cock was small.

Over the rush of the shower I heard the bathroom door open, and the tap of Delilah's fingers on the glass. She gestured, over there, pointing to a towel on the vanity basin. She was just a shape as she went out the door, closing it gently behind her. She was still wearing my jacket, even though it was wet. Perhaps she'd thought about it already and would hang it here in the bathroom, as she undressed.

It only occurred to me later, as I was drying myself, that Delilah had seen me naked in her shower. I smiled to myself, thinking she'd probably be quite matter of fact about that. I remembered the scar on her little finger as her hand gripped the handle on the bus seat, and the way her hands were so still.

I folded the towel over the edge of a high tub, and felt in the dark for the clothes she'd found me. It was in fact a dressing gown, probably hers from the morning. On Delilah it would have been long, nearly to her feet, so on me it was shorter, leaving me with cold ankles. Ah, bless the woman, she'd found some thick woollen socks for my feet. The gown smelled of Delilah, and I wrapped myself in her scent, breathing her deeply in. I tied the tie around my waist, and walked out into Delilah's little house.

"Down here, Adam." She called up from downstairs. "I've found candles. Do you drink wine? I have a bottle here, we can have a glass before I cook. After I make myself warm. How was the shower."

"Perfect. I feel human again. And thanks for the gown. It's warm on my skin."

Delilah came up to me, with her dark eyes and her appraisal. She leaned in close to smell my cheek. "You smell of me, I think. Did you find my shampoo?"

"I must have. A bottle of something, I couldn't see what it was."

"I hope you don't mind. I don't have anything for a man."

You do, but I knew what she meant.

"But please, be comfortable. Take your weight off your feet. I won't be long, and then we'll see what's to be done."

Delilah pointed to a bottle on the counter, shadows flickering in the light of five candles. I looked around the small living room, seeing how it was simply but tastefully furnished. It was an intimate room, pulled in close by the steady glow of the candles. They were scented, aromatic. I pulled Delilah's gown around me, and settled onto a couch.

"It's nice," she said, "having a man in my room." She was still for a moment, looking at me quite seriously. As she went past me to go up the stairs, she touched my shoulder, then moved on.

I heard her movements upstairs, some doors or drawers sliding open, then closed. I heard the shut of the bathroom door, the sound already familiar, and after a moment, the rattle of the shower door. Hearing the muted rush of the shower, I tried to imagine Delilah naked, but all I could see in my mind was the sheer cling of her wet blouse and her erect nipples under it, and the long swirl of her skirt as she swayed on the bus.

I held the collar of Delilah's gown to my nose, and breathed in her scent. That was enough. I felt my cock thicken.