Chapter 4

Chapter 4:
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Turns out the bus driver had dreams of his own, once. Wanted to be a race car driver. His parents would always just shake their heads at him and show him pictures of races gone horribly wrong; cars upside down, on fire, broken in half. Broken bones, death.
Instead he found the demolition derby for a while and was content with that until the economy tanked and he needed a "real job." So here he was, a greyhound bus driver. He still got to drive, which he loved, but sometimes the drives were so long that after a while he would have to force himself to stay awake.
He was in danger of drifting off to sleep when the beautiful woman sitting directly behind him started chatting him up. She was the one with the bike and wanted to know if she could set out on her own for a stretch. At first he thought her request was crazy, nobody ever asked for a mode of transportation different from what they're on once they made that choice. But she looked like she was ready to jump off the bus while it was still in motion and his shift would be over at the next stop in a couple hours.
So he really didn't mind giving the pretty girl directions to get to her destination and also telling her which roads to avoid, which roads can get a bit dicey at night and also which hotels she could skip. In all honesty all he really wanted was to bring her back to his place in Savannah, Georgia, but he knew that was just about the worst idea ever. But once she got off that bus, she wasn't his responsibility anymore, and it wouldn't hurt to ask...

... He watched the girl's face turned about 20 shades of red before she spoke again. "thank you so much for the offer, but I will have to decline."

"I'm sorry, are you married?"

At that question he watched her struggle to keep composure. "nice one, jerk," he thought in his head.

Christina couldn't make the words come out. The man was nice enough, and had helped her out when he didn't have to, but this was something she had to do on her own. She came up with an idea.

"look. Your place is on my way to my friend's house. If the offer is still good, maybe I can swing by and get some rest before the last leg of the trip?"

The bus driver's heart nearly leapt out of his chest. He had no idea who this girl was but ever since she got on the bus and sat down, he had not been able to keep his attention off of her. Not in a sexual manner, although that element was present, but it was the way she had looked. She just looked so sad and heartbroken, he wanted to ask what was wrong but didn't want to pry. He had heard a lot of stories and had seen a lot of people on his bus, but no one spoke to his soul quite like her.
He especially noticed that when she was sleeping, her body became enchanted. And only then could he see her smile. It made him want to know everything about her and wish that he could be the one to make her smile like that. And then as soon as she woke up, the smile was gone, and that heartbroken face would pop right back up. If she needed to ride her bike to clear her head, then he had no problem telling her the route the bus would be taking. And he wanted to make sure she had his number just in case of an emergency. He was the one who knew these streets the best, he would be the one to call.

The next stop wasn't until North Carolina. The sun would be out and in full force by then, and he was exhausted, but as long as he had this pretty thing to talk to, he didn't even seem to notice.