With the taste of bad coffee on her tongue she swallowed hard, thinking about a certain longing for water she had had for hours now. She uncrossed her legs and re-crossed them the other way, at the same time moving her delicate hand to her forehead and wiping the small bead of sweat that was forming there. She glanced around at the people that surrounded her, all in the same position she was in. They were thirsty, or hungry, or hot, in a general status of uncomfort. She sighed as she realized this was what international travel was made of. Half of the people around her didn’t speak Italian, they spoke other languages, mixtures of Germanic and a less harsh eastern European tone could be heard. Her primary language had always been English, though she found herself apt to other ones as she grew in age.
That’s what had brought her to Italy, in fact. That love for the sweet language, the good food, and the wonderful people. How she had ended up in a bus stop somewhere outside of Rome, though, that was another reason. Her curiosity and her insane need to never ask for aid had landed her there. She was alright with that, though, she sat comfortably as she took the papers she had in her hand and began to fan her face, a smile breaking onto it as the sun cast upon her. As she leaned her head back in the afternoon light and smiled at the occasion she noticed someone out of the corner of her eye watching her. She opened her eyes a little bit more as she saw a medium built man, with medium brown hair, sitting on the ground like she was, but glancing at her every few moments. She caught his eye and smiled, his head downcast at the view.
She distracted herself for a bit, not wondering what had gone on or why it had gone on, just focusing on the great expression of the moment. She noticed him again, though, staring at her this time, she looked back at him, the second she caught his eye this time she smiled and opened her mouth with a silent ‘hi.’ He paused, blinked, and smiled with a little blush in his cheeks, mouthing a slightly audible ‘ciao’ in return. She smiled and kind of looked down, noticing the square nature of his jaw, and the nose that was commonly uncharacteristic of Italian faces, yet he wasn’t grouped with the German family, nor the other families, and when the man had come by and asked for the ticket he had remained quite silent, she remembered that. Even she, in her smooth but small vocabulary had managed to talk with the man, he had barely spoke a word to him.
As she was contemplating what he was, or why he was, she saw a shadow cast on her, startling her she looked up, her eyes a bit squinted as she looked up to light, a male figure moving and then sitting next to her. She quickly glanced to where he was sitting, seeing an empty space she looked next to her as he lowered himself to the ground. “Cincinnati, Ohio.” She smiled at him and looked down, “Denver, Colorado.” He fumbled with the things in his hands as she watched the rough character of them move with finesse and then reach out to hers for a handshake. She offered him one, not a hugely rough one, but a nice one none the less. They began to talk, about everything and anything, it turns out he had been with a host family who he had to leave early, because of sickness, but in his confusing travels he had managed to get quite cleared up but it was time for him to go home none the less, so he decided to spend a few days traveling around.
He laughed when she told him how she had got there, she blushed a little and smiled as she rolled her eyes. She had gotten on a bus for Rome, yes, but somehow in the midst of all that she ended up on another bus, which had…
[To be continued…]