That Moment
That Moment: When our eyes met.
Passing my suitcase off to the bus driver to load in the storage underneath, I took the few steps up and came face to face with Leland again. For a moment I thought that God must be punishing me for some past transgressions or maybe I just had shitty timing.
We exchanged looks as he started to open his mouth to speak. I stop him, holding up my hand. “I’m not doing this again, Leland. We’ve got a fourteen hour ride ahead of us.”
“What’s your problem Reece?” he asks me, the irritation showing on his face as he throws his arms up in question.
“What is my problem? Leland... you called me a whore!”
He shrugs and says “I call ‘em like I see ‘em baby.”
Before I knew it, I raised my arm and swung my hand out to slap his face, he grabs me by the wrist, stopping me short of making impact. A venomous smile plays on his lips as he grips my wrist tightly. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you.” He whispers powerfully, dropping my wrist and pushing past me.
My mouth was forming a nasty retort as Beth and Dog stepped onto the bus. I turned with a smile and greeted them. “Hi Beth!” I say cheerfully as she hugs me.
“How’s it sista’?” She asks hugging me back.
She didn’t really want to know how I was doing. I was struggling with her step son on a daily basis, being called a whore or a bitch every other day and regretting the fact that I even accepted this job.
“I’m doing really well!” I say, hiding the turbulence of the past few days behind a big, fake smile. Lies and Enthusiasm was everything in this business.
Ten hours into our trip the bus had fallen silent, Dog and Beth had been in bed for a few hours. I lay in my small bunk, which by a bitter twist of fate was directly across from Leland’s. The only privacy the bunk offered was a curtain that I pulled about three quarters of the way shut as I heard Leland stepping into the hallway after his shower. I turned onto my side trying my best to get comfortable in what felt like a coffin.
I saw him standing in front of me with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. His wet hair clung to his muscular shoulders. In the dim light he stretched before turning my way, our eyes met briefly and I watched as he dropped the towel.
Yanking the curtain shut, I let out a frustrated sigh. Hot tears immediately ran down my cheeks, I wiped them away as fast as they fell. Here I was, a thirty four year old woman letting a man get to me, I never let anyone get to me. I was the woman who didn’t even cry when she found out her fiance was cheating. What was it about this man that I would let him get under my skin?
My curtain was pulled open sometime during the night, maybe someone heard me crying and came to check on me, I wasn’t sure. One thing I was sure of is that I had cried all night. Waking up the next morning with puffy, bloodshot eyes I did my best to pass it off as allergies when Dog questioned me. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his beloved son had somehow managed to break me down.
We exchanged looks as he started to open his mouth to speak. I stop him, holding up my hand. “I’m not doing this again, Leland. We’ve got a fourteen hour ride ahead of us.”
“What’s your problem Reece?” he asks me, the irritation showing on his face as he throws his arms up in question.
“What is my problem? Leland... you called me a whore!”
He shrugs and says “I call ‘em like I see ‘em baby.”
Before I knew it, I raised my arm and swung my hand out to slap his face, he grabs me by the wrist, stopping me short of making impact. A venomous smile plays on his lips as he grips my wrist tightly. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you.” He whispers powerfully, dropping my wrist and pushing past me.
My mouth was forming a nasty retort as Beth and Dog stepped onto the bus. I turned with a smile and greeted them. “Hi Beth!” I say cheerfully as she hugs me.
“How’s it sista’?” She asks hugging me back.
She didn’t really want to know how I was doing. I was struggling with her step son on a daily basis, being called a whore or a bitch every other day and regretting the fact that I even accepted this job.
“I’m doing really well!” I say, hiding the turbulence of the past few days behind a big, fake smile. Lies and Enthusiasm was everything in this business.
Ten hours into our trip the bus had fallen silent, Dog and Beth had been in bed for a few hours. I lay in my small bunk, which by a bitter twist of fate was directly across from Leland’s. The only privacy the bunk offered was a curtain that I pulled about three quarters of the way shut as I heard Leland stepping into the hallway after his shower. I turned onto my side trying my best to get comfortable in what felt like a coffin.
I saw him standing in front of me with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. His wet hair clung to his muscular shoulders. In the dim light he stretched before turning my way, our eyes met briefly and I watched as he dropped the towel.
Yanking the curtain shut, I let out a frustrated sigh. Hot tears immediately ran down my cheeks, I wiped them away as fast as they fell. Here I was, a thirty four year old woman letting a man get to me, I never let anyone get to me. I was the woman who didn’t even cry when she found out her fiance was cheating. What was it about this man that I would let him get under my skin?
My curtain was pulled open sometime during the night, maybe someone heard me crying and came to check on me, I wasn’t sure. One thing I was sure of is that I had cried all night. Waking up the next morning with puffy, bloodshot eyes I did my best to pass it off as allergies when Dog questioned me. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his beloved son had somehow managed to break me down.