She was sitting with her back towards the direction the bus was headed, something that would have made me hurl at the time. There was something about her. Judging by her appearance, she too looked like a victim of a night out on the town, with her hair a bit unkempt, her clothes just a bit too wrinkled and her posture clearly showing signs of some kind of inebriation had been taking place the previous night. But that wasn't what caught my attention - it was her face. She was one of the prettiest sights I had laid my eyes on, but something made her even more special: she was all smiles.
She had this look on her face, as if she was gazing off into the distance, her smile just seemed to light up the whole...well, bus. I couldn't stop staring at her and I couldn't help but notice that she was doing that lip biting thing that I find ridiculously hot for some reason and kept giggling by herself every now and then. Now I don't know what the fuck happened to me, as I've never done this before, but my stop was about to come soon enough and I didn't even think about it. I quickly chewed some Airwaves Mentho and strutted from the back of the bus, sat in front of her and said "Hey, my name is Mikko.” She answered immediately with a lovely tone: ”Hey, Mikko, I’m Suvi.” My God, this shit actually works.
Keep in mind that at least stereotypically speaking, talking to a stranger on a bus is big social no-no in Finland, even more so going to ask someone out while probably looking and sounding like a zombie with lustful eyes. Sometimes even the act of smiling while riding on a bus could cause people to consider you as some weirdo junkie or a green wave of apparent bitter jealousy: ”Well what the FUCK is he so happy about?!”. It was too late to be flabbergasted now as I sat there staring into her beautiful eyes, glaced with a warmth that was almost making me blush from beneath my pale overnight complexion.
-Suvi... Hey, I’m hopping off soon, but I would really like to have your number, so I can buy you a cup of coffee later.
Her reaction and answer were completely unpredictable.
-This is really, really sweet and cool, but I think I met the love of my life yesterday.
Now my mind is going ”Wait….what?” and I’m still looking in those pretty eyes of hers – if she just made up that stuff on the spot to nicely decline my offer she was the best liar in the world and possibly has a long career in politics ahead of her. Those eyes, they weren’t lying. In Finnish culture, again, stereotypically, you don’t just throw the word ”love” around like that, it embodies a much larger meaning than its English equivalent. Then I thought, ha, of course. The whole way she acted. All that giggling, distance gazing, lip biting and face full of smiles was a pretty sure-fire telltale sign of infatuation.
-Okay, sounds good. Well, this is my stop, bye.
Shut down. I pressed the Stop button and thankfully the wait was only a few silly seconds before my stop loomed ahead and the bus swerved onto the stopping area – not enough time for that possible awkwardness to settle in or people staring at me too much after I tried and failed. I rose from in front of her and nodded idiotically, but she was still just smiling radiantly and said ”Bye, Mikko.” I waited those few seconds for the bus to come to a halt and was going to exit disappointed, but then I hear her voice:
-…and good luck!
I quickly glanced back at her and smiled, without a foolish nod this time and stepped off the bus. I had just been rejected, but why the hell was I smiling like an idiot? She really made my day, my week, my month. You seldom see that kind of attitude or presence around here and I put on my headphones, set my player on Shuffle and the first song that starts playing is ”Daylight” by Matt and Kim, a true feel-good piece. The whole experience was just inexcplicably amazing. I lost my bus scoring attempt virginity and tomorrow is a new day – hopefully without a hangover.
