-- A night I'll never forget--
Here's a story that took place a few years ago in University. It involves a girl, conflicting thoughts, a stranger, and perhaps even karma.
One of my University classes would end up being cancelled for the night so that was my ticket to go home early. As I waited at a bus stop, I would end up seeing a girl I had never seen before. We locked eyes on a few occasions and both shyly turned away each time. Eventually, I would muster up the courage to talk to her and things would go beautifully until we both got off at our separate stops. Before parting, I gave her my number and she said she would call... she never did.
The following week I would see her for the first time on campus. I pretended not to notice, assuming she had snubbed me the week prior, and just went on my way. As I walked away, I could see in the reflection of a glass door that she was running to catch up to me from behind. She stopped me, only to stand there for a moment catching her breath. I remember masking my slight resentment with a jolly "hey!" She apologized for not calling me saying that her mother had accidentally thrown out the sheet of paper with my number on it. We talked briefly, but soon had to part ways to head to our respective classes. She gave me those butterfly eyes and said "I hope I see you later tonight." I responded with "probably not. My class isn't cancelled :P." She looked at me for an extra second with a smile on her face and walked away.
After class that night (10pm), I made my way to the bus stop, but she wasn't there. Did I read her signals wrong? Well, I did only meet her by chance the week before; I know her day ends sooner than mine. I went back and forth in my mind for awhile until my thoughts were interrupted. "Hey...do you have 50 cents I can have for the bus?" I glanced up to see a homeless man. "Sorry, unless your butt crack is an ATM machine, all I have is credit and debit on me" -- my truthful, but typical response. He would respond "what about something to eat?" I gave him an apologetic look and said, "sorry, nothing." He thanked me and walked away to ask a few others... I would observe him for a bit from a distance. 10 minutes had passed and he walked up to me again, "you know, it's really hard to ask people for things." I was confused by this thinking maybe I offended him somehow earlier, but he continued by saying "believe it or not I'm a proud person and it takes everything I have to approach people." I nodded emphatically and he said "you know... of all the people I spoke to around here you were the only one that showed me any form of respect by letting me finish speaking." We talked for a bit and as the bus came he'd ask "oh, is that yours?" I hesitated, "yes and no..." and explained that I was waiting on a girl that may or may not be coming. "Waiting on your girlfriend?" he smiled. "Not exactly..." which kind of made me feel dumb as I had been sitting there for 40 minutes for what seemed to be a lost cause. Still, instead of jumping on the bus I said I'd catch the next one.
We chatted a little bit more until 10:50 when my next bus arrived. I stood up and said good bye to him, but after walking 3 steps I turned back and said "want to go get something to eat?" He seemed surprised, but jumped at the opportunity. We walked across the street to a local pizza place where I'd order him a large size pizza just for him. As he was ordering, he looked like a kid in a candy store respectfully asking me if it was okay if we had ______ as toppings. I said it was just for him as I needed to catch the next bus, so get whatever he wants. He chimed in about how he'll have something to eat tomorrow and so on. The clerk asked if we wanted to make that 2 pizzas for an extra $5 and he paused with excitement, but politely declined (not wanting to burden me). I interrupted and said "sure." I swear at this point he started having an emotional breakdown as tears flooded from his eyes and when the price ringed in at $20 he couldn't do anything, but thank me. I told him not to think much of it, but he would later ask if it was okay to give me a hug... sure. As I gave him a bro-hug, he pulled away and with absolute certainty on his face he said "I swear to you I'll get through all this and one day I want to be the one that takes YOU out to lunch." Before leaving he would give me his number (even if you're homeless you can still get #'s at local shelters).
As I was waiting for traffic to clear so I could cross the street, I would see the girl near that bus stop walking around as if she was looking for someone. I kept my gaze on her and watched her roam around until she finally paused and sunk her head. I felt like I could read her thoughts the whole time. As I started to cross the street, it's as if someone clever up there pointed a spotlight from the moon down on me. She looked up in absolute disbelief to catch me lit up by the moonlight. As I closed in I said "sorry to keep you waiting" and she reached out and hugged me.
Later that "night", we would end up walking along the docks at 3am where I'd steal my first kiss from her. I asked softly "does this mean I can call you my girlfriend now?"