“You havegotto be kidding me,” Seth murmured, rolling his eyes. He tapped his foot a little harder. Groaned out loud. Did everything that constitutes a child’s tantrum in his 22-year-old body.
He lifted his wrist, as if to check the time on his watch, before remembering.
Oh yeah. He didn’thaveone.
After another thirty seconds, Seth knew that it was no use. The lecture this morning was going to be missed. The train was already running twenty minutes late, and the train he caught always got him to Sydney Central station on the dot.
Finally, the blissful screeching of metal against metal sounded, signalling the train’s arrival. Seth, along with the other workers and university students, stepped forward, all of them toeing dangerously over the yellow barrier. He craned his neck forward, his height granting him the advantage to peer over the huddle of late school students beside him.
His eyes locked with a pair of brown ones, for a brief moment, as he adjusted his gaze over the school students.
Wait.
Is that -
Recognition sparked through him, his mind racing at a rapid pace as his memory scrambled to put a name to the face. The moment was soon gone as the train came to a screeching halt in front of them.
His focus shifted to getting thebestpossible seat on the train.
While it wasn’t thepeakof peak hour, there were still quite a lot of people, all threatening to takehisbest seats.
As the train doors opened, and passengers spilled out, Seth stepped forward and slipped through. Every carriage was divided into an upstairs and downstairs portion, and Seth favoured upstairs because the suburban views were often worth it. He felt on top of the world, rather than under it. He alsoalwayswent for the single seaters, to guarantee no one else would sit beside him, and so he could occupy the seat across from him with his bag.
Yet, as Seth climbed the stairs, his hope in grabbing his favourite seat slowly dwindled. Row after row, commuters spilled onto the seats.
His eyes darted around, until they landed on a free seat at the other end of the carriage.The single seat.
Yes! He made his way down the aisle, until he realised that itwasoccupied.
The girl from before. He noticed the girl lifting her tote bag, ready to place it on the seat opposite to her, just likehewould if he’d taken the seat. Before she could do so, he slid into the space, his leg brushing hers.
“Sorrymiss,” he started, as she pulled her bag backward. Pleased, he lowered his body onto the free spot.
Ha. Success.
It was only when he’d adjusted himself on the seat, that Seth caught a glimpse of the girl in front of him. A bob of dark chestnut hair met his gaze first, before they settled on her face.
He drew in a breath, as the years stripped back. Suddenly, he was in high school again.
“Nina?”
She met his eyes, and her brown ones widened with realisation, her expression no doubt mirroring his own.
“Seth?”
The train lurched forward, and Nina’s tote bag, which was lying on her lap, bumped against his knees. He pursed his lips at the unexpected impact of whatever contents she held in there, and Nina scrambled to pull the bag toward her.
“Sorry-”
Seth’s eyes stayed on her. Nostalgia, hot and burning, pierced his memory. Every fleeting moment he spent with Nina, sped through his mind, like a montage.
She’d been there, this quiet constant, throughout high school. He spent many years sharing the same classes with her. But they never became friends.
Not really.
Not in the traditional sense.
High-school Seth was something like abigasshole.
