Two Way Street (carter_ x Pandaskel)

[carter_]

This bus ride is really starting to piss me off. How many fucking bumps could a road have? Normally I'd gaze out of a window, into the foreign scenery behind it, losing myself trying to absorb it all. I couldn't do that this time. I remember the last occasion I had a hard crush on someone. It was my freshman year and I just couldn't get my eyes off this girl. The way she just was. I was attracted to her like a bee to honey. I'd lusted for her in secret, talking to her only during Biology and after school. Then after many monologues with my bathroom mirror and finally got the guts to ask her out, she moved. I never knew where she went, but I knew she was gone. And I hated myself for not loving her enough to ask her in time. The girl beside me was like the girl I liked - if not loved four years ago. I was scared to meet her gaze. Scared to look out of the window and have her eyes meet mine. So instead I looked at the leather of the seat Infront of me, concentrating on all of its details. I count the minutes, the amount of times I hover over my seat and crash back down. If I wanted to go for a ride, I would've went to Six Flags. At least there's a better view over there. It won't be long until we're on campus, I hope. UGA was being nice to send buses our way for our first day. Never heard of that type of thing before. I tried to think of other things but all I could think about was how frizzy this girl's hair is. She occasionally moves, and the mass of cells glide closer to my face. Why can't I just tell her to move it? She's just a girl. I talk to myself quite a lot. Then I remember what happened the last time I didn't talk to a girl. You'd think with several relationships that I would be great conversing with women. Not really, since most of the girls I've dated came to me. I haven't asked out a girl since...well I can't even come to think of when. The only thing close was my little love adventure as a freshman.
"Excuse me," I turn my head toward head toward her, feeling goosebumps rise as I do. "Could you move your, uh, hair please?"

 

[Pandaskel]

A city street in the evening, with the sky a million colors as the sun starts to set. A lo-fi track fading in, a steady shot following the boy as he walks home, tired from the day. The color grading is washed out, leaving faded pastel colors onscreen. The boy greets shopkeepers, classmates, and family friends on his way home, polite and courteous. That's the sort of character he is. And his steps start to slow, the camera gets a closeup of his shoes as he comes to a stop. He's forgotten something. He doesn't know what it is, but it was something important, he's sure of it. He turns around, starts retracing his steps. He passes the same classmates, the same shops, walking hesitantly at first, then firmly, then briskly, and as he nears his school he breaks into a run. He's remembered. And he wonders how he could have ever forgotten in the first pla-


"Excuse me. Could you move your, uh, hair, please?"


I flinched, a little startled at the voice breaking into my reverie. Thankfully the bus was moving so much that the movement probably went unnoticed. 


I turned to look at the voice's origin, the boy sitting next to me. This was the first seat I had found with an empty space upon first boarding the bus, and I had plopped down without a second thought. A minute or so in, however, I realized that may have been a mistake. His body language was completely closed off, and I found myself unable to even try starting a conversation, aware of his discomfort. And pulling out my phone or a book felt a little rude, so I had just sat there in silence, eventually settling into daydreams and brainstorms for future screenplays. I figured he just wasn't the type to talk to strangers.


Now I smiled apologetically. "Yeah, of course. Jeez, I'm sorry about that." I scooted away from him and moved my legs into the aisle, pulling my hair back and tying it with an elastic from my wrist. Then I moved my legs back into the space between our seat and the back of the seat in front of us, but made sure to keep more space between us this time. "Is that better?" I asked.

 

[carter_]

The girl's eyes shift to mine and a smile appears on her lips. Her reaction is apologetic and it stuns me. Normally, If I'd ask someone to do something as little as moving their hair it'd be over like that, with the person doing what I said and going back into what they were doing previously. This girl seemed to linger. Maybe it was just the way she was? Her transition in caging her curly hair was so swift and effortless. It all faded, then. The hesitation of talking to this girl-everything, gone. Something about the smile? It welcomed me like a fire to a man who'd spent days in the cold.


"Yea", I laughed, "it's fine. Could I get your name? Sorry for being so awkward, college vibes kinda got me nervous you know?" It was a huge lie. I wasn't nervous at all about college, I had a longing for it. Being on my own? Nothing better than that. But I had to say something for the awkwardness. Yea sorry for being awkward, I couldn't look at you without giving a creeper vibe, didn't quite seem fit. Now that I actually snuck a good look at this girl my tenses start to fade. And I have no clue as to why they do.

 

[carter_]

(bump)

 

[Pandaskel]

I nodded, chuckling a little myself. His laugh was nice - strong and bright, like a thunderstorm back home. A ghost of the scent of rain in the woods made my nose twitch as a pang of homesickness spread in my stomach. I ignored it, as I had for the past two weeks since coming to Georgia. These flashbacks of home were becoming fewer and farther between, however, and though I would never wish to forget my home, the less I longed for it the better.


As his demeanor changed and the atmosphere became more promising, I felt myself let go of tension that I hadn't even noticed before. I smiled at him, trying to look reassuring despite my own nerves. "Don't worry about it. The first day jitters have got me a little tense, too." Then I held a hand out to shake. "I'm Anali Arroyo, grew up in Oregon, and going to UGA to study filmmaking. You?"

 

[carter_]

I stare at her hand, never seeing such a formal gesture from a girl. I'm not foreign to a hand shake, I share many complex greetings with close friends. In ATL we used to greet eachother with handshakes. We'd lock fingers during the shake and give the recipient a half hug. I couldn't do this with her, I'd guess. Instead, I meet her hands with mine, and shook as if someone was mere meters away, holding a camera at me. I'd felt this feeling in high school with many people, being the best player in my division and #2 in my class. Only then, my smile was being puppeteered by those who stood behind the scenes. Now my smile is genuine. Something about this girl...


"Nice to meet you, Anali." I'd grin at her; I beautiful name for a beautiful girl. "I'm Caymen-Caymen Cavins. I got a basketball scholarship so you'll be seeing me alot on the court, I hope. Isn't Oregon, like, on the other side of the country? How'd you end up in this hell hole?"

 

[Pandaskel]

"It's nice to meet you, too, Caymen," I replied. His handshake was firm and confident, the kind given by someone who's used to doing so. And his hand itself was as strong and warm as his laugh, giving me the kind of fuzzy feeling that a hot cup of tea does on a chilly day in the fall. If I wasn't still feeling the rock and tumble of the bus, I would think I was back home talking to someone I'd known my whole life.

"I needed to get away," I explained simply. "Be on my own, see new people and places... Besides, I've seen my fair share of hell holes and this isn't bad. What's so hellish about it?" I wondered what could've caused someone as young as this to have a bad feeling about a place as pretty as Georgia.

[Sorry for taking so long with this, school has been a struggle.]