Chapter Text
7:43am sharp the same bus every day would leave from Tobin’s place towards the centre of the city where her school was located. 7:43am sharp and she must step on that bus to find the exact seats she’s been sitting on for the last 2 weeks since college has started.
It wasn’t like she had some kind of routine she has to follow but she wants to, if it means the same raven haired girl would sit next to her every day.
Tobin remembered the exact street where the girl would usually wait for the vehicle to arrive, she remembers the amount time, down to the last second, it takes to arrive there and then she forgets everything else once the girl was in sight.
It was something straight out of a shitty romantic film.
They’ve never said much to each except for quick apologies being thrown out when the bus takes a curl causing them to crash into one another.
The girl always seem to be reading a different book every time she gets on the bus or is staring intently into a notebook with quick scribbles of lines that Tobin could never make out.
And Tobin… well Tobin seemed to always be busy staring at the girl.
Christen. That was her name. Tobin found that out when the girl took out a book that has a scribble of her name on it. Christen. Tobin decided she liked that name. Christen.
With those 2 weeks of taking the same to the same place together, Tobin learnt a lot about Christen.
She knows that she pouts a little when she confused. She knows that the sun is extra irritating for her light greyish green eyes, so Tobin would always find a way to subtly try to block the sun in shining in her direction. She knows that she’s a literature major by the amount of books she reads and the amount of notes she has scrawled all over them. Well, at the least Tobin thinks she is. And she knows that she wants to know her a lot better than she already does.
Today, like any other day, Tobin was up and at it with a cup of coffee and a quick jog with a soccer ball from her room to the kitchen. Feeling a lot more energised than usual by the upcoming tryouts for the Stanfords Soccer team. She was so ready and pumped for it, that a smile hasn’t left her face from the moment she woke up. Even smiling a bit more realising that in 20 or so minutes she gets to see bus girl again.
And of course it was very Tobin-like to leave the house with 20 seconds to spare as the bus stopped right in front of her apartment complex.
She chose to live out of the campus because she is saving that moment until she made it into the team so she could then stay in the team house. Which is gonna be, as Tobin has described to her friends, ‘fucking amazing’.
Stepping on the roaring vehicle, she takes the same seat once again, 5 rows down on the left hand side, awaiting the next 4 stops for the girl to step on.
Turning the corner Tobin could see the girl sitting patiently waiting for the bus to stop, something Tobin could never do. Something was different today though. The relaxed look on the girl’s face was not evident and instead of holding a book, like she normally would, the girl was empty handed and looking a little shaky. Scratch that, she looked like she was having a heart attack.
Christen stepped on the bus with a small, closed lipped smile as she greeted the driver. And took her spot right next to Tobin. She wasn’t focusing on any book or any notes today, she looked anxious and worried even. Which eventually got Tobin worried.
Christen, for the first time, was looking up on the bus, which meant more chances for the searing sunlight to reach her eyes.
Irritated, she turned her head towards Tobin, and at the same moment, brown eyed girl was also staring directly at her. Christen gave her a small polite small as Tobin did the same and quickly redirected her head down onto her lap as the heat on the cheeks were rising rapidly, having nothing to do with the blazing sun.
On the other side of the seat, Christen just got 10 times more nervous as her legs began to bounce up and down, shaking the whole row.
Tobin looked up only to see the stressed look at the pretty girl’s face.
“Hey, relax.” Tobin surprised herself as she let out the soft words towards the shaking girl.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to disrupt you.” Tobin face filled with worry, thinking her words might of been let out too rough.
“No don’t worry. It’s just… I mean I see you everyday with a small smile plastered on your face, and I don’t like seeing people sad." And by people I meant you.
Christen smiled softly at the girl, feeling a bit better as the girl let out those words. “Right. Well thank you. I just have a lot going on today and I’m not feeling my best so I don’t think I’m gonna do well. I just… I want, no I need to do well. I can’t have any other way. I just can’t, you know?”
Tobin smiled sweetly at the girl. This was the first time Toblin has heard the girl say so much at once.
“Jesus what is wrong with me? I’m sorry for bambling so much, you don’t need this.” The girl said as she looked down feeling embarrassed by her outbreak.
“No it’s okay. I like hearing you talk.” Tobin’s face dropped as she heard herself say what she just said. Fucking dumbass Tobin, now she thinks that you’re some sort of creep, Tobin thought to herself.
“Well thank you again… uh…I'm sorry I never caught your name.”
“Tobin, Tobin Heath.”
“Christen, Christen Press. It’s a pleasure to meet you Tobin Heath.”
With a soft smile Tobin said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you too Christen Press.”