Chapter Text
Bob took the bus home from the construction site every day. It wasn’t a long ride, maybe 30 minutes, but it was peaceful. Sometimes, someone who recognized him would say hello and they’d have a chat. Being the most famous builder in the city meant that happened semi-regularly on account of his face being on billboards all over the area.
On one particular evening, he was in a rush to get home. He was supposed to FaceTime his sister-in-law, Jenny. He rushed to the bus stop and sat down in his usual seat, legs anxiously bouncing.
The bus started moving forward, onto the next stop. It was about five minutes until they reached it and three people got on. Bob wasn’t particularly interested in any of them, rather, he looked out the window. As the bus started moving again, he noticed something that piqued his interest. A man was running beside the truck, shouting something and waving his hands. It was apparent that he wanted to get on the bus. Bob figured the least he could do was give the guy a hand, so he stood up and called to the front of the bus, “Driver, stop!”
The bus lurched forward and screeched to a halt. The doors swung open and the man, now out of breath, boarded the bus.
The bus driver muttered something about being on time before closing the doors and setting off again. The man walked down the aisle and sat next to Bob.
“Hola, I saw you stop the bus through your window, gracias.” He thanked, out of breath.
“Oh, no problem! It’s the least I could do.” Bob remarked, smiling.
“I’m Manny, by the way.” The man said, taking his hat off, revealing a full head of shiny chestnut hair.
“Bob.” Bob responded, smiling.
“What do you do for a living?” Manny asked, flattening his hair down.
Bob was surprised Manny didn’t recognize him, considering all the billboards around the city, but he found it refreshing and answered, “I’m a builder, and you?”
“A handyman. They call me Handy Manny.” He replied, smiling warmly. He had a very nice smile that set a shine in his chocolate-brown eyes.
“Really? That’s interesting, I guess we share a love for fixing things.” Bob remarked.
“I guess we do!” Manny grinned as he spoke, “So I’m guessing you’ve lived in this city for a while?”
“Well, I’ve worked in the city for a while. I live just outside the city in the suburbs.” Bob answered.
“Is that so? I live above my shop. I just started up my business so fingers crossed it’ll do well.”
“I’m sure it will, you seem bright and approachable.”
“Thank you, that means a lot.” Manny admitted sincerely. He looked right into Bob’s ebony eyes and smiled.
Bob couldn’t help but grin when his eyes met the handyman’s.
“So what got you into construction?” Manny asked.
“Well, my father was a builder and taught me all about construction when I was 15 so I took after him. The first thing I ever fixed was my twin brother, Tom’s toy elephant.” Bob explained.
“Wow, that’s a lot more interesting than my beginnings.” Manny chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
“I think I’ll be the judge of that.” Bob insisted.
“Well alright, I was always sorta interested in fixing things so when I met some friends who were willing to help me, I took the opportunity.” Manny told, slightly awkward though it all.
“Aw, come on, that’s not that bad.” Bob claimed, smiling.
“I guess not.”
“So, if I may ask, where are you headed?” Bob asked.
“The grocery store. I need avocados and orange juice.” Manny explained. Bob found this combination odd and amusing, but he liked the unusuality of it.
“Huh, what for?” Bob asked curiously.
“I’m making orange guacamole.” Manny told him as if it were a completely normal thing to say. Bob could help but laugh.
“Orange guacamole?” He giggled.
“Yep. Don’t knock it ‘till you try it!” Manny nodded.
“Fair enough.” Bob acknowledged with a shrug.
The bus lurched to a stop, starting Bob. He’d almost forgotten the fact that they both had somewhere to be.
“This is my stop, adios, Bob.” Manny waved as he stood up from the seat and started down the aisle.
“Bye.” Bob waved back. He was disappointed to see Manny go, he’d really been enjoying their conversation. He watched Manny walk down the bus steps and wondered if he also felt sad to go. He chose not to dwell on it though as the bus started moving once again.
The rest of the ride passed relatively quickly until they reached Bob’s home. He got off the bus and hurried into his living room. He sat down on the floor, got his phone out, scrolled to his sister-in-law’s contact, and hit FaceTime.
Jenny picked up immediately and had her face much too close to the camera.
“Bob! You’re 10 minutes late!” She snapped in her typical Jenny manner.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, the bus was slow today.” Bob apologized, wanting to be free of his sister-in-law’s rage.
As usual, after his apology, the fire of her anger was doused and she was back to talking civilly. “So, Tom’s birthday is next week and I’m not sure what to get him. I figured you know him best so I wanted your input.
Of course Jenny had insisted on a planned-out FaceTime for this. Only Jenny.
“Well,” Bob thought for a moment, “How about a new zoological doo dad?”
“‘Zoological doo dad’?” Jenny repeated skeptically.
“I don’t know, what sort of things would he need for zoology?” Bob questioned defensively.
Jenny sighed, “Why did I think you could help? You’re a total meathead.”
Bob sighed as well, “I don’t know?”
“I’m just going to come up with something myself, bye.”
“Bye.” Bob started, but she had already hung up.
He couldn’t believe he’d let himself get stressed about being late just for that. Jenny was such a… Jenny sometimes.
“I guess I should eat something then.” Bob thought to himself. He stood up off his living room floor and walked to the kitchen.
“Let’s see…” Bob mumbled aloud. He opened the freezer and saw a very appealing frozen curry. He got it out and put it in the microwave. He the.
Spent the next two minutes wandering around his kitchen waiting for the microwave to beep. Once it finally did, he grabbed his dinner and sat down at his dining table.
He ate there every night, but for some reason, tonight he felt a little more alone. Maybe it was because he’d had a lot of socialization today. He’d talked to someone on the bus on his way to work, talked to his crew while there, talked to that Manny guy on his way home, and then to top it all off, talked to Jenny.
“I need a good friend or something.” He thought. Sure, he was friends with his coworkers, but not invite-to-dinner friends. Sigh what to do.
After he’d finished his dinner, Bob headed upstairs and took a quick shower. After that, he went to his room and laid down in his bed.
Ding! His phone buzzed cheerily.
Bob picked it up to see a text from Jenny. It was a very blurry picture of who-knows-what.
“Think Tom would like this?” It read.
Bob had no idea what ‘this’ was, but he wasn’t in the mood to ask, so he simply typed, “Yes”.
“Thanks!” Jenny responded, and with that, his phone was silent. He set it on his nightstand, already prepped with tomorrow’s alarm.
From there he clicked the light off and proceeded to roll over and fall asleep.