He stood at the bus stop, drawing on a cigarette. Nodding his head to the music from his headphones, he looked at his watch.

‘Fifteen minutes... Ugh, hurry, stupid bus!’ he thought.

He discarded his cigarette butt on the ground and looked around.

‘Cute bum,’ he thought, regarding the curvy woman next to him.

He changed the music to his favourite band and smiled at the recent memory of having seen them live.

‘Man, Cristina Scabbia is beautiful,’ he grinned and sang along to the lyric: I’m leaving the dark side upside down, laughing at my disaster. ‘A little too loud, methinks, falsetto in public? Silly me!’ he said to himself.

The woman turned around to see which idiot was singing and they saw each other’s faces better than last time.

‘Can’t be, can it?’ they thought in unison.

She looked familiar, could it be her? The rather attractive passer-by?

She noticed him, too. Just his brown Stetson hat at first, but then the distinctive beard. It wasn’t quite epic, but it was getting there. She looked at his jacket.

‘Smart brown leather, so sexy, is it cute man, though?’ She pondered.

She noticed his painted nails, long pony-tailed hair and cool demeanour. She thought about talking to him, but had nothing to say. Nerves were kicking in, anyway. Maybe she would just be content to have a long stare.

He looked at his watch again, trying not to make eye contact with her. He wanted to look at her, to talk, but what would he say? Hello is always a good start, but what then? Hey, you’re cute? Yeah, get a load of that babble-fest! He might even get a slap for his efforts.

‘At last, it arrives. Stupid bus!’ He felt relieved, but also a little sad that he’d have to leave talking to the attractive random stranger until another time.

The bus drew up and he got on. Taking his usual seat at the back, on the right hand side, he looked her in the eyes, smiled and waved. She waved back and then the bus was off.

‘Who is she?’ he wondered.

The woman noticed something peculiar: ‘Wow, my heart is pounding... been a long time since that‘s happened,’ she smiled, letting out a tiny giggle and then feeling her face getting hot.

‘I hope I see her again, she’s something else,’ he smiled with a glint in his eye.

‘I hope I see him again, what a sexy man,’ she felt herself blush at the thought.