unknown number (rewrite)

the bus

  The next morning, she wakes up in the blond's arms. Her body slightly aches, but she doesn't let it bother her too much. Instead, she crawls out of his arms, being sure not to disturb him, and glances at the clock. As she reads the time, her eyes widen. Due to last nights events, she never set an alarm and now she's running late.
  There's no time to put on makeup or shower, she has to get dressed now if she wants to make the bus. She goes through boxes to find a shirt that covers all the marks he made on her skin. When she finds one she lets out a sigh and quickly pulls it over her head. She slips on jeans and her shoes before struggling with locking the door.
  Her feet pound on the steps as she races down them, she hears the bus and she's pretty sure it's pulling away. Once she makes it to the bus stop right outside her apartment complex, she can see it driving off in the distance. A sigh escapes her lips again as she casts her eyes to the ground.
  "Do you need a ride? The next bus doesn't come for a couple of hours," a familiar voice causes her to jump slightly. She turns around, trying to rack her brain as to where she's heard the voice before. "Or are you not in a rush?"
  "I have to get to work, I'm only in training... and if I'm late... I'll get fired," her eyes land on the man from last night, the one who lives in the apartment under her. And she immediately regrets telling him that.
  "Do you need a ride then?" he tilts his head slightly, his features being highlighted by the sunlight. "I don't have work until later today, and I just needed to get some groceries. So I can give you one. If you need it."
  She should say no, but she knows that if she tells Ryker that she missed the bus... he won't be happy. She stares at the man, he doesn't seem to be out for something. She looks into his eyes, they're a dark color, brown... no... black. Strange. She doesn't know anyone who has black iris'. But it's not bad. He doesn't look bad.
  Plus, he did go out of his way to ask if she was okay after he heard the noise. She takes the time to look over him completely, black hair, freckles. She also doesn't know a lot of people who have freckles. He's just a bunch of varieties. Suddenly, it dawns on her that he's waiting for her to respond.
  "Yeah, actually, I do," she looks at the ground, expecting him to ask about Ryker and why he can't drive her or something along those lines, but instead he just turns around.
  "Follow me, my car's this way," he pulls his keys from his pocket and leads her to a black car. "Hop on in. You can give me the directions once we're in there."
  She follows his lead and slips into the passenger seat. For someone who lives in an apartment, he sure does have a pretty expensive car. Wait, why is she thinking like this? It's so not like her, maybe it's because he knows her biggest secret. She tells him to turn right onto the street, and they sit in silence in between directions.
  The silence drives her crazy, "Ryker wasn't always like that..."
  His eyebrows furrow and he hums, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes, "Ryker...?"
  She swallows the lump on her throat, "My boyfriend. The man living with me... he wasn't always... last night... I'm talking about last night."
  "What's your boyfriend have to do with last night? You said it was the wind, didn't you?" he tightens his grip on the steering wheel, turning in a direction without her saying to, but she doesn't say anything about it because it was the right direction. "Listen, you're right. There's a lot of things... that I don't know. I mean, I don't know your name. It wasn't my business to go to your apartment and ask those questions. I was hallucinating."
  "My life hasn't been the easiest the past few years... actually... ever. So I was only looking for an excuse to look like I'm some hero. And I shouldn't go sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. So, until you're comfortable with telling me... I just heard the wind last night," he nods, not to her, but more to affirm his decision for himself. "By the way, my name's Ace. Ace Portgas. Not like you really need to know my last name... but you can have it."
  "I don't want your last name. I'll take the last man of the man I marry," she smiles, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that she took him up on his offer for a ride to work. "But I'm (Y/n) (L/n). Since you told me yours, it's only fair you know mine, Ace."
  "That's awfully sweet of you, Ms. (L/n)," he turns right into the parking lot of her work, and this is when she realizes that since they started talking, she didn't tell him any directions.
  "How'd you know this is where I work?" she watches as his face distorts into a frown. "Have you been stalking me?"
  "No, I work here," he leans back into his seat, staring at the building in front of them. "I guess my auto driver kicked in when you stopped telling me which way to turn and we ended up here. But that means you're in the new training course, right?"
  "Yeah," she unbuckles the seatbelt, placing her hand on the door handle and looking back at the man's freckled face. "What a coincidence."
  "There are no coincidences in life, just fate," he shrugs, getting a slight blush out of her. "But what was Ryker like? Did he always drink a lot?"
  She shakes her head as she steps out of the car, "He never drank, but once his mother died... he changed. I don't know exactly what happened... but he's a sweet man. I'm sure... everything will go back to the way it was before."
  He nods, not questioning anything, "Well, if he ever needs a drinking buddy, I know someone I could recommend. He tends to drink a lot, I'm sure they'd get along."
  "That'd be nice, I'll talk to him about it," she closes the car door and waves goodbye.
  She casts one last night glance at the man as he pulls away and makes his way to go shopping. Or whatever he's doing. There's no such things as coincidence, just fate, huh? There's one point in her life that she'd believe that. She wonders about that man from all those years ago.
  Did he ever come to terms with who he is? Or is he still struggling? Does he think about her, as much as she thinks about him. With one last look at the sky, she walks into the building and lets all her thoughts that don't retain to work fade behind her.

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