Upside Down(51)

Mrs Petrovski patted Hennessy on the shoulder. “We got you. Mutual ground is best for these things.”

Hennessy’s eyes went wide and he laughed. “Ah, thanks?”

I chuckled and nudged his shoulder with mine. “Embrace the weirdness.”

His whole face was smiling. “I’m trying.”

I nodded pointedly to his messenger bag. “Working from home again tonight?”

“Yep. Mostly coding stuff.” He glanced up the front of the bus, seeing we were nearly at his stop. “But I’ll call you?”

“Yes, please.”

“And I’ll tell Michael he’ll be meeting you next week, probably. When we’re not so busy with work and we can have a relaxing dinner that doesn’t involve talk of network security fundamentals, digital forensics, and intrusion detection.”

Now it was my turn to make the adorable face like I was freaking out. He laughed and stood up. “I’ll call you later.”

“Okay,” I said.

He took a few steps toward the door when Mrs Petrovski called out. “Wait, stop!” He stopped, a little scared. Every person on the back half of the bus watched and waited. “You not kiss him today?”

“Oh,” he mumbled, blushing every shade of red known to man. He took a few quick steps toward me, leaned in to kiss my cheek. Everyone cheered, and my whole face burned so hot I’m surprised I didn’t catch fire, and he grinned and ran off the bus.

Mrs Petrovski patted my shoulder. “I got you too.”

Oh God.

I really had to find me a better bloody word than motherfucker.





It rained on Wednesday, which usually meant the bus would be full, and even though I had held out hope there’d be a spare seat, I wasn’t exactly surprised to see it was standing room only. Not surprised, but disappointed.

I found a handrail to hold on to and gave Hennessy a frowny-smile and he gave me one right back, but like he did before, he stood up and made his way through the standing passengers to me. He just kind of slotted himself in right next to me, up close, our bodies bumping and swaying with the beat of the bus.

“Hey,” he said.

“Oh, hey,” I said. His face was right there, so close. “I’m kinda not sorry there were no seats.”

He grinned that spectacular Hennessy Lang grin. “Me either, to be honest.” The bus braked for traffic and he pushed right up close and our noses were barely an inch apart. “I really do like your face.”

That made me laugh. “Um, thanks? I’m kinda glad, I guess, because it’s the only one I have.”

He chuckled. “What part of the face is your favourite?”

Random, but okay. “Mine or yours?”

“Oh, um, I don’t know. Both I guess.”

“I like my eyes. They’re a crazy grey colour, and they’re just like my grandad’s. And my favourite part of your face, well, gee. Just this—” I waved my hand at his ridiculous face. “—whole general area. I mean, you have great eyes, and your nose is straight, and there’s a dimple, and who doesn’t love a good dimple, and even your beard scruff is great. And your ears are slightly elfish, which speaks to my inner geek, just so you know, and your lips…” Of course, then I got stuck staring at his lips. “Um…”

He bit his bottom lip, which made his smile crooked. I’m pretty sure he did that on purpose. Fair, he did not play. And then he was staring at my lips and for one horrifyingly exhilarating moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. Right there on the bus. Like a proper, proper kiss. I wouldn’t have said no, but I wasn’t sure if the other passengers would appreciate it. Well, the Soup Crew would. I was pretty sure they’d clap and cheer…

But then the bus came to an abrupt stop and he had to hold on to me to stop from falling. Or maybe it was me who was at risk of falling… which was far too late because I’d already fallen for him.

Wait, what?

“What?” I asked. “That’s not at all correct.”

Hennessy looked around us. “What’s not at all correct?”

Shit.

“Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about something totally not related to you at all.”

“Okay, though that doesn’t sound very convincing,” he said with a bit of a laugh.

“Well, it’s just that falling… on the bus…” I put my hand to my forehead, trying to will my stupid mouth to shut up. “What I meant was that falling on the bus could be hazardous to one’s health.”

He stared at me for too long. He knew I was bullshitting. “Okay, yeah sure. I mean, we should think of the children and the elderly.”

“Exactly.”

He was so close. Did he need to be that close? Did he have to smell that good? God, he was so inconsiderate. “Do you really have to be that handsome?” I asked. “Because it’s so unfair on the unsuspecting public. I mean, I’m kinda used to it, but these poor other people…”

He chuckled. “Well, it’s the only face I have, so…”

“Me too.”

He jostled into me again, not looking the least bit sorry. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow night. Despite the nerves and the fear that your friends won’t think I’m good enough, I’m looking forward to spending time with you.”