Page 24 of Dreaming of His Omega
I realized that she was standing right in front of my house, which was odd. She didn’t live anywhere near here. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for an Uber. I’m meeting my family for a vacation.” She glanced at her phone. “She better get here soon… I’m going to miss the train if I’m any later…”
Even as she spoke, a car pulled up to the curb. A somewhat large, imposing man climbed out of the driver's seat.
“Ruby?” he asked gruffly.
Ruby shrink back a little and nodded. “Are you…” She checked her phone again, eyes wide. “Kelly?”
“Yeah,” he rumbled. He rolled his eyes, looking unsurprised by her reaction to his name. “Blame my parents.”
Ruby let out a nervous giggle. I glanced at her phone and saw that the photo for ‘Kelly’ hadn’t loaded properly. Ruby obviously expected, and wanted, to get a female driver. I felt bad for her; I knew she worried about that sort of thing. On more than one occasion I walked her home after a shift, when she didn’t feel safe going alone.
I suddenly felt like I needed to do her a favor for all the free food and coffee she'd given me. I had to dosomethingto repay her.
“I can ride with you,” I offered.
“Oh! No, you don’t have to do that.”
“It's no trouble.” Thanks to my recent small influx of cash, I'd have plenty to spare for a ride home and still not be too bad off.
“I'd really appreciate it,” she admitted.
“Absolutely.”
Kelly put Ruby’s suitcase into the trunk and returned to the driver’s seat. I climbed into the back with Ruby.
“Train station?” Kelly asked.
“Please.”
And we started off. It was a fairly quiet ride. Ruby and I made small talk for a while. Mostly about her visit home and my recent gig. It was a nice distraction from my insane earlier thoughts.
At least, until Ruby brought it up. “I’m sorry, I was so distracted by uh.. Kelly, I didn’t think. You came running out into the street like a bat out of hell! Was something wrong?”
“Oh,” I said. “I thought I saw someone I knew.”
“Me?” she said with the laugh.
I laughed. “No, no, there was a guy… You must have seen him. The one with the purple hair and the funny beard.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t see anyone else.”
“Are you sure? He had to be right next to you.”
“I would have noticed that.”
“Hang on...” Thanks to walking her home, I knew the coffee shop was between her house and mine, putting her Uber catching spot several blocks away from home. “Why were you in front of my house anyway?”
“I didn't know it was your house,” she laughed. “That's why I was so surprised to see you. I was walking along, debating whether or not I actually wanted to call an Uber or wait for a real taxi… And you have that nice bench in the shade near your house. So, I figured that's where I'd wait.”
It was a plausible explanation, but quite a coincidence. I looked out the window, disturbed that she hadn't seen the man. After just a few more minutes, we arrived at the train station. I ended up walking with her to the counter, and found that I was oddly reluctantly reluctant to leave her. If there were ever a coincidence… I had the strangest feeling that the man had somehow, I don't know, put her into my path. Like I wasmeantto come to the train station with her.
Buying a ticket and going with her would have been extra creepy, but I got her to her train safely, and waved as she boarded. I felt content staying on the platform, like I was doing the right thing.
What a weird day.
I turned to leave, but hadn't gotten very far when someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned. I wasn't sure if I expected to see Falkanar, Ruby, or the strange man with purple hair. Instead, it was an unfamiliar woman.
