I outstretched my left arm and shook the stranger’s hand sitting opposite me. This was not typical behavior. The bus is just a bus to me, not a place to develop new relationships.
“Marvin”, he said.
“Do you live around here?” I asked. I was new to the city.
“Yeah, close by.”
Marvin had a sling on his arm, and I had to shake using my left. I’m right hand dominant, like most other people I’ve met.
“What happened to your arm?”
“Skiing accident last weekend, busted it up real bad on a black diamond.”
“Damn, that must have really fucked up your trip.”
“Yeah, I had to fly back from Salt Lake City with this fucker on, and I have to get my shit from the airport now.”
“You’re headed to the airport too?” I said.
“I forgot my baggage I was so pissed, are you going somewhere?”
“Just picking up a girl.” I wanted to sound cool about it.
I thought Marvin must be quite dull, not only was he accident prone, but he also forgot his belongings at the airport. I would never do that, I would never fucking forget my shit at the airport.
Marvin and I had small chat for the remainder of the journey. I had time to kill so we went to collect his stuff, then decided to meet my lady friend at the pick up area.
Julia came through the doors and I embraced her, she had just come in from Denver.
“Hey Julia, this is Marvin, we were on the same bus together. He had a skiing accident last week.”
Julia and Marvin shook left hands and struck up some conversation about their past experiences with broken bones, I never broke a bone in my life.
We took a fast train downtown, my lady friend was hungry so we decided to all get dinner at this Thai place I had heard of. I didn’t particularly enjoy Thai food, but Julia was a vegetarian. I didn’t mind Marvin coming, in fact, he would make me look real good in light of all the stupid shit he seemed to get himself into.
I sat next to Julia, and Marvin opposite her.
“Yeah, Denver has a killer underground music scene.” Throughout dinner, Marvin alluded to the extensive traveling he’d done, and in part, displayed a wealth of knowledge regarding ‘underground scenes’. Julia was soaking his bullshit up like a sponge, and it started to irritate me. The conversation consistently veered away from my own interests, ones that I thought would interest Julia.
“I really like DeVotchKa right now, they’re from your neck of the woods, yeah?” Marvin asks.
“I fucking just saw them at Red Rocks, goddamn amazing show.” Julia exclaims.
The bill came, I didn’t let her pay. What I really wanted was to depart with Julia and say bye to Marvin.
“I really have to take a piss, I’ll be back in just a minute.” I excused myself.
I took a leak and looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, slightly adjusted my hair, though it didn’t really make a difference.
“Yeah, I’ll do way better when it’s just her and I, and she can see me up close.” Maybe she’ll let me fuck her, the thought excited me.
When I returned to the table, it was empty, the luggage gone. I walked outside. I walked around the block. I called Julia, desperately hoping that this was some stupid practical joke. It rang four times and went to voicemail. I wanted to say something, but hung up instead.
“FUCKING BITCH! This is some fucked up shit, GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!” I yelled, and began to attract attention.
Who does that! Who just leaves without saying anything, she came to see me for fucks sake! I didn’t get it, I was wildly confused by the situation. What had I done wrong?
Five minutes later, my bus came, I got on, and I didn’t talk to anyone. There was no fucking way another Marvin was going to fuck things up for me. If I ever saw him again, I’ll break his other arm.
