It was just another day, you know? Just another day to run about doing my business, have a bunch of entirely tangential conversations, then go home at night to my one-person bed and touch the wall like there should be something just a millimeter behind it.

But then I was sitting on the bus, you know, that one that takes the big loop around the campus – no, not that bus, the other one, the one that passes by that... yeah, that one – and I was staring off into space, like I always do, the way that makes everyone say I act like I'm a million miles away. So I'm staring off into space, right? And space happens to be the front of the bus, where everyone's coming on, right?

And then the strangest thing happened. I mean, I swear, it was just totally the weirdest moment of my life – well, okay, I guess that crazy guy on the street being right about the lottery numbers was pretty weird, too – and I just couldn't say anything for a moment because I just totally, like, didn't expect it.

Like, I'm looking at the people, right? And there's a black guy that looks like a business major, behind him's this Asian guy who should star in a show called "I Think I'm Gangsta But I'm Not", maybe on MTV, and then behind him's some guy from India or somewhere like that where they get that really dark tan but they're not black, you know, but then right behind him, I mean just barely managing to fit through the doors on the bus, because it was a rainy day and no one walks on a rainy day and the bus is packed full, is him.

I hadn't seen him in years, but I swear I'd know that face anywhere. So it's definitely him, right? I mean, sure, I could be wrong, but then he turns to the Indian-looking guy next to him and says something and I catch the voice and I'm like "Wow, that sounds like his voice", and then the guy laughs at whatever he says and then I know it's him because he was always just the funniest guy, and, anyway, I'm sitting there and I'm absolute now that it's him even though we haven't seen each other in years, but here's the thing, the real killer: There's nothing I can do.

I mean, he's at one end of the bus, I'm in the middle part sitting on one of the bench seats and crushed between some skinny redhead, her backpack, my backpack, and the window. And everybody's talking, there's no way he can hear me. Not to mention I've just totally blanked on his name. I mean, I know we were together for a while, but I swear at the time even his parents only knew him by his nickname. But, I think to myself, things change, you know? And if I call out his old nickname maybe he doesn't use it anymore and he won't think "Hey, someone's calling me," and I just end up looking like some weirdo idiot on the bus, right? And then even if he does still remember the nickname, what if he doesn't hear me, or what if he does hear me and looks and can't see me 'cause I'm so damn short, and...

So there's nothing I can do, right? So I'm sitting there, just hoping and praying he doesn't get off before the bus clears up. And I just seriously, seriously luck out. I mean you have no clue how much I lucked out. I mean, there's this really popular stop, and everyone's pushing, and shoving, and the red-head next to me's gotten up and I can't see him any more, and by the end of it like half the bus is cleared, and the doors close and he's walking towards my seat.

And at first it's just totally like he doesn't recognize me, and I'm like "Oh God, oh God, I can't believe he's walking towards me, say something, say something," but I don't say anything and he sits down next to me and leans over and he kisses me. And I just wrap my arms around him and he wraps his arms around me, and I swear, I don't think I'd ever held someone so tightly before that moment. And I think probably he would have made a joke about how I'm suffocating him but he's holding onto me too tightly to say anything. And we were just so happy, you know?