It was a little warmer than comfortable and the air was thick with the smell of too many people in a small confined space. He could hardly move in any direction. With each turn the train made the mass of people swayed back and forth as if one body. His nose itched but he could hardly lift his arms to his face to scratch it. He feared that even if he managed to lift his arms he would not find space to bring them back down to. Not many people spoke but when they did it was a language he was only beginning to learn. There was no place in the world like Japan.
Gabriel love to travel.
He looked out above the heads of his fellow commuters. At 6ft1 he was nearly a foot taller than the average Japanese person. And he wasn't just taller than the average person but also more muscular. Gabriel did not work out to gain muscle. He was nearing his mid twenties so he figured it was a good time to get into the habit of keeping in shape. His arms were not small nor big. But they were rock hard to the touch. The women he was romantic with were often surprised to see that under his clothes he had a chiseled torso. A six pack and pecks. A curl of his dirty blonde hair fell onto his forehead and he was reminded of his itchy nose. He sighed and looked at the faces around him in an attempt to distract himself.
The commuters were mostly stoic and grim faced. It was common in Japan for days to be long, hard, and monotonous. Gabriel wore his ever present half smile; he was on his way back to the hostel after having spent several hours working out at the gym.
It was his fourth time visiting Japan. The first time since he finally got a passable grasp of the Japanese language. The first few times he visited it was to see a girl who he had become pen pals with. After months and months of writing to each other they started to fall for each other. Those were happy days, Gabriel reminisced. But in the end it didn't work out. Though he might have lost his love for her he definitely found it for the culture. There was so much to do and see. It was like exploring a whole new world.
He looked up as the train slowed to a stop in front of him and the doors slid open. Shit! He cursed to himself as a flood of people rushed onto the train and within a blink of an eye took up nearly every inch of available space. He rushed forward towards a space he didn't really believe he'd fit into. A small figure darted in front of him and took the spot. Gabriel's face fell. He'll have to wait for the next train. "Gabriel!" He heard as he was turning around to step away from the doors.
He looked towards the voice and saw that it was the figure that grabbed the spot. It was Claudia from the gym. Before he had time to say anything she reached out and grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the seemingly solid wall of people in the door of the train.
There was no way he would fit. His face showed his resignation but when he looked down at Claudia he saw just the opposite. She pulled him towards her and scooted backed inch by inch until he was halfway into the train. Then he felt strong hands pushing him from behind.
It was the train pushing people. Yes, there were people hired for the sole purpose of shoving more people into impossibly full train cars. He became red from embarrassment at the thought that he had laughed nearly every time he saw someone being pushed in like cattle and now it was him being shoved in.
After a moment the doors slowly slid closed as the pushers tucked in all the loose body parts and clothing into the train. 'Swish' the doors closed completely. Gabriel started laughing. Half at the situation and the other half in relief. He looked down at a grinning Claudia.
"Thanks, there was no way I would have even tried to make it if not for you."
"The next train isn't for nearly half an hour. And there was so much space, see?" She said with mock sarcasm.
They laughed again. Gabriel had seen Claudia at the gym but never really paid her any attention. Sure, she was pretty and fit but in his experience those were the girls that every bloke in the gym hassled. He had specifically seen it happen to Claudia before numerous times. Each time she brushed them off with a frown on her face. Gabriel got the feeling that she was there to work out and didn't appreciate their advances. So he simply kept to himself and his workout.
"How do you like Japan?" She asked him.
Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "How do you know I don't live here?" "Well for starters you only joined the gym last week. And you're always looking all around you. Which means either you're always lost and confused or you're constantly seeing things for the first time." She winked at him.
Gabriel paused for a moment. He didn't think this girl even knew he existed. Sure, he noticed her but not once did he see her look at him. She must be an observant person he mused.
"You're right," Gabriel began, "This is my third time here actually. But there is just so much to see. Everywhere I look I see something new or different than what I'm used to. I'm absolutely in love with Japan. "
Claudia's emerald green eyes stared off in the distance, as if in a memory. Gabriel watched her face. Up close she was even more attractive. She was easily a head shorter than him. Her dark brown hair fell past her slender shoulders. While she was definitely petite she was also very fit. Obviously she cared about her health. At least as much as he did. She had very nice sized breasts, not too large for her small frame but bigger than most her size.
Suddenly he became acutely aware of their his proximity to her. He could feel her soft mounds pressing against his abs. He tore his gaze away from her chest and noticed her mouth was parted slightly. Her lips were tantalizing. They looked exactly the kind of lips he would like to kiss. He didn't realize he was staring until he snapped out of it and saw her brilliantly green eyes watching him curiously.
Too late did he realized that he was starting to get an erection from thinking about how her ridiculously hot body was pressed so tightly against his. He looked around the car to distract himself but just then the train swayed and pushed Claudia even tighter against him for a moment. He could feel her breasts slide up and down his chest. He felt her hard nipples even through the fabric of their clothes. She wasn't wearing a bra.
But he consciously buried that thought as soon as it appeared. He hoped that she didn't feel his erection when she bumped into him. Though if she did she would probably think it was his phone. Or so he hoped. He glanced down at her face to see her reaction. The train bumped again and her hands flew up to his hips for support. She looked up at him apologetically.
Thank goodness, he thought. She must not have noticed. The train swayed and Claudia pulled herself closer to Gabriel. Her hands still on his hips. Reflexively he wrapped his arms around her protectively. Keeping her in the safety of his arms against the bodies around them.
Her hands slid past his hips and wrapped around him. It almost felt too normal. As if they held each other every day. The way their bodies fit against each other. Then her scent hit him. Hard. It was not the foul body odor that one gets when they are nervous or working out. But rather the usually subtle natural scent of a person. He breathed her in and sighed. She smelled heavenly. They rode the next while in silence. Both seemingly lost in their own thoughts. Arms still wrapped around each other, in the pretense of it being for support.
Finally they reached the first stop. Enough people got off the train that there was finally room to move around. Gabriel wished they were still forced against each other. He unwrapped his arms from around her and she quickly stepped back away from him. She was frowning. Gabriel's heart sank. What if she had felt his erection? What if she thought that he was taking advantage of the situation to hold her? The next stop came quickly and without making eye contact she said a quick goodbye and stepped off the train.
He watched her hurry off the train and the door close shut. He was surprised at how suddenly alone he felt. He felt a longing desire to be with somebody who loved him. To love and to be loved. It is a magical thing. And even though it was not real, he got a taste of that.
Over the next few days Gabriel would find himself thinking about Claudia. A bit too often for his liking. The moment she smiled at him on the train she became a completely different person than the girl he noticed at the gym. Sure, he had noticed that she was attractive but having spoken to her even just the little bit, he now thought she was more than just attractive, she was beautiful. He sighed and waited eagerly for the next time he would go to the gym. His gym days were Mondays, Wednesday, and Saturdays. The train incident was Wednesday. Three days. He could hardly contain his excitement at the thought.
Though it wouldn't last.
PT 2
It was a beautiful Saturday; the sun was out, there was a cool breeze to help stave off the heat, and the sky was as blue and clear as he had ever seen it. Gabriel was making his way to the gym. His grin was even wider than normal. And he felt that his senses were especially sharp that day.
