"Oh, great, more rookies," Diane said quietly to her male colleague stood next to her, "it's bad enough the kids give us shit, but now these guys... they last two weeks and quit, giving us even more brats we to have to deal with."
Diane had been a bus driver at Central Public School for six years. She and the other veterans were in the canteen of the bus terminal for orientation prior to the start of the school term. The bus supervisor had brought in five new candidates that survived the interview process and were now being introduced to the rest of the staff: three men and two women.
Diane was in her late 30's with dark brown hair pulled into a pony-tail. She was very attractive, but never went out with any of her male compatriots, who dubbed her a lesbian. She wasn't... far from it, but had had several bad mixes of work and pleasure in past, so she decided never to have relations with anyone at work again. She satisfied herself with her Hitachi at home on a nightly basis after having a few puffs of weed to calm her nerves after bus rides to and from the schools with screaming kids the entire time.
She had worked at a local upscale printing business as an executive in charge of the laser labelling section. But when the business was sold to a national company, her position was eliminated and she wasn't able to find similar work at her salary for 2 1/2 years. It was at that time, she saw an ad for a bus driver for the school and decided to do that in the interim whilst she kept looking for another executive job. Not only that, but the bus-driving job paid more than half of the salary she had been getting and she had gotten a rise in salary each year she stayed. So she was able to pay for her mortgage and other expenses with just enough left over for occasional nights out with her mates to her local. She didn't live in town, but was able ride her bike to work most days, both for exercise and to save on expenses.
Today, being the start of August and a really hot day, she wore jean shorts, a white spaghetti-strapped tee shirt beneath a red cheque shirt tied at the waist, and flip-flops. The ride in had been hot and sweaty and her tee was soaked through, she was relieved that her red cheque top-shirt was covering her wet breasts. She was stood close by the only pedestal fan in the place, hoping that the cool breeze would dry out her tee, so she could take off the outer garment.
Of the five new-comers, the two women looked as if they'd seen ten kilometres of bad road: older, creased faces with some teeth missing, yellowed fingers, and seeming as if they hadn't smiled in 20 years. Two of the men were also unattractive: pot-bellied, bald, and also interminably bad attitudes for those seeking employment. But the last male caught Diane's eye. He was taller and appeared to be in good shape. Older, sure, but also with long brown hair pulled into a similar pony-tail. His eyes seemed to scan the room, maybe looking for an ally at this early stage in the process. He was dressed in a button-down shirt sleeve and cargo shorts with canvas shoes. He fixed his eyes on one of the male veterans, Quentin, and nodded in acknowledgement, who nodded in return. Apparently they had known each other before this. Maybe Quentin had told this rookie that they needed more drivers, which Diane enthusiastically agreed with. Then Charlie surveyed the others in the environment and stopped looking once he spied Diane. He thought he passed her one time at the grocers... he remembered the pony tail, attractive look and intense gaze straight-away. But the shorts and white tee under the cheque shirt gave a look that grabbed Charlie's eye and wouldn't let go. Also the flip-flops were a really nice touch with her toe-nails painted with white tips like her finger nails.
"Gather round, everyone," the supervisor told the assembly, shaking Charlie out of his stupefied stare, "here are some new recruits that I'm hoping can ease our loads and shorten our routes. This is Gracie... Alice... James... Morgan... and Charlie. They're going to be riding with us for a week or so, to get used to the routes and taking over driving the buses once they feel comfortable. We're going to rotate them with all of you so make them feel at home if you will."
The supervisor then paired off the rookies with a veteran, Diane was given Gracie this first day. Charlie was paired with his mate Quentin, which made sense to Diane.
"Hiya, luv, y'all righ," Gracie said in a husky voice, clearly from decades of too much smoking, "guess iss jus' you an' me, duckie."
"Yeah, great, luv," Diane answered her dryly, but kept her eye on Charlie as the pairs left the canteen and headed to the buses for this first day.
Diane's bus ride went reasonably well as she told Gracie of the perils and pitfalls of driving the school bus. Showed her the route and after asking about her experience, even let Gracie drive as Diane gave directions for the remainder of the morning. The entire time Gracie was driving, however, Diane kept thinking about Charlie and, despite herself, how nice it would be to finally meet someone worth meeting... and fucking... for a change.
Charlie and Quentin had quite a laugh on their ride together. Talking about old times together, pub crawls, women, old mates and recovery mornings after nights out. Like Diane and Gracie, they switched so that Charlie could drive for a bit, getting the feel for the gear shift, clutch, and manoeuvrability of the coach.
"They're all pretty much the same," Quentin told him, "so if you get a feel for this one, you got the business." Here again, Charlie's mind's eye was on Diane.
"Say Quenn" Charlie asked his mate, "what's the story on the woman with the cheque shirt? She available?"
"Oh, you mean 'the dyke'," Quentin answered, "yeah she's available. Just not to you. She plays for the other team, mate. She is a carpet-muncher, no sausages allowed."
And the two men laughed together, but somehow Charlie kept her in the back of his mind on their return ride.
All the teams arrived back at the canteen around the same time with the pairs talking about their experiences, with the veteran taking the lead in the discussions.
"Well, 'at wuz really nice o' you," Gracie said as they got out of the bus for lunch. "You wuz much nicer 'an I figured you'd be, luv. 'preciate it. Maybe we c'n go for a pint at my local sometime, jus' roun' tha corner it is."
"Yeah," Diane told her, "maybe. I'll let you know." And the two women shook hands and Gracie even smiled. Diane looked over Gracie's shoulder as Charlie came through the swinging door with Quentin. Her heart, unexpectedly, gave a little shudder as she spied him.
Charlie stopped what he was saying to his mate as he saw Diane shaking hands with her "rookie".
"I tol' ya, forget about that one, mate," Quentin told him, "sure, everyone wanted to get in her knickers, but she tossed 'em all off. Don't even waste your time."
Still, the mutual eye contact was intriguing to Charlie. Ironically, Diane and Gracie and Charlie and Quentin sat at the same table at the canteen.
"Is there a bubbler around," Charlie asked Quentin, "I have some protein powder that I'm going to make for the afternoon's session."
"I can show you," Diane said, "I have to make tea that I'll be taking on my afternoon as well... if that's ok."
"Great," Charlie responded, "much appreciated."
The rest of the veterans shot glances at each other, wondering what was going on here.
"I'm Diane and you're Charlie," she said when they were out of sight of the prying eyes, "I heard when the super introduced you."
"As did I," Charlie told her back, "so you are... what's the correct term... gay?"
"No," she said, "just not interested in what
