It had been another long and tiring day at work. Carl found himself rushing to get up the stairs and to the platform before his train left without him. As he brushed past a few people who were lazily standing around the platform entrance he thought he caught a glimpse of someone he knew. But not wanting to dwell on the point and miss the train he cut through the last of the crowd and ducked past the conductor, hopping on the carriage just as he blew his whistle.
As he walked up the carriage aisle he noticed a handful of people spaced out in the high backed chairs. It was late night, and few people caught this particular train which was always good because it meant Carl could relax in relative solitude and catch a brief nap on the nearly two hour ride out of the city.
Carl extended his long lean frame, reaching up to push his suitcase into the overhead rack. As he reached down to pick up his rucksack he thought he noticed someone sitting in the opposite aisle, watching his every move. With a brief shake of the head he pushed the rucksack into the overhead. He eased himself back into a well worn high backed chair, with its ugly stained maroon pattern.
He never did like the interior of the trains, they were plain and antiquated, once you had seen one, you had seen them all. The blinds on most of the carriage windows were drawn shut and only a tiny amount of the outside night was visible. As Carl leaned back into the chair he noticed the person across the aisle again, it was a woman. But not wanting to be rude he refrained from looking over and disturbing her, she was probably as tired as he was.
Carl had an entire block of four seats to himself, the two in front of him turned to face him so a group of people could sit together facing each other. Because the train was usually empty he liked to have the extra space and put his feet up on the seat facing him. As he settled his feet onto the opposite seat he loosened his tie a little and drew back his sleeves to let some air in. As soon as the train got outside of the city limits the train would only have a few people left on board and that was when he normally took of his suit jacket and tie and unbuttoned his shirt so he could relax for the last hour of the trip.
With a few moments to catch his breath and get comfortable Carl began to nod off into a daydream. He remembered a gorgeous blonde woman who had come into his office that morning. She was a real stunner with a long lean frame, gorgeous legs and sparkling blue eyes which were enhanced by her long flowing strawberry blonde hair. During his discussion with her, he found himself losing his concentration and admiring those blue eyes and that soft sexy voice.
Even though he was drifting in and out of consciousness, Carl knew that a big beaming smile had spread across his face. It was a shame that the woman was a client or he would have jumped at the chance to ask her to dinner. The firm had a zero tolerance policy to dating clients or within the office, which meant that just about every woman Carl met during the day was unavailable. He liked his job, but the long strenuous hours had robbed him of any social life, and that left him less than satisfied.
The warm daydream was broken by a garbled announcement over the train speakers. Again he felt as if someone was staring at him, but didn’t want to turn and stare back. He looked out of the window, peering between two of the blinds to get a small glimpse of the station they had just pulled into. The mixture of the well lit interior and the dark night made for a familiar glare which bounced off the windows, creating a mirror like reflection. Carl was sure that other people had noticed this and he often had used it to spy on other people on the train without looking directly at them.
He leaned back and twisted his head slightly, if anyone came past him they would just think he was looking out the window. In reality he was trying to get a better angle to see who it was that was sitting across the aisle from him. It was a blonde haired woman. She was digging through a paper file and seemed to be struggling to grapple with the amount of work laid out on her lap. He couldn’t quite see her face but surmised that the woman was a fellow professional from the smart business suit and skirt that she wore.
She turned while she was flipping through her papers and Carl noticed she had a pen wedged firmly between her teeth. For a brief moment he thought he recognized her but wasn’t certain it was the same person he was thinking of. He remembered that he had the same feeling of déjà vu when he was rushing across the platform. The woman seemed intent on getting her work done and refused to turn towards Carl so he couldn’t see a clear reflection of her face. He gave up, too tired to make the mental effort of determining who she was. He just wanted to relax and catch a well deserved nap.
Somewhere in his daydream he again sensed someone around him and found it hard to quell the thought and get any sleep. Just as he was about to give up on his efforts he remembered who he thought he saw back on the platform. It was Kelly. Kelly was another frequent traveler on the same route and the two of them had often found themselves alone, chatting the time away.
Kelly was a short woman with a voluptuous figure and straight shoulder length blonde hair. She would more often than not wear it in a simple pony tail which revealed her elegant cheekbones and soft jaw line. Kelly wasn’t a supermodel by any means but Carl guessed she did alright, what was a certain, was her warm bubbly personality.
She had instigated their first meeting when it was clear to both of them that they were stuck with the same kind of schedule, she was going home from college, he was heading home from work. During those many conversations that they shared Carl was left with the faint feeling that Kelly may have been interested in him. He could never be sure with any woman, so he would often dismiss the idea as ridiculous, but that same feeling returned every time they talked. From Carl’s perspective he had tried once or twice to find out if she was single, but had never been successful. He made it known that he wasn’t seeing anyone and hoped that maybe that very subtle hint would lead somewhere. In the end he was resigned to being single for the rest of the foreseeable future. His sex life was terrible, he was working so much overtime and doing so many projects around his new house that he rarely could go out on weekends and see his friends or meet new people.
He remembered that it must have been at least two months since he last saw Kelly on the train, she was getting close to graduation, chances were she had got a job and moved away. Another missed opportunity.
All the reminiscing had left a comfortable warm feeling spread through Carl’s body, his sexual desires weren’t as peaked as the strawberry blonde bombshell that came to him at the office today, but the thought of Kelly left him feeling strangely content. With some trepidation he had to admit to himself that he really liked Kelly. But in the end her disappearance had left him high and dry.
A cough and stirring announced the presence of a person a couple of rows ahead of him. He tried to see through the gap between the chair backs but couldn’t make out who was causing the disturbance. Again he leaned back into his chair and relaxed, noticing his own reflection in the window mere inches away from his face.
Carl had a clean cut angular face, with a stern jaw and close cropped sandy blonde hair. He dark green eyes were barely visible in the window reflection. A rogue hair stuck out of place and he reached up to pluck it. He was about to check a small blemish on his chin when he realized a pair of eyes were looking over his shoulder.
It took a moment to realize whose face it was, but a familiar smile spread across the business woman’s face. It was Kelly. Carl was a little embarrassed at being caught grooming himself, he sheepishly turned to face her.
Kelly shuffled her papers into a rough stack and slid them back into her soft leather bag. She returned her gaze to Carl who greeted her with a warm smile. “Hey Carl, long time no see.”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen you on the train for months, been busy?” he replied politely. The two of them made small talk, updating each other on what was happening with their careers and how life in general had been going.
Carl found himself slipping into autopilot, talking about nothing in particular whilst thinking about something entirely different. Kelly’s black business jacket betrayed her curvy form. She had shapely hips and thighs which were accentuated by her knee length skirt. Her sizable chest safely covered by a conservative white blouse. Her hair had a slight crimp in it now, which had fooled Carl when he was trying to figure out who she was.
