April sat down wearily after the bus had taken off, resigning to her fate. She had looked forward to enjoying the ride with him. Having company, and a good one at that on this kind of long road trip was great in passing time. Initially, she had felt Kyle had planned it on purpose to ditch her, but seeing how he had made haste to catch up with the bus, it showed his sincerity and made her heart break. Now what would she do? Taking a deep breath, she relaxed her head against the headrest and decided not to overthink things and rather focus on the journey, as well as catch some sleep which she hadn't in days. Kyle could presumably take the next bus if he wanted to. But the moment she leaned her head against the window, a hand tapped her on the shoulder.
She hesitated before turning back.
"Hi, I'm Lucy."
She looked back to meet the small pretty face of a young girl, who could probably be within her age range or maybe Maya's mate.
"Can I sit next to you since it is vacant?" she requested sweetly.
April glanced at the empty seat next to her which should have been meant for Kyle with a small grunt. She was going to mumble something in response, but before she could blink, the girl was sitting next to her. Wow. That was fast.
"Why do you look so stunned to see me as though we have met somewhere previously. Or have we?"
April cleared her throat and looked away, shaking her head. "No." she mumbled.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a bother, I have only been curious about you from the moment you stepped into the bus with your friend. I am sorry he lost his ride. But I am pretty sure he could get the next one, right?"
"Sure." April nodded, deciding to talk less to avoid giving herself away with her voice. Lord have mercy, how she needed a mirror, right now. The other girl on the next seat adjacent to her had been stealing glances at her every minute and now looked disappointed to see that she had new company. Oh, no. Kyle, why? She sighed sadly.
"Well, I told you my name already, how about yours?"
She touched her head as she struggled to recall the name Kyle had advised her to take. He had said it was the same name she had used for her boarding ticket as well.
"I'm Ty." she simply said, before remembering she would have rather said TJ.
"Oh… Ty. Sounds cool. So, you are heading to Nashville, right? For school or business or some stuff, huh?" she drilled.
"Yeah, business."
Lucy nodded thoughtfully. "I see… what sort of business if I may ask?"
"Are you a student?" April diverted the question.
Lucy looked the other way and rolled her eyes. "School ain't for everyone. I've got more important shit to attend to rather than spending my time in a hell hole of a place called school." she hissed.
"Oh. So what do you do then?"
Lucy's face lightened up at the question as her voice and expression turned flirty. "Now you are talking. That should have been the first question at the start. I do whatever people like you want, at very affordable rates." she winked, toying with the tip of her blouse as she pulled it lower to expose more cleavage. That was when April noticed her dressing. Her eyes trailed down to the mini skirt. Not only was it short, but also high up to her waist, as she took it higher.
April averted her gaze immediately. She wasn't sure Lucy had made any attempt at an inner wear. Lord, she was so disgusting.
"So, what do you say? Since we are not in a convenient space, I would receive whatever amount you give me, even if it is fifty bucks."
April raised her brows. Convenient space? "You mean you want to do it here?" That was ridiculous.
"Yeah, of course. Don't tell me you don't know what I am talking about. Some people are even doing it as we speak. What do you think that couple over there has been doing this whole time? Oh my goodness…that guy's fingers has …"
"Shut up!!!" April shrieked before realizing it. "I need to sleep please, and you are bothering me."
Lucy was shocked at the sudden outburst and remained still, speechless.
April decided to bring her voice down to a whisper. "Listen to me, Lucy. Just picture your body as a brand new apartment. Would you rather rent it out to a popular renowned surgeon or a mere stranger who you can't vouch for?"
"The surgeon of course. Who knows? I may need his service sometime and the fact that he is renowned and popular means he would have a lot of connections that could benefit me in the future."
April smiled. "Exactly. But when you have sex with random people, you don't pick the surgeon. It's like you rent your life out to strangers who do whatever they want and leave. You are having fun with them this moment, the next moment they break your heart. They offer you a lot of gifts and incentives this minute and then the next moment, they steal something worth more and very dear to you." She paused for a moment. "I remember a friend of mine, whose boyfriend, whom she had met through a one-night stand, broke her heart. I remember feeling jealous while she was showing off the McLaren he got for her and one diamond necklace, with a lot of other expensive items. He forced her to have an abortion, and not only did she lose her womb, but also got an incurable infection from the guy. Meanwhile, he had a family already with kids."
Lucy gasped in surprise. "That was so mean and evil of him! He ought to spend time in jail!"
April chuckled. "Yeah, right? But then, he never forced her into a relationship, did he? Afterall, they both benefited greatly from each other, didn't they? While he gave her gifts and all, she offered him great sex, right?"
Lucy fell quiet this time, then exhaled deeply. "So… who is this surgeon guy like then?"
April smiled this time. "God. Though many people don't believe in him. You know He is a healer and more, who's got the power to get you all the good things you need, but it is not so for the devil. The stranger is more like the devil... He lures you with fanciful items and all, then leaves after wrecking your life." She cleared her throat. "According to the Holy scriptures, your body is God's temple. Letting random people have sex with you is like hosting different strangers in that temple. You don't know what they carry inside of them, spiritually and physically, which they transfer to you during sex. Life is spiritual, you know."
Lucy looked lost in thoughts and said nothing more. A motorcycle zoomed by, and for a moment, April thought he looked like Kyle. She let out a weary sigh then as she remembered her troubles.
"You just saying crap." Lucy cut in. "If God is as good as you claim and makes good things, then why does he let evil exist?"
April chuckled, shaking her head. "Does cold exist or not? You know cold is actually the absence of heat, right? Does darkness exist or not? It's the absence of light. So evil is the absence of God."
"Well. I'm not sure what to think of all you said. I wonder how quickly you turned into a preacher."
April forced a smile. "I know, right? I feel it's kinda worse for me because I'm not even friends with God at the moment, cause I feel so guilty of a lot of shit."
After a long silence, Lucy returned to her seat. Leaning against the window, April murmured some prayers, watching the scenery and the night life as the bus sped by till she dozed off.
Waking up, it was daybreak and she realized she had slept for pretty long without knowing. Her stomach growled and her body ached. She remembered Kyle mentioned he bought some food. She contemplated on opening the bag when the bus pulled up to a stop by a busy supermarket and along the road.
"You all, we are taking a break here." The driver announced. "Take a snack, take a pee or a shit, whatever it is you wanna take. Take it real quick because ain't pulling up for the next three to four hours."
Some chuckled at his manner of speech. But April didn't find it one bit funny. She grunted. Every minute had her wishing Kyle was here, as much as a bigger part of her struggled with the fact of him being real or fake to her. What did it matter? He had been good and almost put himself on the line for her sake. Though the only part she was yet to understand was the Kyle Coleman and Kyle Grey part. Or perhaps, Rosita was married and divorced and decided to stick to her husband's name. Does it matter anyway?
"Hey, buddy." The guy in front of her turned around. "Come on, let's go."
She was going to tell him to let her be when she looked around and realized that the bus was empty already. Reluctantly, she had no choice but to follow him after ensuring her bags were well placed in order and safe. She slung her purse across her shoulders and followed him. But he stared at her ridiculously.
"What? Isn't that a ladies purse?"
She stared down at herself in panic. How could she quickly forget her new masculine role? "Huh?" A slow grin lit up her face as she cleared her throat. "Uhm... it's crazy, right? It actually belongs to my friend's sis. I lost my wallet and she gave me this since it was urgent, as we were leaving in a haste. Notwithstanding, I think I would rather take it off than draw some unwanted attention." Heart in mouth, she rushed back to her seat to return it, hoping he bought her tale. Now she was officially a liar.
When she stepped out again, they headed straight to the toilet facility. "Hey, where are you headed, buddy? That's for the female. We gotta do our thing there." He nodded to a half enclosed area where a dozen guys were peeing already. April felt her heart in her mouth. Was she really expected to pee there with them? What could she do now?