Warning: totally, completely silly alternaverse. Characters as ordinary ppl, therefore acting kinda OOC... gee, I wonder if this stuff really happens, though... would be kinda neat...
Anyways, here it goes...
Stuck.. Majorly stuck.. Backed up all the way. Lucrezia clenched the steering wheel and, for a brief moment, contemplated banging her head against it several times. "Damn! Damn damn damn damn? I hate this!!!" she protested, stretching her neck to see the beginning of the lineup. Not a chance. "Heck, it's like this all the way to the bridge," she remarked bitterly. When she just wanted to get home and call it a day.
"Aw, shush it," she scolded the radio, that had started to play 'Tubthumping' by Chumbawamba. "As if I need to hear this? I get knocked down but I get up again? Kinda stupid, how I get stuck in this mess every single day," she mumbled to herself as she popped in one of her favourite tapes instead. "Ah, yes? Sarah, much better," she sighed, as the tape started and the first notes of "Possession" began to play.
"Wohoo! Yay! We're moving! Sweet, baby," she cheered as she saw the car in front of her advance. But her enthusiasm was short-lived as the car's stop lights went on again after only a few metres. "Dang!" she cursed, slapping her hands on the steering wheel, "Looks like I'm gonna be here for a while?" Her right hand reached for the travel mug sitting by the shift stick. Good thing she had thought of filling up with tea before leaving the airport? it was gonna be a loooong ride home. And she was so tired and jet-lagged that she could certainly use the caffeine? however little there was in a mug of Irish Breakfast tea.
She brought the mug to her lips, while at the same time releasing the brake pedal, allowing her car to move forward another few pathetic metres. "Lovely! This is just friggin' lovely! why the heck don't they build another bridge, for crying out loud?" she thought to herself as she took another sip, her foot pressing on the brake once more. She glanced at the clock, then right away wished she hadn't. Five o'clock in the afternoon, which meant? it was 8:00 am in her head, and she hadn't slept for more than 24 hours. "Last time I volunteer to go to that silly conference ever again," she promised to herself. "Yah, then who will they send all the way to Rome? I'm the only one who's fluent in Italian." She sighed a deep breath and tilted her head backwards. "At least mom and dad were happy to see me, if only for a weekend?"
She reached for her mug of tea again, her other hand resting on the steering wheel, resigned to not making it into bed for at least another hour, hour-and-a-half. She looked around once more for a sign that would indicate how long, then resolved to try switching lanes. The one she was in seemed to be the slowest one. But then, again, didn't she just have a special gift for that? At the grocery store, at the ferry terminal, at Starbucks? she'd always pick the worst lineup. She put her left-turn signal out, waved her hand sheepishly at the car that she was trying to sneak in front of, then made her bold move, thinking, "Good. Now this one should move a little faster."
"Yah. As if!" Now the other lane that she had just left seemed faster. "Whatever," she mumbled to herself, "it's rush hour, and it sucks, no matter which lane you're in." She took an absent-minded glance around, her eyes scanning the other cars and drivers, her partners-in-misery. She was now resting her head against her hand in a state of quasi-despair, her elbow propped up against the rolled-up window. Still at least a couple of kilometres until the bridge, where the big muck-up was. Beyond that, she would be home-free? whenever she got there. Her eyes instinctively settled on the driver in the car beside hers, yet she was too tired for her brain to register his features right away. She just had a feeling that she knew him from somewhere.
Well, he was certainly good-looking, for one thing. How he managed to keep such long hair looking so gorgeous was totally beyond her, but? it was certainly a sight for sore eyes. And he also had the most perfect profile, she remarked, a bout of a smile stretching her lips. Well, too bad her lane was moving, she thought, driving her car forward, leaving the handsome stranger behind.
Stuck again. Of course, what was she hoping? She shook her head and cast a quick glance to her left again, taking a sip of her tea. She almost choked on it as her eyes met another pair of ice-blue eyes. He was staring back! The guy with long blonde hair, from before! His car side-by-side with hers again, and he was now looking at her, smiling! She felt her cheeks catch fire and suddenly looked away, trying to act casual.
Yet her eyes kept wanting to go back to him. "Awwww, come on, please somebody move!!!" she begged, hoping that it would distract her mind from him. But she could not help herself, the curiosity being too great. She cast a glance with the corner of her eye, and sighed relief as she noticed that he wasn't looking at her any more. In fact, he seemed pretty annoyed with the traffic himself, shaking his head and running a hand through his beautiful hair.
"That would have been embarrassing," she sighed, then took it all back in that same split second as he once again turned to his right and met her eyes. An expression of exasperation on his face that quickly turned into a sympathetic smile. His hands raised in the air, as if he wanted to say, "Nice mess, eh?" She couldn't help smiling herself, her cheeks blushing furiously as she pulled her long, soft bangs away from her face and tucked them behind her ear.
She bit her lips and looked down for a second, her hand covering up her mouth, then picked up her tea again. Just as she brought it to her lips, she saw him with the corner of her eye. He also had picked up a travel mug of something, and had extended his hand to her. He was looking at her with a silly smile on his face. Nodding and raising the mug, as if wanting to toast to the stupid traffic that had made them meet. She shook her head and let out a small bout of laughter, then raised her mug to reply to his toast. "What the hey, we're all in this together, I guess?" her mind concocting all sorts of rational explanations why she was suddenly feeling so cheerful.
She saw his lips move, trying to say something to her. "UBC?" "What the?" she wondered, wishing she could make out what he meant. He pointed at the parking sticker on her car, then his lips moved again. "Ah, yes? Of course, do I work at UBC? Yes, yes, I do," she replied enthusiastically. He smiled and motioned for her to wait a second, then reached in the back seat of his car, pulled out a pilot's hat, and placed it on his head playfully. "Oh, right, a Scandinavian Airlines pilot, I get it!" she signaled to him, suddenly realizing that's where she had seen him before. In fact, he was probably the one that had piloted her flight from Copenhagen. No wonder he looked sort of familiar.
He raised his mug at her, his lips talking to her again. "Coffee sometime?" He was nodding eagerly, waiting for her to either accept or tell him to go jump in a lake. She gulped as her brain made out the words, feeling her cheeks blush again to a reddish-purple tinge. Then she turned to him, a perplexed smile on her face, and raised her hands as if to mean, "Hey, sure! when and where?" She could not believe that she was actually doing that, and for a moment she felt like a twit, flirting with a stranger in the middle of rush hour traffic.
"Starbucks," he said, his finger pointing at the logo on his mug, "at UBC? Tomorrow at 10?" His hands were now stretched open, to signal the number 10 to her. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she realized that he wanted to go through with it? This guy actually wanted to meet her, for real! "Well," she gave herself an encouragement, "Carpe diem, right? Live for the moment? when is this ever gonna happen to me again?" Then she turned to him and nodded, signaling that she would be there.
"No! Darn" a thought flashed through her head just as his car had started to move forward a bit. She slapped her forehead and then waved her hands at him, "No! Not 10. A class! I have class! 9:30?" her hands were moving frantically, trying to signal to him the new time, hoping that he would make out her message. A sigh of relief left her as she saw him give her the thumbs-up, repeating "Starbucks @ UBC, 9:30, tomorrow! Perfect!"
"I'll be there." she mumbled to herself, as she watched his car move forward, her own lane now picking up the pace, too. She shook her head and turned up the volume of the radio, a smile of incredulity on her face. "What did just happen?" she asked herself. "I think I just? learned rush hour traffic is not so bad after all." She pressed her shoulders into her seat, her foot pressing the gas pedal. Finally, she was on the bridge. Soon she'd be home, except, she wasn't tired any more. Must be the caffeine in her tea? Or maybe a small promise that she had just made to a complete stranger?
"How clearly I first saw you, smiling in the sun," Sarah McLachlan kept singing. And for the first time in way too long, Lucrezia felt like singing along. "I will remember you, will you remember me? Don't let your life pass you by. Weep not for the memories."
