Matt certainly gave it his best shot

Ophelia tore through the Vons, grabbing baguettes, roast beef, cheese, a couple of soft drinks and a big basket of grapes, then dug a blanket out of her truck and, faster than Matt would have imagined possible, set up a picnic in a secluded section of the park.

"Clearly the picnic is a last minute change of plans," Matt said as he assembled sandwiches from the baguettes and the coldcuts. "What did I have to look forward to originally?"

Ophelia laughed. "Nothing very serious. I was going to take you to a bar in Compton where I live. A couple of my cousins hang out there and probably wouldn't look kindly at a punk kid messing with their cuz."

"So what, they'd beat me up?"

"Don't be stupid, kid. Nobody was going to get hurt. Thought you might gain a little insight into the sucky life pimps lead, though. Anyway, that didn't happen. So, can we talk about something else?"

Hell yeah they could. "Tell me about you, Ophelia. Did you grow up in L.A.? You said cousins. Are they your only family in the area or do you have parents and siblings around? Why did you decide to become a bus driver and why work on the Hill?"

"Probably a good idea to ask one question at a time... unless you're more interested in hearing yourself talk than the girl."

"Yeah, no. Sorry. I'm just interested in you."

"In my tits, you mean."

"Hey, I can't deny that your figure grabbed my attention when I first saw you. But when I saw your snarky attitude, I was a lot more interested."

"You are a smooth talker, aren't you?"

He shrugged. "So, did you grow up in L.A.?"

They spent an hour talking, enjoying a beautiful day, and eating crunchy sandwiches and sweet grapes. Matt found Ophelia was supporting her much younger half-brother, had moved to southern California around the same time he had but from Ohio rather than from Michigan (she razzed him about Ohio State crushing Michigan again), and that she'd taken the bus route on the Hill because nobody else wanted it and she didn't have seniority. "Plus I'm the black girl," she said. "So I get fixed up with the shit jobs."

He found himself talking about his own childhood, his family (she had a preacher grandfather also), and even his new career.

"So, you chatting me up in hopes of putting my black ass on screen?" she demanded when he confessed to the streaming business.

"I was chatting you up a long time before anyone mentioned streaming."