Approach Him

Hoping the driver didn't yell at her for standing, Emma bravely moved up several seats until she was seated across from the stranger. The young black man immediately looked up and closed his book, giving Emma yet another smile.

Emma returned the smile, "Hi, I'm Emma."

"I'm Tyrell, nice to meet you." He said as he extended his hand.

Emma limply shook his hand, noticing that she was still smiling. "You don't seem as shy as James."

"Excuse me?" Ty asked, confused.

"Oh, sorry. I'm staying with some family for the week and my cousin is a shy bookworm type. Judging by the book I thought you might be too." Emma explained.

Ty shook his head, "Not shy, just smart enough not to approach a lone white lady on a bus with only two black guys on it."

Emma was taken aback, "Hey, I'm not racist."

Ty shook his head and smiled again, "No, I'm sure you aren't. But I'm not going to put a lady in a position that she can't easily escape from and feel safe. If it makes you feel better, I was going to hit on you once the bus stopped and we were both leaving. Then you could have just walked away if you weren't interested, instead of having to sit on the bus with me for another ten minutes."

Emma stared at Ty a moment, not sure how to answer, then finally said, "That's nice of you, I think," Then wanting to change the subject she asked, "What are you reading?"

Ty held up the thick book, "EMT crash course. It's a study guide for the test I have to take. I'm becoming an Emergency Medical Technician. Then hopefully a firefighter."

Emma swooned a little but tried to hide it. "OK, that's impressive," she said, failing to hide anything.

"Yeah, you girls are all the same." Ty joked.

"Well it is." Emma said, trying to hide her embarrassment.

The next few minutes flew by. They talked a bit about the tests Ty would have to take. Then the conversation turned to Emma. She talked about her own classes, and then eventually why she was at the lake house to begin with.

As they rolled in to town and the bus stopped, Ty gave Emma his number. "I have to go ace this test, but maybe we can do coffee or something later? I'd love to take you out before you go back to school."

Emma agreed to their date. After promising to call him later, she left Ty and decided where to head to first.