Quiet Friendships

Quiet friendships. What I love about these friendships is the way they glow. They are without words, without the same formalities as other friendships, just a silent feeling. It is similar to the feeling one gets when they hold a hamster or a small creature; the intensity of it; how delicate and small but overwhelmingly precious.

It began when I was working Wednesday and Thursday nights. After I had finished I walked under the black sky to the bustop to go home. My bus took a little time to come and before it did, another bus arrived and five people got off and waited with me for the bus. Four were male and one was female.

Every week this happened. The same five people. I wondered where they were going to or coming from at this hour and it must be something rather specific since every week we all caught the bus at the same time. Like lions roaming the pavement, probably just like myself: Restless in the cold, sharp air. Looking at their watches and the sky. Staring at their shoes and gazing at the bright river of cars.

When the bus finally arrived they tended to rush on before me, even though I arrived first (I didn't mind, though). But the one girl always made a point to let me on first. She would take a step back and gesture to me to get on the bus, making the other people wait until I had, if she managed to get to the front first. She would smile and then I.

For the next few weeks, this would happen often. She would always let me get on before her and I thankyoud her with a smile. She had brown curly hair and looked exempt from any sort of fashion which made her even more alluring and mysterious. She wore a backpack, blue jeans, a black jumper and Dr. Martin's shoes.

I would get off the bus before everyone else which left me always wondering where they were going to or coming from. On the bus everyone would stare into the middle distance, lost in thought possibly, or staring out of the window into the night. I have never heard her voice or any one of the other's, but this friendship remains precious to me all the same.