I stomped my feet and shoved my hands farther down into my pockets as I waited for the bus. My cheeks were chaffed as the harsh wind bit at the exposed skin. I leaned forward and looked down the road, squinting through wind-tears to see if I could spot a bus. None.
I stood back with a sign and bit my lip. I just wanted to get home. This past week at school had been hell. My PR paper had been misfiled by the secretary and my professor docked me points for it being late. I'd had to workshop a poem in creative writing, something I'd been proud of, but which the other students had torn to pieces. And on top of all that, I'd had a fight with my roommate, whose slob of a boyfriend had taken over our dorm room. So I was escaping home for the weekend. Sometimes living twenty minutes away was a blessing.
But right now, I was cursing the cold and the unreliable busing system. As I was fuming, a shiny black Escalade came to a stop in front of me. The tinted passenger side window lowered slowly to reveal a handsome man about my age. His face was bright, his expression a bit confused, but somehow it worked for him. His brown eyes looked up at me through long dark lashes as he leaned over the center console. "Excuse me." Deep dimples cut into his cheeks as he spoke. If my cheeks hadn't already been red from the cold, I would have blushed. "I seem to have myself a bit turned around." He chuckled at his misfortune and I liked his nonchalance. "Can you help me?" I noticed a slight accent and wondered where he was from. Realizing he was waiting for a reply, I approached the car. Warm air hit me like a wave and I gave a little gasp.
"Where are you trying to go?"
He smiled out of the car at me and chuckled again at himself. "I'm supposed to meet some friends at Primanti's but I can't seem to find it with this piece of shit GPS." He gestured wildly at it as if doing so would magically make it work correctly. I couldn't help but smile at him.
"Which one?" I asked.
His eyebrows knit in confusion. "There's more than one?" I laughed loudly and he smiled back at me, his eyes seeming to look closer at me than was necessary.
"There's a few," I said with a wink. He flashed me a half-smile and grabbed his phone, scrolling through his text messages.
"All I remember, they said," pausing, he scrolled back up. "Aha!" He pointed at the screen in triumph. "Strip District?" I laughed again.
"You're going the complete opposite direction." My teeth chattered involuntarily.
"Listen," he said, locking me with his intense gaze once again. "I'm terrible with directions, you look cold, and," he glanced in his rearview mirror, "it doesn't look like a bus is coming any time soon. Join me for dinner?"
I hesitated. My instincts told me I shouldn't. I'd barely met the man five minutes ago and he was asking me into his car. But I was endlessly fascinated by the stranger and I had no idea why.
"I'm Logan, by the way," he said, leaning father over the seat to extend his hand. As he did so, I admired the way that the leather of his jacket strained against the heavy muscles of his shoulder and upper arm. When I reached out to grasp his hand, his smile widened.
"Olivia," I replied.
"Well, come on, get in, Olivia!" I loved the way my name sounded colored by his accent. The warm of the seat and the heat blowing from the vents stung my cold body, but I was glad to be out of the cold nonetheless.
As I directed him to the restaurant, we fell into easy conversation. Logan made me instantly comfortable. I couldn't place what it was, but that same je ne sais quoi had me asking question after question.
"And you?" he asked, after he told me about growing up in Texas.
"Pittsburgh girl." I smiled and Logan's eyebrows were raised in surprise as he glanced away from the road to look at me. "Didn't expect that curve ball?"
"I just figured, college town, you know?"
I nodded. "Yeah, my mother went to Chatham so it's kind of tradition."
"That's really awesome," he said. "Sometimes I wish I could have gone."
"You didn't?" He was becoming more interesting by the second. He shook his head.
"Nah, got started working really young." I was even more intrigued now. I took in Logan's profile. His well-groomed hair was gelled up and off his forehead. The dark brown of his eyes matched his jacket perfectly. He ran his tongue over his lips and then took the bottom one in his mouth, biting down on it.
"What do you do?"
"I'm in the entertainment industry."
I sat up straight. "Really? That's so fascinating. I'd love to get into PR after school. It's one of my majors." He raised an eyebrow, and that half-grin appeared on his lips again. It was endearing.
As we pulled into a parking spot, I asked, "First time in Pittsburgh?"
"Yeah," he replied. "I'm having a pretty great time so far." He winked at me and I felt inexplicably lightheaded. This was ridiculous. I'd known him less than a half hour.
Pushing into the crowded restaurant, Logan guided me, with a hand on my lower back, towards a table crowded with guys that looked to be about our age.
"Hey, look who finally decided to join the party!" called a tall one seated in the middle. His long brown hair swept across his forehead and a perfect set of teeth was revealed as he pulled his lips back in a smile.
"It's not my fault you left me alone in the car with the shitty GPS." He balled up a napkin and threw it at the other boy.
"Are you going to quit being rude and introduce us to your friend?" said another, a blonde, tall, but not quite as tall as the first. His green eyes sparkled as he smiled at me.
"Oh, this is Olivia. Picked her up on the side of the road about twenty minutes ago."
A short, olive-skinned man who sat directly next to me snorted with laughter.
"Nope," I said, laughing along with him. "It's true." Logan went around and introduced everyone. I'm terrible with names but I remembered the names of the three who spoke. James was beautiful and incredibly smart—"Most people don't give him enough credit. Kid's a genius," Logan whispered into my ear. The blonde's name was Kendall. He sat in the corner, his head bowed in conversation with another guy, sporting retro black glasses and dog tags, whose name I couldn't remember. Carlos was the hyper Latino who never stopped smiling. His mirth was contagious and I couldn't help but smile as Logan and I squeezed in next to him.
We had a nice dinner, and I enjoyed getting to know everyone. Logan drove me home afterwards and I was kind of nervous. I wanted to see him again but I didn't know how to bring it up. He pulled into my driveway, and put the car in park. He turned to me. His smile seemed like a good sign.
"I had a really nice time tonight." He was looking at me through his eyelashes again and I was a little short of breath. "I have to work tomorrow night, but what are you doing in the morning?"
"Absolutely nothing," I responded much too quickly. My cheeks flushed. "Lemme give you my number." I stumbled over the words and since when couldn't I handle myself around guys? This was new. As I made to get out of the car, Logan took my hand and brushed his lips over my knuckles.
"Until tomorrow." And then he bit his lip. Again. And I died a little inside at how perfect he looked when he did that.
"Are you going to be able to find your way back?" I laughed at the expression on his face.
"Your guess is as good as mine. Fingers crossed!" And with that, he was gone.
