I have no idea what possessed me to write this. I'm been in a weird mood lately. I think I just mostly wanted to see Dawn kick butt.
Another train flew by.
It didn't slow by the station at all, simply powered along. That was why Dawn hated trains. They messed up her hair when they did that. She pulled her brush and hand mirror from her pack and began to fix her hair into place. Which was ridiculous to do, she knew that, another few trains would rush by until she found the transport she needed, but there wasn't much else to do. It was better than twiddling her thumbs, at least, which was actually extremely boring and not a good way to pass the time. Well, she wasn't sure. She didn't exactly know what twiddling your thumbs was supposed to mean anyway.
"What are you doing?"
That was Paul. She wasn't going to look at him. "I'm brushing my hair. Exactly what it looks like."
"The train is going to mess it up again."
"So?"
"It's pointless."
"So is making your bed if you're just going to sleep in it, but I do that every day."
"You have a sleeping bag," he retorted, "Not a bed."
She glared at him, pretty blue eyes narrowing. "Do you want something?"
"No. I was only curious."
She turned back to her mirror. "You don't remember my name, so why do you care if I fix my hair?"
"I don't. I was only asking."
"Well, that's your answer."
"I guess so."
They were quiet. Dawn stared up at the clock on the wall. Not too much longer until the tra-
"Why don't any of the trains stop?"
"This is one of the smallest train stations in the country. It's only here so we didn't have to carve through a mountain. There's no reason for it to stop pretty much ever. The only train that'll stop is one you buy a ticket for." Dawn flashed hers.
"How do you know?"
Her father helped plan the railroads. She wasn't going to tell him that. "I just do."
Quiet again. Another train. Her hair was messed, so she fixed it.
"I know your name," he muttered. "It's Dawn."
She rolled her eyes. "Thanks."
"I'm just saying I'm not an idiot. We've been traveling together long enough-"
"We didn't travel together. We bumped into each other while traveling, and you were a jerk to me and my friends."
"Because your friends and weak and stupid," he growled.
"Those are my friends you're talking about." She threw her hand mirror and brush into her bag. "If you want to get on my good side, you should pretend you like them, at least."
"Who says I wasn't to get on your good side?" She snorted. He defended, "I don't want to get on your good side!"
"Sure, you're on the same train as me, in the same town, going to the same place by coincidence. We ate in the same restaurant last night by coincidence. Yeah. Sure."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Paul snapped.
"It means I'm not an idiot either. It means I know you'd got a crush on me. I don't know if you've noticed, Paul, but I'm the kind of girl who gets crushed on an awful lot. I know what it looks like."
He grit his teeth. "I do not-"
"I'm going to crush you now, Paul," she said calmly, knowing how to end such things. "Let me be perfectly clear. I don't like you. I never will. You have absolutely no chance with me. This is mostly because I find you completely unattractive. It's not that you're ugly, I'm just not attracted to you. But it's also because I hate you. I know you have some good points, Paul, but I'm not willing to search for them. The you that you show me is generally cold and uncaring and self absorbed. I know you have your reasons, and I know that part of you is a perfectly decent guy, but there is no possible way I will ever see that, and I am not sorry."
"Like I care."
She dropped her ticket to the ground. "Then it's no business of yours if I go somewhere else. You've already bought your train ticket, so if I go the other way, you won't follow."
He smirked. "Don't flatter yourself."
"I'm sure you came to this town in the middle of nowhere for the scenery, Paul. I'm so, so sure of it." Dawn turned on her heel and left, as another train came to the station.
Paul stood up to get on the train, but when Dawn was out of his sight, his foot hesitated.
He slowed.
The train slowed.
Then both stood, unmoving, in a town they had no business being in.