742. Chapter 742

She swiped her card and sighed to herself.

Another sweaty, crowded afternoon on a sweaty, crowded bus.

It was worth it, really. She couldn’t stand cars – too cramped, too little control, too cut off from the elements – and she was fixing up her Ducati in the garage Winn only used for his old toys. It would take another week at least.

So, the bus.

At least it gave her prime music time.

She cranked up BareNaked Ladies in her headphones and tried to suppress a grin, even as the bus lurched and made everyone – except her, because the DEO taught you nothing if not steadiness on your feet – nearly overbalance.

Everyone, that is, who was standing.

Because when Alex’s gaze dropped, the rest of the world tuned out around her; because the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen was sitting in front where she was standing, head leaning on the window, a far off look in her eyes.

An oversized NCPD jacket spilled around her body, but no headphones were in her ears.

Alex couldn’t help but watch her, this gorgeous but sad-seeming woman without headphones and a windbreaker that was really too big for her.

She barely noticed the bus stopping, starting, stopping, starting, letting people flow on and off in a well-orchestrated dance across National City.

So when the woman’s gaze tilted up toward Alex, her heart caught fire and she almost tripped over herself, DEO training be damned.

“Excuse me,” the woman said, and Alex’s stomach flipped over. Her voice was low, and just this side of scratchy.

It was the sexiest thing she’d ever heard.

“Oh um, hi,” Alex spluttered, hoping against hope that her face wasn’t turning as red as she felt it must be.

The woman caught her eyes and squinted as she tilted her head, seeming confused.

“Excuse me,” she said again, but it was clear now that the woman hadn’t been talking to her; her eyes were fixed lower than Alex’s face, beside her, to an older man standing near her.

“Would you like to sit?” the woman asked, standing with a small smile as she nodded away his effusive thanks.

And suddenly, she was in Alex’s space.

Shorter than her, but with radiating body heat that almost – but not quite – was enough to cancel out Alex’s utter mortification.

“I’m sorry,” she couldn’t help herself but stammer, “I don’t know why I thought you were talking to me. Wishful thinking, maybe? Sorry, wow, okay, that was a lot. It was nice of you to offer your seat – of course that’s what you were doing. Anyway. Sorry. I’ll just… stand here now.”

If there were room to run away and hide from the utter humiliation, Alex would have positively sprinted.

But the bus was still full. She was stuck.

She cursed herself out in her mind, but when she chanced a look at the woman, she was still tilting her head at Alex, but a smile was tugging at her lips, and Alex thought there was a sparkle in her eyes.

“It’s good, you’re good,” she reassured, and no; Alex had been wrong before; this, now, was the sexiest thing she’s ever heard.

A moment’s beat of silence between them. The bus pulled to a screeching stop, and Alex had no choice but to shift closer into Maggie’s space to let someone off behind her.

“Sorry,” Alex squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head at herself, wondering how long Kara will laugh when she hears this story.

“No apologies,” the woman told her again.

Another beat of silence. Then, as though making a decision about something, the woman cleared her throat.

“I’m Maggie.”

Maggie.

Alex turned the name over and over in her mind, and wondered what it would sound like rolling off her tongue.

“Maggie,” she repeated, and dammit, that was out loud.

But the woman – Maggie, Maggie, Maggie – just looked bemused, and maybe, if Alex wasn’t imagining things, a little hopeful.

“Alex,” Alex hastened to say. “I’m Alex.”

“Well, uh. Alex.” She immediately decided she loved the way her name looked and sounded on Maggie’s lips, and she wanted to hear it again and again. “What stop are you? Maybe…” Her eyes searched Alex’s, and a trace of what looked like fear flitted through them. “No, never mind.”

“Wait, no,” Alex gulped. “Were you… no, of course, you probably weren’t. I mean, if you… if you were gonna ask if we could go get a drink or something, then yeah, I’d like to. I mean, I don’t drink, my sister has me going to – you know what, wow, overshare, never mind. I just meant… I didn’t mean to assume, sorry, wow, I – “

“No, Alex, I… I was. Wanting to ask you to get a drink. But it can be coffee, or tea, or whatever you like. I just wasn’t sure if you…”

“Gay. Lesbian. Me. Girls. Yeah. Totally.”

Maggie didn’t laugh at Alex, but she did laugh, and it was the most beautiful thing Alex had ever heard. Relief and pure, unadulterated joy danced in Maggie’s eyes, and it was the most beautiful thing Alex had ever seen.

“Good. Gay. Lesbian. Me, girls, too. Totally. So… date, Alex?”

“Absolutely.”

At least she got out one word without stumbling. An accomplishment, to be sure.

She practically pulled a Kara, feeling like she was about to take off floating.

If the way her dimples were peaking out had anything to say about it, Maggie looked like she was in about the same place.

Alex promised herself never to talk badly about public transit again.