Cold Fronts

Just had an excruciatingly awkward five minutes. You'd think I would be used to all the awkward by now, but no, it never gets easier.

On Monday nights, I have to wait for the bus to get home after my class. Because I have nothing better to do while waiting, there's a park right next to me, and I don't move around enough during the day, I like to pace as I wait so I'm at least doing something. Usually, there are lots of people walking by and it doesn't matter because no one notices. But the longer the bus takes, the more I pace. The more I pace, the more attention I receive. Which was exactly what happened tonight, and let a very nice young man to talk to me. "Um, miss?" he said as I stopped for a few moments to check if a bus was approaching, "a friend of mine told me that if you keep moving your shoulders like this, you can stay warm."

"Uh... thank you? But I'm not cold." "Oh, I just thought you were walking like that to keep your heart rate up and stay warm." "No, I was just bored. Thanks, though. It's a very helpful tip." [both look away and wish the bus to arrive faster, not sure who should be more embarrassed]

No, things did not end there. Getting on the bus, I cut in front of a woman who was putting money into the machine and tapped my card, because I'd seen the woman in front of me do so. But that messed up her transaction and caused the bus driver to have to cancel it and start over. Which wouldn't have been too bad if they accepted my three apologies, but the woman and bus driver then started talking about me, how ridiculous the whole thing was, and muttering "Jesus, right?" while I was standing right there. Never been more grateful to walk to the end of the bus than tonight.

Man. And it's work happy hour tomorrow. The awkward week is just getting started.