Matthew sighed lightly once he sat down on the bus seat. It had been a long day of classes and all he wanted to do was get home for some food and crawl into bed. A nap on the bus sounded heavenly, considering his home was an hour away from the college campus he attended. There was only one stop in between so he would not miss his stop by accident. The best part, he managed to nab a seat at the end of the bus which was the warmest. On either side of him was an empty seat which meant he didn't have to worry about his hockey gear or school bag getting in the way for anyone. But it was short lived when suddenly an onslaught of students and faculty made their way onto the bus. Moving most of his gear under his seat and his bag along with his hockey stick in between his legs, he waited for the seats to fill up. He recognized the one who sat on his left. The stranger was in the same computer programming class. If Matthew remembered correctly, he was an albino from Germany, but he told everyone he came from Prussia. On the right of Matthew, a petite girl carrying four bags herself, sat down, making herself comfortable. Now it was going to be a very long bus ride indeed.
Instead of worrying too much, Matthew pulled out headphones and juggled his hockey stick for a moment so he could pull out his phone. He quickly found his music before getting comfortable in the seat. Music would make the trip a little faster. If he was lucky, someone would actually text him, but he knew everyone still had one last class, or they were studying. Mid-terms were coming up, but Matthew had a whole weekend to study for the two he had. Still, not even his hockey mates would be available. They had discussed their plans for the weekend right before Matthew left the locker room to catch the bus. Normally there was some sort of party going on, but this weekend was about studying, since a few of the players had to be careful unless they wanted to be taken off the team, or even benched.
So Matthew stared out the right window to occupy his thoughts for a little. Most of the songs were older songs from the forties and fifties mostly. He had not gotten around to putting much more on his phone since he got it several months ago. More than once Alfred had accidentally switched their phones and there were times Matthew was stuck with the eccentric punk or rock music Alfred had mixed in with the occasional country song. Perhaps he should text Alfred to let him know he was on his way home. That way Alfred could have dinner finished by the time Matthew got there. But just as he reached for his phone, Matthew felt a warmth hit his left arm.
Glancing to the left, Matthew saw the self-proclaimed Prussian from earlier nodding off to sleep, but trying so hard to fight it. His arms were crossed over his chest and every time his head bobbed down, he would bring it right back up. It was a common occurrence on the bus to say the least. Even Matthew had fallen asleep against the window more than once or twice. There were times when Matthew ended up sleeping with his head slumped forward, creating a pain in his neck upon waking up. So he could sympathise with the other in the attempt to stay awake. But it seemed the Prussian was going to lose the battle, when the reaction to bring his head up grew farther apart.
Instead of tapping the poor man on the shoulder to wake him, Matthew slouched a little, using his hockey stick as a bit of leverage. Perhaps if he sat still, his shoulder would be low enough to stop the other from bouncing so much. Why he felt compelled to do so, was beyond Matthew's understanding, but he still felt rather pleased with himself.
The Prussian continued to fight a losing battle. It took another three songs in Matthew's play list to go by until he felt a little weight on his shoulder. Smiling to himself, Matthew made sure to look out the window to his right. If he could help the other for just a bit Matthew was fine with that. But curiosity got the better of him and he glanced down at the other. Snow white hair reminded him of the first snow fall that no one had touched early in the morning. He had to fight the urge to run his fingers through the other's hair to see if it was just as soft. Looking away and back to the window, a light blush dusted his cheeks. Thankfully no one really noticed him. It seemed as if a nap was in order for him as well as he sat there and yawned.
"Wait," came the reply. His German accent was thick, but still understandable.
"The bus driver is waiting for us to get off the bus. You better hurry," Matthew said, picking up his school bag and hockey gear. He then quickly took his leave of the bus, waving at the driver in passing.
"Wait!"
Matthew did not wait for the Prussian, instead he fished out his keys from his pocket and made for his car so he could drive home. He heard a few more attempts of the other calling him, but Matthew dared not to stop until the other suddenly dashed in front of him. Blinking, Matthew stopped and took a defensive step back.
"Geez, you don't have to run away you know," the Prussian said. He took a few breaths before he continued. "Look, sorry I feel asleep on your shoulder. I just didn't want you to leave and not let me apologize."
"It's...umm...fine. No really," Matthew said. He had no intention of telling the other he allowed it. "I should probably apologize for sleeping on you myself."
"Heh. The name's Gilbert Beilschmidt. I know we're in the same computer class, but I ever got the chance to talk to you so I'm glad we finally get the chance to meet." He grinned widely, his bag flung haphazardly over his shoulder and a soccer ball under his other arm.
"You are?" Matthew was confused at the statement but felt his heart pound a bit faster.
"Sure. I admire your work and wanted to ask if you could help me with a bit of the coding that I'm having trouble with. You probably know how it is, one line of error comes out to like nine-hundred problems." Gilbert shrugged, his grin never fading.
"Yeah, I can help you. But it's kinda late-"
"Great! Give me your number and we can meet up some time this week for coffee and talk codes," Gilbert said. He then cackled a little as he pulled out his phone. "Here we go."
"Right. I'm Matthew Williams by the way," Matthew said, feeling no way of politely turning down the offer. Although, he was a little glad the other was so straight forward. "Sure, I'm free on Friday."
"Nice name. Hey, so am I. I'll text you a time we can meet up. I'll pay for coffee since I'm the one who fell asleep first." Gilbert plugged in Matthew's phone number and sent a text message so Matthew new who it was. He then put his phone away and turned to leave for the second floor of the parking garage. "By the way, thanks for letting me use your shoulder."
Matthew could feel his face heat up as Gilbert walked away, cackling. Matthew shook his head and went to his car. Had Gilbert known that lowering his shoulder had been on purpose?