That day was just a regular boring day starting the same old boring way. I had my right earbud in, my head against the cold bus window. Then he walked on the bus and the day wasn’t so boring anymore. It was nothing new; he walked onto the bus, walked down the thin aisle to seat fourteen, he sat down next to me, and he took out my earbud. The routine was the same thing that happened every day, but the after taste was somehow different.

“Whatcha listening to?” it was the same question he asked every day, since day one. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but I couldn’t answer. It was like the words were sacred and if I would say them my whole world would fall apart. “Ally?” realizing that I didn’t plan on answering he put the earbud in his own ear. I took in a sharp breath. What was wrong with me?!

“I can’t believe you hid this from me. This is my jam!” his voice was almost excited. What was with that? It’s just a song that happened to be on the radio, nothing fancy. “She was like come here boy, I want to dance. ‘Fore I said I word she was taking my hand-“something in my face stopped his singing mid-line. “Seriously, what’s wrong” I took a good, long look at his face. It was perfect. The only flaw was his too big nose, but somehow it made the master piece in front of me complete.

“Nothing, I’m great!” I meant it, but the look on his face said that he didn’t believe me. “Seriously.” A grin made its way across my face, it was meant to look reassuring. There is a chance that it looked psychotic instead.
“Is there some kind of inside joke that I’m missing?”

“Yes there is, but it’s not all that funny.” If it wasn’t funny why did I giggle so much? He opened your mouth like he had something to say, and then closed it just as fast. He shook his head and started laughing with me. That laugh is what pieced it all together.  It was a musical chime that matched the beat of my heart. I had developed a crush on you.

All of the sudden I was very aware of every part of us. I felt his arm brushing against mine, ever so slightly. I sensed that if I wanted to I could grab his hand; I would barley have to move at all. I felt the heat crawling up my face as a slowly reached for it. I hesitated at the last minute, but he didn’t. He closed the distance between our two hands, but our hands are just flat and warm against each other’s.

“Say it.” I looked up from our hands to see that he was smiling at your own words.

“Say what? “He put one of my earbuds in my ear and the other in his with his free hand. He pressed the play button.

“Say that ever time this song comes on you will forever remember this moment. Say that you will always remember me, even if you forget how you feel about me. Say that you like me.” I looked at our hands, lying together. Then, I looked into his eyes.

“Kevin, I like you. Every time this song plays not only will I remember this moment, but I will cherish it. Not only will I always remember you, I promise you I will never forget this feeling.”

A smile creeped up his face as he intertwined our fingers and put “Play it Again” by Luke Bryan on replay.

To this day I still remember the song playing lightly in the background during our whispered conversation, as our song.