I'm the Blue Pomegranates Guy

The bus is late.

Haley stands with her arms crossed, one heel tapping restlessly in the grass, watching the empty road. She told herself she wouldn't get here so early, because that's just fucking desperate. She's not desperate. But here she is anyway. She'd gotten here almost a half hour before Jess said she'd arrive, and now she's spiraling.

This is stupid.

She shouldn't be nervous to see her again, not when she was totally in the right. Of course she feels a tiny bit guilty for how harsh she'd been when she left Jess's apartment, but it was justified. She should be angry. And she is, but she can't seem to hold onto it. It slips away every time she glances down the road, shielding her eyes from the bright summer sun and hoping to catch a glimpse of the bus as it rolls in.

She almost asked Kieran to pick Jess up. Then she could wait at the farm house, play it cool, act like she isn't in pieces. But that small part of her that hopes Jess actually wants to put in the effort had her racing to the bus stop faster than she will ever admit.

The distant rumble of tires on asphalt cuts through her thoughts. Her stomach flips.

By the time the bus pulls up in a cloud of dust, brakes screeching, Haley has already schooled her expression into something more cool and distant, but her pulse is hammering in her throat, her mouth going dry in anticipation.

The doors fold open with a hydraulic hiss, and for a second, Haley can't move. It feels like she can't even breathe. Jess steps down from the bus with a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, squinting against the sunlight. Her hair is a little mussed from the ride, and she looks exhausted. Then her eyes find Haley, and the tension in her worn expression melts into relief. A hopeful half-smile tugs at her lips, and something twists painfully in Haley's chest.

"Hey," Jess says.

"Hey." It comes out much flatter than she intended.

Jess shifts her weight awkwardly as the driver collects her suitcase from the compartment below the bus. Jess thanks him, and as the bus pulls away again it feels like time comes to a stop.

"Thanks for meeting me," Jess says, quietly.

Haley shrugs one shoulder, but her words are failing her. Jess's smile falters a bit at the cold reception, her eyes falling to the grass as she clears her throat.

Good . . . maybe. Yoba, she doesn't know. She only knows if this awkward silence stretches on any longer she's going to lose it.