“Oh, um, I don’t know. Both I guess.”

“I like my eyes. They’re a crazy grey colour, and they’re just like my grandad’s. And my favourite part of your face, well, gee. Just this—” I waved my hand at his ridiculous face. “—whole general area. I mean, you have great eyes, and your nose is straight, and there’s a dimple, and who doesn’t love a good dimple, and even your beard scruff is great. And your ears are slightly elfish, which speaks to my inner geek, just so you know, and your lips…” Of course, then I got stuck staring at his lips. “Um…”

He bit his bottom lip, which made his smile crooked. I’m pretty sure he did that on purpose. Fair, he did not play. And then he was staring at my lips and for one horrifyingly exhilarating moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. Right there on the bus. Like a proper, proper kiss. I wouldn’t have said no, but I wasn’t sure if the other passengers would appreciate it. Well, the Soup Crew would. I was pretty sure they’d clap and cheer…

But then the bus came to an abrupt stop and he had to hold on to me to stop from falling. Or maybe it was me who was at risk of falling… which was far too late because I’d already fallen for him.

Wait, what?

“What?” I asked. “That’s not at all correct.”

Hennessy looked around us. “What’s not at all correct?”

Shit.

“Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about something totally not related to you at all.”

“Okay, though that doesn’t sound very convincing,” he said with a bit of a laugh.

“Well, it’s just that falling… on the bus…” I put my hand to my forehead, trying to will my stupid mouth to shut up. “What I meant was that falling on the bus could be hazardous to one’s health.”

He stared at me for too long. He knew I was bullshitting. “Okay, yeah sure. I mean, we should think of the children and the elderly.”

“Exactly.”

He was so close. Did he need to be that close? Did he have to smell that good? God, he was so inconsiderate. “Do you really have to be that handsome?” I asked. “Because it’s so unfair on the unsuspecting public. I mean, I’m kinda used to it, but these poor other people…”

He chuckled. “Well, it’s the only face I have, so…”

“Me too.”

He jostled into me again, not looking the least bit sorry. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow night. Despite the nerves and the fear that your friends won’t think I’m good enough, I’m looking forward to spending time with you.”