Imagine Me and You...

They both looked forward to train rides. They afforded them the opportunity to spend a little more time together every day without it being confined to home or putting the onus of deciding what to do or where to go on either of them. Besides, knowing there was an intimately friendly face on the journey somehow made days at work worthwhile. And there was always plenty to talk about... Laughing over silly scenes, methodically dissecting curious characters they came across, playing footsie... And if all that got boring, the window always offered more to amuse them... Even if they were the same sights they saw everyday. And then of course, all those familiar and strange faces they saw everyday...

And so it was that they saw her one morning... It was one of those mornings when they both wanted to keep to themselves... Looking around the compartment seemed more attractive than each other's company. When the young woman came and sat right in front of them they both suddenly found common ground to while away time. Each studied her... The long, curly dark brown hair, perfectly plucked arched eyebrows, alabaster complexion, high cheekbones, well-shaped glossed lips, striking eyes, nose and chin... A face that asked to be looked at long and absorbedly.

The young woman was aware of being watched so intently and her movements were touched with just that bit of consciousness and precision that comes from being aware and wanting to give the watchers something to appreciate and dwell on. She stole glances too of course. The little that these glances revealed was a couple, as young as herself... Just in that phase of having lived with each other enough to warrant the intersecting but still separate circles of being around them. They were quite handsome really. Enough to make her want to watch rather than be watched. She stole another glance...

The wife looked over once more thinking "Maybe if I were not married... Who knows how the three of us might have been placed?" Her husband was now looking away, and the look on his face said he'd moved beyond thinking of the young woman seated across him. "What if...?" the wife once again thought and then shook herself mentally.

Across from her, the young woman was having a think all her own. "Such a pity she's taken... "

Credit where credit is due: This was inspired by something Silvara wrote. I do realise that it is rather close to what she described but it's still a work of fiction that I refined upon. Silvara, I apologise in advance if this offends you in anyway.