Watercolor Destiny

           Fin shook off his umbrella and stepped onto the bus. A quick look around showed him the rain had made the bus a bit overcrowded.  Well then he thought, guess I'm not sitting alone today.

       He took a seat next to a young man about his age who was listening to headphones staring out at the rain. The man looked at him briefly, moving his bag slightly to make a little more room for him. Fin nodded slightly as thanks. The bus soon came to a stop, fin leaned to look out the windshield at the reason. The traffic had come to a complete stop. 

       "I'm going to be late again." Fin looked at the person next to him who had spoken up. He was holding a phone in his hand looking at it. He opened the screen and typed out a text. 

         "Work?" Fin asked.

          "Meeting some people from university." He responded, meeting his eyes that were fixed on him now. 

Fin's mouth lifted slightly on one side, he found the person's eyes interesting and quite a pretty color. They were green but not the normal green you see. They were very light delicate green color, almost like a tropical sea that shines in the sun. 

"Oh," fin responded, "it's pretty nasty out I'm sure they will understand." 

He shrugged putting the phone back in the pocket of the hoodie he was wearing. "It's whatever." He said and went back to watching the rain. 

Fin stared at him for a moment before looking at his phone and sighing. Truthfully he was going to be late as well, but Fin didn't feel whatever was the way felt about it. Fin was full of anxiety and worry about it. He put his phone away wondering why the bus was still sitting in the same place. Just as he was wondering, two ambulances drove by with the sirens on. He sighed guess we will be here awhile.  As a couple more minutes passed, Fin looked at his phone a couple more times. 

"Somewhere to be?" Fin looked over at the person next to him who was watching him. 

"Yeah, work. I'm an intern at the hospital." 

  "Mmmm, I see." 

  "You said you were going to school? What are you studying?" Fin asked, but wasn't sure he would get an answer. 

" Art, but I’m almost finished." 

"You're an artist?" He smiled and shook his head slightly. "I can see it." He looked at the man next to him. He was in ripped jeans with a blue hoodie that was a couple of sizes bigger than it needed to be. He looked like he could be a carefree art student, and seemed to have the personality to match. "I'm Fin by the way." 

He looked at Fin analyzing what he looked like and what he was wearing. He had on black slacks and a nice gray button-up shirt. He looked put together and professional. "Jay," he said. 

"Jay huh?" He smiled.

The way he smiled after saying it made Jay smile slightly. He found Fin's smile contagious. He watched as Fin picked up his phone again and the smile faded. 

" You might as well call and have someone cover for you. You won't make it in time. Looks like the accident was pretty bad."

" I already texted but I was still hoping to make it. You're not worried about your friends being angry that you don't show up? Will they wait for you?" 

Jay laughed lightly "not really. I'm just going to find a dry spot to have coffee and maybe draw for a bit. I texted I'll have dinner with them later." 

Fin blinked a couple of times in slight disbelief but also in awe of how calm and flexible he was with plans. 

"Are you surprised at my answer? Look" he said "I'm already late and I will probably miss them anyway. Nothing I can do about it, so might as well not fret over it."

Fin was amazed at his attitude towards it and slightly jealous of Jay's way of thinking. To Fin, Jay felt like a magnet he was being pulled towards. "If I thought that way I probably wouldn't have made it through med school so quickly." 

"That is something I often envy about people, the way you feel like you have to work hard and so you do. The motivation you must feel when you go to work or class, it's something I find very amazing in people." 

Fin was shocked a bit at how forward and open Jay talked about stuff like that. Fin would never dare to admit out loud what he envied about others or say out loud that he has these feelings towards others. 

 "What? Too much?"

" Not at all, just you're a very open person with strangers."

  "Not really, I'm just me. I don't care what others have to say behind my back so I'm just who I want to be." 

Wow this person, how could he be so chill about everything? He smiled to himself. "I take this bus every day, how have we never met before?" 

"How do you know we haven't?” He joked, Fin was a bit shocked that he would forget someone like him. Jay sensed his uncertainty, “I walk normally. I love walking through the city. And soon I will be somewhere totally different so I want to remember everything I love about this place while I can. The things and people here inspire me, but the whole world is waiting for me."

"Leaving the city?" 

"There is a whole world of inspiration out there. I want to see all of it." 

“You want to travel? That sounds nice, but I don't think finishing med school and traveling would work well.” 

Jay smiled  “I'm not sure what would happen if I was held to one thing for that long. You are a determined person.”

“Determined? I guess, really I just want to be stable, so I know that I have everything I need.” Fin’s ton was serious.

“If I couldn't paint the world, draw the happiness on peoples faces, I would never be happy.” The bus moved slowly past the accident and finally began its route again. Jay watched as the accident faded behind them. He sighed at the thought of this conversation coming to an end soon. " I know med students work super hard, but you know you really should take a break someday, see something new, something beautiful." 

Maybe one day I will let go enough too. He thought. "Even if you are great at being free, having roots is good too."

          Maybe someday I will find my way back here and I will do that. Jay thought. They stared at each other for a moment smiling and not sure what to say next. What do you say to a stranger who says something so deep and so true to you?

      The bus came to a stop and they both looked toward the bus stop.  

It was Fin's stop, Jay looked at the hospital that was not too far up the road. He decided he would get off as well. 

          "This is my stop." They both said to each other. They smiled and Jay followed Fin off the bus. For just a moment they stood quietly. 

          "Well, the hospital is right there." Jay pointed east. 

         "There is a nice coffee shop that way." Fin pointed west, matching Jay's playful energy. They laughed together one last time. 

          Fin looked past Jay at the rain that was still pouring down. "I guess the rain turned out to be lucky today." 

     lucky? Jay thought, nodding his head slightly. 

     "If it wasn't like this today, you would be walking and I would be sitting alone looking at notes. Freaking out about being late." He smiled gently and warmly at Jay. "Instead, I had a chance to meet someone new. Someone so different I realize sometimes there's nothing I can do about it so just sit and chill. Thank you, Jay." 

      "I'm glad I also met you today." Jay smiled, looking at the rain. "Well, Fin take care." He said with a last look at him and ran into the rain. 

       "See ya, Jay." He yelled at him. 

  Fin walked through the door of the emergency room walking straight to a locker room and through his bag and umbrella on the floor. Fin opened his bag and pulled out his shirt. A piece of paper fell to the floor, it was folded up nicely in half. He picked it up and opened it on the paper was a detailed watercolor painting of a man walking down the side of a street. Everyone in the picture was different shades of brown. The only person in color was a man walking down the street as he passed by the buildings they began to become colored. It was a beautiful picture. He looked at it and admired it, paying attention to every detail. As he looked harder he realized the man was carrying his bag and wearing his favorite sweater and hat. The man in the picture was him. He smiled, and chuckled lightly, holding on to the picture tight. He traced the lines of his own figure walking Fate is cruel, and you never said anything. He folded it back up and placed it in his locker. I think tomorrow I will walk here, maybe just look around for a moment.

     Jay laughed lightly to himself as he pulled open a door to a coffee shop. It's too bad, we are walking two very opposite paths. Though I never intended to, I met you on my last day here, I'm glad. He ordered a coffee and sat down at a table. Maybe if destiny allows, we will meet again. He watched the lighting dance outside the window and sipped his coffee. Roots huh? I don't think roots make a home, not really. Maybe it is just a person, someone who makes your world just a little more colored.