Coincidence, I Think Not

The lights on the subway flicker a couple of times until they go off. Silence fills the car until the emergency lights flash on and every single person groans loudly. All showing varying levels of irritation as they shift to find an open seat or just plopping onto the floor disregarding the filth.

“Why does this happen every time I decide to take the subway?” Stacy grumbles as she squeezes her eyes shut, rubs her face aggressively, and hits her head once, irritably, on the subway window behind her. If only her car wasn’t currently in the shop after a pretty bad accident she had yesterday, then she wouldn’t be stuck in this stupid situation. The stupid semi-truck was full of bananas. “Honestly, this is just my luck.”

“Really?” A male voice breaks through her self-pity. Can’t people just learn to mind their own business? “Every time? This never happens to me and I ride the subway almost every day.”

“You don’t know my luck,” She responds, not even bothering to open her eyes to look at whoever it was she was talking to. She really didn’t care at the moment. “And yes, every time.”

“Sorry about the inconvenience,” The speaker crackles overhead, causing a nearby baby to start crying. “We are experiencing electrical difficulties and will be getting up and running as soon as possible.”

Stacy groans again and squeezes her eyes shut harder as if trying to block out the whole world. If only that was even possible. Now she wasn’t just annoyed at the subway, like always, but the loud, nearby baby as well.

“What’s your name?” The stranger butts in again and she just sighs, giving in. What’s the use in ignoring him, they will probably be stuck there for a while. When she finally opened her eyes to see him she was actually surprised because she hadn’t thought he was going to be a very handsome stranger.

“Stacy,” She states bluntly, still checking him out. She didn’t hope she looked judgemental but she was definitely judging him. He has somewhat large eyes that somehow perfectly fit on his face, as strange as that sounds. His striking appearance is made even more so with the big smile that seems kind of out of place in their current situation. 

“Hello Stacy, I’m Jackson,” He responds even more cheerfully than his voice had sounded before, which seems like some kind of accomplishment. He reaches his hand out for her to shake but she just stares at it. “Nice to meet you.”

“I don’t think you want to be my friend,” Stacy says before pulling out her phone, but when she sees there is also no service, at that moment, she groans louder than before. “Just my luck.”

Stacy aggressively shoves her phone back in her pocket and repeatedly bangs her head back against the window. She’s too tired to deal with all of this, can’t she just get to work and get this day over with? Then something is between her head and the window and she looks to her right to see that Jackson’s hand was in the way.

She glares at him as he responds to her earlier statement, “One, please don’t hurt yourself, and two, why wouldn’t I want to be your friend?”

Stacy cringes just thinking about all of the reasons he shouldn’t want to be her friend. “Anyone who I have ever considered to be a friend always ends up getting hurt.”

“That can’t be true,” Jackson responds looking at her with that face all her previous friends made. Then they all left soon after, honestly, it’s only fair. I wouldn't want to be stuck with a bad luck charm as a friend either.

“It is. Not too long after we become friends something bad always happens. There was Sarah who got in a car wreck and was paralyzed from the waist down. Tommy got fired from his job and lost his house along with everything else he owned. Jessica’s husband cheated on her then took their kids. Etc, etc.” Stacy says waving her hand in the air in front of her to show that it just kept happening over and over again.

“Those are all just coincidences,” He shrugs but she couldn’t tell if he didn’t care about the reasons she was giving or if he just didn’t believe it in general.

“But they aren’t! I thought so too as a child, but it just kept happening as I got older as well. I’m just seriously tired of seeing my friends get hurt, so now I don’t have any,” Stacy states shrugging as if not having any friends doesn’t hurt her. It’s better off this way, for both parties.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about me. I have amazing luck,” Jackson grins, but Stacy just scoffs, shaking her head at him. “I can prove it.”

“Alright, go ahead.”

“The train is going to start in 3,” Jackson says as he starts to count down, holding up his fingers as he does, and she just rolls her eyes not believing him in the slightest. “2, 1!”

Suddenly, all the lights flash back on and the subway starts moving once more. People cheer loudly while Stacy jumps in shock when the speaker comes on again. “The problems have been fixed and we are on our way once again. Sorry for the delay, have a nice day.”

“See,” Jackson’s grin seems to have doubled, but not in a creepy way but a sweet way. Stacy chuckles softly, rolling her eyes at him.

“That’s just a coinci-” Starts saying but cuts herself off as she realizes that’s what he said to her. She glares at him. “Touche.” 

He just grins.

“Fine, but don’t blame me if your whole life somehow goes wrong,” Stacy just sighs exasperatedly.

This time it’s her turn to reach her hand out for him to shake. She may regret this but she smiles slightly when he reaches out and shakes her hand without even a hesitation on his part.

“I won’t.”