The sky was still a bruised shade of indigo, that awkward hour where the moon hasn't quite given up but the sun is already threatening to rise. Despite the early hour, the terminal was buzzing with the low hum of a crowd, dozens of people were already lined up, their faces pale in the glow of their phone screens.
Raine stood at the very tail end of the queue, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. The air smelled of damp pavement and cheap diesel exhaust. "Shit. This is going to take forever," she muttered, tapping her screen to check the time for the fifth time in three minutes. Her patience was paper-thin, fraying at the edges with every minute the line failed to move.
To stop her intrusive thoughts from spiraling into a full-blown internal rant, Raine dug through her bag and pulled out her headphones. She shoved them in, blocking out the sound of distant traffic and the chatter of the crowd.
"Hahh..." She let out a long, shaky breath, trying to physically push the annoyance out of her chest. She scrolled through her playlist and tapped on 'Thank U, Next'. It was her go-to for centering herself. As Ariana's voice filled her ears, Raine leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She let the beat take over, her mind fluttering away from the humid terminal and into the rhythm. For a few minutes, she wasn't a girl stuck in a line, she was just a girl in a song.
The silence that followed the final notes of the track felt heavier than usual. Raine blinked her eyes open, expecting to see the back of the person in front of her. Instead, her eyes went wide.
"Fuck..." she whispered.
Her heart did a painful somersault and a cold chill washed over her. The long, bustling line was gone. The jeepney was gone. The terminal was an empty concrete slab, and she was standing there awkwardly alone like a statue.
"What is fucking wrong with me? Geez, that song made me drift off way too hard," she hissed at herself. She kicked at a loose pebble, her face heating up with a mix of anger and embarrassment. She looked around the empty space, grumbling under her breath about the "kindness of strangers, annoyed that not a single person had poked her shoulder or yelled that the jeepney was loading.
"Um... Hey. Raine, right?"
The voice was sudden, vibrating through the quiet morning air right behind her. Raine's eyebrows shot up. She spun around, nearly tripping over her own feet, to find a guy standing there. He looked about her age, wearing a casual expression that made her feel even more self-conscious.
"Yes, I am. Why?" Raine asked, her voice defensive, a reflex for whenever she felt caught off guard.
The man smiled, and for a split second, Raine felt a weird, traitorous flutter in her chest. He held out his hand, dangling a small piece of fabric. "I saw your handkerchief on the ground. I noticed the name embroidered on the corner."
Raine's brow furrowed as she looked at the fabric, then at her empty pocket. Great. Careless, too, she thought. She snatched it from him, trying to keep her hand from shaking. "Oh. Yeah, that's mine. Thanks, man," she said, trying to inject some "cool" into her tone. She desperately hoped he hadn't seen her standing there with her eyes closed like a dork while the world moved on without her.
"No problem, Ma'am," he said, his smile widening. "And you can call me Lex. Nice to meet you, by the way."
Raine froze, the word echoing in her head. Ma'am. It felt like a bucket of ice water. It was the most formal, awkward thing anyone had ever called her, especially a guy who looked like he belonged in the same year level as her. She stared at him, struck by the contrast of his relaxed posture and that strangely polite, almost old-fashioned address.
"Yeah... don't call me 'Ma'am.' It's kind of weird," she protested, her face turning a deeper shade of red.
Lex let out a short, genuine laugh at her reaction. "Okay, noted. That's cute. I need to go now, though. Nice to meet you, Raine."
He gave a small wave and walked away, his stride easy and confident. Raine stood frozen on the spot, mentally tallying up the sheer amount of social awkwardness she had managed to collect in the span of five minutes.
"I'm so fucked up," she groaned, burying her face in her hands. "God, this is so awkward."