I spoke before thinking. "Your ticket Platform 9?" She glanced at me. "Yes." "Cool. Same." She didn't smile. We both looked at the board. I'd blown it. Should've said something smarter. Should've said nothing. Now I was just the awkward guy with a one-word conversation starter.
Thirty seconds later: "I'm Theo. Vienna." "Alex. Venice." She said it like reading from a script. But she didn't move away. She just... stayed. Like maybe being alone with her own thoughts was worse than standing next to a stranger. I didn't push. Some connections start in the gaps between words.
The board flickered. Still delayed. I risked it: "Bad day?" She let out a long breath. "Bad week. Bad everything, actually." "That's rough." "Yeah." We stood quiet. Then: "I lost my job two days ago. Now I'm leaving for two weeks and hoping I figure out if I'm worth keeping around." I recognized that feeling.