The board blinked RED DELAYED. My ticket said Vienna, Platform 9. The woman next to me checked hers: Venice, also Platform 9. "That's not..." she started. "Impossible," I finished. The announcement: both trains stuck, no time. We looked at each other. "This feels personal," she said. I laughed. "Like the universe is deciding for us."
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.