made a friend on the train.
Made a friend on the train the other day.
Valentine’s Day. The day of love. Thousands of people are travelling across the country to meet their lovers. A story of sudden romance, running into each other at the station. Complete strangers travelling to the same destination, destined to celebrate a day of love together. Not quite. Actually, far from that.
Stood in disbelief over the number of people filling the train station, lines wrapping around each other as they seemed to pour in. Grunting my teeth joined the end, behind a boy with headphones and a chunky backpack. A poor, confused man came to us asking travelling questions; neither of us had the answer either. That’s how it all started. The poor, confused traveller left us, confused by his question, laughing at our own incompetence. [Redacted], whose name I hadn’t gotten yet, told me he was going to a club tonight. Now, I have to state I normally don’t assume people’s sexuality, especially simply based on their voice, but my voice left my mouth before my morning brain caught up. The first official thing I said to [Redacted] was, “You going to the George?” No hesitation. No thoughts. The George is the most popular gay bar in Dublin, which just happens to be where we were heading. Thankfully, [Redacted] took it well. Laughing at me as I frantically tried to explain how queer recognises queer. He must have liked it. Liked it so much we ended up sitting with each other and talking for the entire two-hour journey.
He was easy to talk to. Funny lad. Reminded me of [Redacted 2] and [Redacted 3] when he was younger. Talked about a lot of the same stuff [Redacted 2] and [Redacted 3] used to talk about. Although, [Redacted 2] always wanted to seem some sort of hard lad but never actually did drugs. Smoked once on a night out, ended up having to wait for an ambulance as he had a seizure. Later on told everyone he was doing coke. He wasn’t; I was with him basically all night. I don’t think weed causes seizures. Sat on a stone wall sometime after 2 am with a co-worker of mine at the time. Smoke from a cigarette blowing back into my face as she stressed, smoked, waiting for [Redacted 2 ]’s parents to show up. Updating the bar staff and security whenever they came out to us. Held her for a bit as she shook. A rare moment where I actually was glad she was there.
Another co-worker who was certified in some health-related thing, maybe CPR? My mate and a nurse who was about to go home after a girls’ night out all huddled around [Redacted 2]. Co-worker and I were of no help and didn’t want to crowd him. While waiting on that small stone wall, we ended up calling another ambulance for a drunk man who had been punched in the head, with blood spilling. Forced my co-worker to call the ambulance on my phone cause I panicked and didn’t know what to say. Sometimes I miss my hometown.
[Redacted] also reminded me a lot of when [Redacted 3] was younger. For that reason, I hope our friendship is immortalised on that train carriage, and we never see each other again.