Bad Intentions

Meeting Her

Harley Steele was the girl that your mother always warned you was trouble. Harley Steele was the one your dad always worried you'd come home with, and the one your older brother Nash told you to stay away from. Harley Steele was that girl in the movies that you knew was going to screw everything up the first scene you saw her in. She was the reason for all those songs about falling in love with reckless heartbreakers and how you become more careful next time. Harley Steele was like alcohol- you try to stay away because you know it's bad for you, but every time you got even just a little sip you feel that achingly beautiful burn in your throat and you know you can't quit. She was a natural disaster; dangerous and beautiful and so very devastating, but nothing else could make your heart beat faster.

And even though everyone told you to just walk away, you ran straight for the heart of the storm. Even though every sign said "wrong way" you swore you knew where you were going. And why? Because even though you'd never say it out loud, you don't regret a single thing. Because every second spent with Harley Steele was worth it.

She was worth everything.

You met her on the bus; the Osborn 53 headed east. It was dark too, just past eight. You usually didn't take the bus this late, but you had missed the seven thirty bus and this was your only next option. But, you were glad that Ernie hadn't waited up for you- because it was on that eight o' six bus that you saw her.

You were just sitting there, on the isle seat of one of the benches near the front of the bus, an old man sitting in front of you whose heavy breathing could be heard over the soft music playing from the earphones in your ears. It was 'If You Could Only See' by Tonic- one of your favorite songs. And looking back at it, it was the perfect song to describe your connection to Harley Steele. She was something beautiful that nobody understood.

You were quiet, for the most part- you'd always liked to have your music low, to take in the sounds around you. You'd sit on your usual bus and watch the people around you, watch them hurry home or hurry to work or not hurry at all. It made you feel peaceful, knowing that your problems were so small meant that you could overcome them. Knowing that you were one in a million meant that you weren't alone. You'd always felt like a god doing this, a young god watching the people that you'd never see again and ruling out their lives in your head. It was almost romantic.

But Harley was always different- the complete opposite of you. You liked to think that it was meant to be that way, that two so different people became the same because of some giant cosmic love concept. But maybe it was just because Harley was different from everybody, and that's why you were so attracted to her.

So you were sitting on that aisle seat when you saw her, taking the step onto the bus and flipping open her black leather wallet that looked like it had seen some serious hell. You didn't really see her at first, it was hard to see past the uniform she was wearing- a blue and white plaid skirt with a white polo and these terribly ugly black boating shoes that you hoped were part of the uniform. Your first glance was of the back of that uniform, and the back of her head- her barely past the shoulder, choppy, midnight black hair.

What had made you look up initially was the music- her music. You thought that she hadn't had any headphones in, making you think she was rude. But, as she stepped on the bus in those hideous shoes- you learned to love them, eventually- you saw the headphones that were in her ears. You could faintly hear the music over your own, it was actually something you recognized- you think that it's the band Sublime. You smile because you realize that it's playing so loud through her headphones that you can hear it, and it reminds you of your brother Nash, who likes to listen to his oldies rock so loud you always tell him he'll be deaf by the next day. Her head of midnight hair bobbing up and down to a beat that you could hear if you listened hard enough.