apart One

I'm outside Gloucester Road tube, waiting for a bus that will never come cos I'm not waiting for it. I've arrived an hour and a half early and I'm killing some time, nice and slow like. I light a menthol, inhale and spit into a bin, the smoke bites the back of my throat so I fall the cigarette on the floor and crush it out with my heel. Maybe they're healthier but they taste like smut and anyway, I don't wanna live that long. I shuffle my feet and look around, catching the eye of a girl standing a couple yards from me, leaning against a florist, her cream coat picking grime up off the greasy glass. She looks down and I play with my lighter. I glance back and she's all making eyes again. She walks over.
    'Hey,' she says.
    'Hey,' I says back.
    She pauses and flicks her eyes to mine.
    'You're Alex right?'
    Who the hell is Alex? I think
    'Sure.'
    She's looking at me like she's not convinced.
    'I wasn't sure if it was you or not,' I continue.
    'Right, I look a bit different in my picture.'
    Picture? This is sounding new.
    'Yeh, well, so do I right?'
    I look at her, she squints in the sun.
    'You look just fine,' she smiles.
    'You wanna go for ice-cream?'
    'I thought we said coffee?'
    'The sun's out, how 'bout we change our plans?'
    ''k,' and just like that we walk away.