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ears, her hands wrapped around her knees. He thought about whether to wake her, but she seemed so peaceful.
    He reached his hand out and gently touched her shoulder, “Miranda? We have stopped again.” Adrian was tried to be quiet so he did not startle her, but it appeared he was too quiet. He reached over again and repeated a little louder, “Miranda. We have stopped, you should wake up now.”
    Slowly, Miranda opened her eyes. Still tired, she dropped her hands away from her knees so she could rub her eyes. When she finished, she looked over at Adrian with a strange expression, almost questioning. He did not understand what the look was for because he did not recall putting his hand over hers the night before.
    “Well, I am going to stretch a little and use the bath…..the loo.” Adrian laughed just a little at the word. It was definitely an English term that he was not used to using. Before Miranda could reply, Adrian got up and left the bus with a few other people.
    Adrian did not waste any time as he headed to the bathroom. Unfortunately, there was a short line. That is the drawback to travelling in larger groups.  As he waited in line, a similar line formed at the women’s bathroom as well. Adrian couldn’t help but notice a strong accent that he could not place, but understood that they spoke English. He looked over to see two women in their early twenties as they talked like they had not seen each other in weeks. One of the girls looked his direction and saw him. Quickly, Adrian diverted his gaze and faced forward waiting for his turn.
    To his side, he could hear whispering between the two women and they both started to giggle. One of the girls was not as quiet when she said, ‘He is pretty cute. I wonder if we can keep him.’ Adrian started to blush, not knowing how to react. He was glad that it was his turn to enter the bathroom, being chased by more giggling. Adrian washed up a little in the bathroom, tried to clean his face and wash away the tiredness he felt. He realized that he had gotten his sleeves wet in the process. He removed his long sleeve shirt, keeping the small white sleeveless undershirt on. It was not the best looking thing that he owned, but it would serve its purpose and was dry.
    Adrian wash ed his face a little more with the cold water. The tattoo on his right lower arm was a reminder of many things to him in his life. People would see it as a mesh of different designs wrapped around his arm. To him it represented his creativity, his fascination with the fantasy world, courage, bravery, and being strong enough on the outside to not let the little things penetrate. When he was finished, Adrian went to the small café to find something that resembled food and coffee. He was still very tired from him four day walk and he needed to replenish his energy.

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    Slowly, Miranda awoke from her well-applied trance. ‘ Miranda. We have stopped, you should wake up now.’  She opened her eyes and lifted her head from the pillow, rubbing her eyes to wake up.  Oh yes. The bus. Rome.... Adrian.  Her head shot up to look straight in his eyes, immediately flashing back on last night, his hand over hers. Why...? But, even if she wanted, she had no time to ask the question. 
    “Well, I am going to stretch a little and use the bath…..the loo,”  Adrian said, and before she could reply he was already off the bus with a group of others. Miranda stayed in her seat for another couple minutes, going over every detail of last night and why it seemed like nothing had happened. Perhaps he was trying to avoid an awkward situation, or perhaps he simply didn't remember. Miranda shook her head wildly to get the brain twists out, and then folded her blanket again. She put it on her chair and placed the pig pillow on top of it. Then she took her bag and left for the loo and the shop for coffee. 
    There was a bit of a line at the loo, and Miranda was just in time to see Adrian disappear in the