Nadija knew Igor carried a bag of oranges on Tuesdays. Igor knew she slipped off her shoes as soon as she sat on Fridays, discreetly enough for the driver not to notice. They met on the bus after work, usually in the same seats. Their conversations lasted exactly seven stops. That was the distance to Nadija's building. Afterwards he waved through the glass and continued two more stops, returning to a dinner he usually ate standing up.
One Thursday they discussed an argument in his building about an abandoned bicycle. Nadija recognised her stop, pressed her bag against her knees, and remained seated. She wanted to hear the ending, she told herself, although the story already had one. Igor was so occupied watching her laugh that he did not immediately notice. When he did, she asked where he bought good bread. That question spared them explanations for the next two turns.
At his stop somebody beside them rose. Igor did not move. He said he was going farther today. Nadija nodded, trying not to sound more interested than politeness allowed. Thus two people who normally could hardly wait to reach home spent ten more minutes pretending an urgent obligation awaited elsewhere. Shops thinned outside the window. The bus grew emptier and their excuse louder.
At the final stop the driver switched off the engine. Nadija began laughing before she stood. She said she should have left much earlier. Igor pointed back along the road and admitted the same. They stood beside a closed kiosk, two adults with work bags and a thoroughly unconvincing plan. Nadija asked whether they had just missed the simplest way to invite each other for coffee.
Igor said he had prepared the question at least three times, but the bus had braked at the wrong moment each time. That was not entirely true, so he immediately corrected himself. He had feared rejection would cost him even those seven stops. Nadija felt tenderness towards that small, reasonably adult concern. She pointed to a café opposite, open despite the nearly empty street.
They sat by the window and discovered that conversation without a timetable sometimes paused. They did not mind. Nadija ordered a sandwich too; Igor admitted he bought Tuesday's oranges for his mother. They returned home on a later bus. This time they got off at different stops exactly when they should, because they already had plans for Saturday.