Eavesdropping on Companionship and Good Conversation

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On the train ride home I sat near the doors in that cavity where there are two long bench seats facing each other. It was my mum's birthday today:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!

and so I was carrying an orange and poppy seed cake, as well as a box of lillies.

Opposite me sat a man and a woman. Both were in their fifties. He was dressed in a grey pinstripe suit, a light pink tie, with the tie pin clasped precariously on an uncomfortable slant. The two arms of the tie hadn't been aligned properly and the tie pin sat diagonally with the wider arm of the tie sitting halfheartedly on top of the other.

She sat half turned towards him, dressed in a light pink cardigan, a forgiving skirt and comfortable looking flats. Her hair was greying and ash blonde. She fidgeted with a pair of spectacles which constantly slipped from the bridge of her nose and adjusted her hair periodically while they talked.

I could have been forgiven for presuming they were married. They were after all wearing colour coordinated outfits and their familiarity was obvious. For the entire 45 minute trip, they didn't stop talking once. There was no uncomfortable silence. There were no polite enquiries. There was only laughter, snorting and a shared sense of humour as they egged each other on with fast paced repartee, each trying to outdo the other; both collapsing in hysterics when one eventually succeeded.

I couldn't hear most of their conversation but I so badly wished that I could catch a tiny earful of what was so funny/fascinating/controversal. It was only once when the train had completely stopped, that I caught the woman say:

"See if I was married, I would be so miserable, I'd just want to escape. I truly would. I would feel so trapped".

And then the train started up again and I missed the man's response. But, like a detective who can only get so close, I spied his and her ring fingers: empty.

So they weren't married.

When it got to their stop (which incidentally was my stop), I followed them up the station stairs and listened as they finished off their conversation:

"Okay, see you next time, have a good night!"

They waved and that was it, they went their separate ways: he veered off to the ramp on the left and she walked down the street to the right.

The comfort of companionship and good conversation was all they needed. It was all they expected of one another. And it was nice.