Admittedly, I was staring. At his arms. The weather was warm and I was trying to figure out from the distance of my seat on the bus, what he had on his arms. Was it tatooes? Was it skin grafts….? I had to really stare at him to make my brain interpret. At the same time, I was uncustomairly listening to music with earbuds in. The bus was stopped in traffic for a long time so I had a long stare. Finally, I could decipher it. The design on his arms was the sleeves of his shirt which he was wearing under the leather vest; his arms were not bare. However, my staring had caught the attention of one of the 4 men around the table and he saw my stare as intrusive and inappropriate. I was also wearing sunglasses, so as well as not being able to read my mind, he couldn’t see my eyes. All of a sudden, this table mate started acting up. Gestures and noises that brought my attention to him. A few of them outspoken. And then I realized that I had been staring at 4 gay men who were celebrating something, but obviously he thought I was staring at 4 gay guys… As he made some other movement, I lifted my sunglasses, smiled and waved. Caught him off guard and he stopped mid movement and waved back, just as the bus began to move. He had no idea it was all about the arms.