This was around 12:00 at night on a Friday. I was on a bus sitting across from a shifty looking older man who appeared to be drunk, and near a mid-30s woman leaning against the window listening to music. The woman was looking REALLY HARD out the window, and the man was staring at her in a rather unappetizing way. Not long after I sat down, the man leaned over to the woman and said, "You look cute like that." The woman looked extremely uncomfortable but unwilling to say anything. I was pretty much immediately on alert and started to keep an eye on him. A few minutes later he reached over and touched her purse, trying to get her attention, but went back to his seat when she ignored him. Strike two. Finally at some point he gets up and starts to try to sit down next to her. The woman looks like she wants to die. Strike three.

I look around, I can see that everyone else is just as uncomfortable, but no one wants to say anything, so I speak up: "Excuse me, you need to leave her alone." The guy stands up, half-staggers over to me, and starts loudly berating me, telling me I need to mind my own business. I interject, "Listen, I don't care. You just need to sit down and leave that woman alone." The guy then challenges me to a fight. I should mention at this point that I'm 5'1" and female. There's no way I'm going to have a fight with this guy. But I don't think he's serious. So I just repeat, "no, I don't want to fight you. You need to sit down." He keeps arguing. I keep repeating myself.

Finally the next stop comes and the guy stumbles off the bus. Everyone in my vicinity bursts out laughing, partly at the absurdity of the situation and partly in relief. Another man sitting across from me asked, "How did you do that?" Honestly, I don't even know.