I had been working extremely hard the past few days, ending up sweat-soaked and tired as a dog. I didn't have the energy or time to shower or freshen up. I knew it was impossible to expect no one else to notice, I just had to hope they would be polite enough to accommodate me and not point it out too explicitly. But I made a mistake. In my exhaustion, I completely missed my train pulling away out of the station without me. Instead I stumbled into the car not noticing the bright red strip of paint designating it as a female-only car.
The bottom fell out of my stomach as the automatic doors shut behind me and the train slowly lurched forward while I sat there with an awkward grin, trying to be as inoffensive as possible before the dozens of pairs of female eyes locked onto me. The eyes of schoolgirls in uniforms with pleated skirts, professionals in form-fitting business-wear, housewives out in the city in summer dresses, lithe fitness fanatics in sports bras and yoga pants, and a dozen more archetypes of women were all focused on me. Some were shocked that I had invaded their space. Others were bemused, their pupils tracing me up and down. I was freshly sweating now from the anxiety. All it would take is one girl, uncomfortable with me being where I was, by-rights unwelcome, to pull an alarm and have me thrown out and likely prosecuted as some kind of pervert.
"I, uh..." I started to speak, but my voice betrayed me, refusing to let the words escape my lips. My mouth had gone dry as I tried to come up with a suitable excuse, but my brain had stopped working. I could only think of the fact that I was here, stuck on a train full of women, and it was a long, long way to the next station.