OP nothing good comes out of 1 word replies. should've said "No, go right ahead."

Well it was a crowded bus. A hearing aid can be a bit ineffective or not much helpful in this kind of situation.

I'm thinking that he probably had headphones in. A lot of people do that on buses. :)

People assume hearing aids help in every situation, but in personal experience I'd rather avoid the situation. Mainly because it becomes a jumbled mess..

It's common to misunderstand people sometimes, it can be very annoying though!

Time to turn down the homicidal voices in your head... They get so loud sometimes.

The voices in my head combined with the people in the bus are always too loud. That's why it's best to stick with the friendly smile and gesture to the open seat.

Hearing aids make everything a jumbled mess in a crowded place.

The time to do that was before this incident. Now his one true love is gone forever. It's too late.

Be positive, it's never to late for true love!

This is exactly why when you talk to people, you give a complete thought. Not one word comments. OP could have finished the "no" with " No, you can sit here."

That's what I would've said

Well then my work here is done.

40 Exactly what I was thinking! I also learned it is somewhat rude to answer with only one word. But sometimes you just don't think enough and forget to add anything. At least, I know I do.

Oh totally; I just walk onto the bus and say "look at dat stache" and they don't caer if I won't let them sit beside me, they all up on this.

Now I'm having memories of that Axe chocolate commercial, but with a chocolate mustache.

Ooh broccoli.....I bet that gets all the girls!!

Never write free moustache ride in sharpie on the wall it's hard to cover up...

I'm pretty sure that's just what he thought he heard at the time and only realized after that it was incorrect. It happens all the time to me.

Why would he ask her to repeat herself if he thought he heard her correctly?

#5, he could use the old "Excuse me, I **** hear you, I have an ear infucktion. It's OK, I'm taking penis-cillin for it." That always works!

@#17 I'm with #5 on this one. The FML says "Problem is, I didn't hear correctly and thought she asked if anyone was sitting next to me..." It's unclear as to whether OP realized he heard wrong before or after the girl asked if she could sit by him. The way this FML is worded, it sounds (to me) like OP didn't hear the girl's question properly, but assumed she was asking if anybody was sitting in the seat beside him. Sometimes under pressure, when the situation demands an immediate response, I tend to assume things too. It's like a reflex. You don't even need to hear the question to guess what it is in certain circumstances.