You're A Mess, Tangled With Your Confidence

Rendezvous

"Dirk I'm really confused." I watched as he walked back and forth, anxiously muttering under his breath. I looked where we were previously sitting, but he didn't seem to notice anything around him. His expression was unreadable as he did so and I couldn't help but feel a knot in my stomach as I felt his aura of worry. Why's he acting like this? I didn't really understand what any of this meant. For me. For Dirk. For us? I shook my head, snapping back into reality. Dirk was still my friend.

"Hey, Dirk?" I took a step closer to him, reaching forward and grabbing his wrist. He stopped suddenly, as if he was reminded he wasn't alone. I studied the clothes he wore. I didn't notice at first but I admired the deep orange bomber jacket he wore. A fitting black tee was showing behind his unzipped jacket, and his dark denim jeans stood out against his bright white shoes.

"Sorry, Jake. . . I guess all of this is kind of confusing, huh?" You could say that again.

"I'm sorry, Dirk. But I'm still kind of lost." I could hear the confusion in my voice registering in his brain and he sighed. He just seemed so stiff. I wanted to be there for him then best I could and I didn't know how to do that right now. I studied his features, and I could tell his thoughts were going a mile a minute. If only I could see his eyes right now.

"It's just, I don't know what to think about all this. Like, royal descendants?" I realized I was still grasping his wrist and I instinctively let go. Idiot. I hoped there wasn't red on my face. I didn't want to picture those eyes he had boring into me right now. I had to try to focus.

"I mean, I don't know how else to put it. Bro filled my head up with all these stories. And well. . . We're not normal, Jake." Not normal?

"I like to think 'normal' is a construct. Nobody's normal Dirk." I heard his whimsical chuckle at my instant quip. I averted my eyes back to him, and it seemed like his stiff exterior wore off a bit.

"You're right, Jake. But you're definitely something special." I felt heat on my face as those words bounced around in my head. Before I could do anything else, he put his hand on my shoulder. Ope.

"What I think we need, right now, is to maybe find somewhere else to talk. I still have a lot of explaining to do. I think it's time to show you who I really am." His voice held a tone of uncertainty and I had no idea what I was getting into.

*Time Skip*

I felt unsure as I listened to our feet walk slowly on the gravel. The sun had decided to make a brief appearance and I found myself thinking about the clouds. When did all these clouds roll in? It was so sunny before. He hadn't really spoken much since making his bold statement. Instead he seemed to be lost in thought. I fiddled with the ends of my sleeves and I tried not to overthink about how close he was. A part of me wished Bec was still with me. That fluffball always knows how to comfort me.

"You're kind of quiet." I immediately glanced at his face, surprised to hear him talk out of the blue.

"Yeah. Just thinking" my voice came off as kind of quiet and I cleared my throat. Which suddenly had felt dry. Cloud gazing more like.

"I was doing some thinking too. I apologize for dropping this all on you. I must sound insane, heh." I caught small signs of despair in his face and I noticed his jaw tighten.

"I don't think you're crazy. But I don't really know enough right now to be able to make any assumptions at all, really." I trailed off, feeling the inner need to comfort him tugging at my heart. I didn't know how to feel or what to think. The sounds of the city surrounded us, and the only thing that I found to be familiar were the sounds of birds chirping. Home. Suddenly, his footfalls stopped and I instinctively did the same. We both were standing in front of his car. I remember the utter shock in first learning he owned a vehicle at all. I was studying the sleek black paint when I heard the doors unlock.

"Down to go on a drive with me?" I clutched the strap to my messenger bag and a small laugh escaped my mouth. The dampened vibe had died down and I found myself shrugging.

"I suppose we could." In that moment I knew, regardless of anything that would happen later, I would happily follow him to the ends of the earth. Let's hope that's a good thing.