The Law of Polarity

7. Awkward Re-introductions

Two weeks pass in the blink of an eye. I go to class, I go to work, I come home overheated most evenings and usually just deal with it like normal. Pretty mundane stuff.

Except for the one new curveball in my life. The Miraculous Kalum and His Hands of Wonder.

I'll be having a totally normal day— or normal for me at least— and he'll swoop in with something unexpected. Not unwelcome... just not expected.

At work the other day my hands were getting sweaty, and this one fucking jar lid would. not. open.

I'm a fairly large dude: not like crazy buff, but almost 6 feet, wide shoulders, you get the picture. This jar wouldn't open.

Kal slides up next to me, asks to see it, and I'm super frustrated so I just thrust it over knowing he'll have the same problem. Nope. He freezes his hand to the lid, flicks his wrist, and pop, it opens right on up.

He at least had the decency not to gloat.

He's also gotten into the habit of casually touching me, which for most people wouldn't be a big deal and for me it's just... new. What I find entertaining though is that he's not even aware he's doing it half the time. We'll be walking home and he'll just hold my hand, or grip onto my arm around my bicep. The first few times I jerked a bit, caught off guard, and he pulled away apologizing for not paying attention.
Eventually I started anticipating the occasional relief, so I just let him do it until he realizes it himself. He doesn't apologize anymore.

I didn't go so far as to tell him I welcome it... but I'm not stopping him either.

I imagine it's not entirely for my benefit, he probably just unconsciously seeks my warmth when his hands are cold, but I'm selfishly beginning to enjoy the results too.

The casual contact seems like such a natural thing for him, whereas it's completely foreign for me. I don't think he realizes how hyper-aware it makes me; every time he holds my hand I can't concentrate on anything except his fingers interlocked with mine.

We've had two more of our 'chill sessions' as we've taken to calling them, and each one has been easier than the last. The third time Kal actually just asked to hang out since we both had nothing better to do, but he ended up laying with me anyway after noticing I was warm.

I'm starting to get used to his hands on me and it's a little less weird to touch him too. Dare I say I'm beginning to look forward to it...

These thoughts come to me in my daydream, in what's only been a few seconds in reality. I'm reminded of this by the ruckus of my friends sitting around me. I re-focus, feeling Kal's hand on me (what sparked these thoughts in the first place). I hear my friends laughing and smell delicious BBQ.

This is probably a bit confusing, so let me rewind a bit:

It's the Fourth of July today.

Independence Day, the all-American celebration comprised of cookouts with family and friends, burnt hot dogs, under-seasoned burgers, too-soft grilled veggies, nasty potato salad, and not enough cookies. Sprinklers, sparklers, illegal fireworks from your rowdy neighbors, and legal fireworks from the city.

In my experience anyway.

This year we decided to have a cookout with our housemates.

Well... by "we" I mean Wren decided we were having one. But we were all happy to join and have our first get-together including Ronan and Kal.

Well... by "all" I mean everyone except myself. Sitting outside on a sweltering, humid July afternoon is usually a no-no for me. But I put my brave face on and forced myself to go out and enjoy it for as long as I could manage.