Impress Me Not: The Architect

Chapter 30

"It's been a while since I've seen you here," the old man sat down. They were at the bus stop in the same part of town that he had wound up just a few weeks ago. With the same darkness surrounding them and soft lights near a beat-up apartment complex that somehow housed the few people who called it home. The last time he was there was right before he felt happiness again.

Before he had almost lost that happiness.

"I messed up again," Casimir said, his head hung low. The cement was barely visible that night. There was just the faint, bluish light that came from the bus stop. The clouds covered the moon and the stars, crying their own tears of sorrow. The sound of their cries was a soft lullaby to his heart. It was a reminder of so many bad memories that he already had before this. Memories he didn't want to relive. The rain was comforting, even though it was cold.

"Well, I've heard that before," Norman said, making himself at home at the run-down bus stop. "You aren't human if you don't screw up at least five times in your life."

"Five times?" he asked. "Where did you get that number?"

"Around," Norman winked at him. "That's not a contest now, you know. Too many idiots think it is and try to get the high score."

Casimir couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. That all sounded so foolish to think about. As much as he was happy to be laughing a little, though, he was still upset by all that had happened just a couple days before.

"I lost my girlfriend by making this mistake," he told him. "And I almost lost my boyfriend now."

"Man," Norman sighed, leaning back in his seat. "You just get the best of both worlds, don't ya?"

"Unfortunately," he gave a sad smile towards him.

He really tried to change. He wanted to start off their relationship completely different from his last one. But he just too caught up in how great it felt to be loved again. He was worried that he was going to lose him as soon as he saw that man with his arms around Valentino's shoulders.

"What did you do?"

"I kept going to his work," he admitted, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "And I thought he was cheating on me."

"Was he?"

"No," Casimir shook his head. "I almost got broken up with because of accusing him of it."

He was glad that they could make up. The rest of the night was a bunch of talking. They talked about what they liked doing and stories about each other's past. It was interesting to learn that his Corvette was the only car he ever owned. He told some interesting stories about that car and how he was able to fix it all up. Casimir loved his stories. It made him long to be apart of them one day. To laugh and be happy with him.

"Well," Norman stared at the rain as it poured down. "I'm not exactly the person to go to for relationship advice. I mean, my girl is just about as crazy as I am."

"How did you two meet?" Casimir asked. This old man was a strange one. But he liked talking to him. He added some warmth to the cold rainy night.

"Well, we were neighbors," he told him, looking lovingly at the run-down apartment complex. "She didn't want me at first, though. At first, she wanted this doctor that her coworker was dating. That's a whole bag of bullshit that you don't want me opening right now, though. He was really nice and all, from what I could tell when I met the guy. His girlfriend was the bitch."

"And how did you win your girlfriend over?" he asked, trying to keep him on topic. He seemed like the type that had so many stories that it was too easy to go on a tangent.