Favourite Explosion (Sequel to PAPOM)

Meeting Mates

Not much had really happened all day. Well, nothing at all actually. I dropped Kellin off first thing in the morning so that he could get first dibs on room selection. It was a Friday afternoon, and we leave for Albany in the evening, so I don't work today either. Mostly, I had been organizing and cleaning my condo since I finally had the time.

I was mid-packing when I got a call from Kellin. He invited me out to lunch, so here we were, sitting opposite each other at a small local diner. We hadn't said much on the drive over and now we sat in an awkward silence while the waitress took far too long to write down our order in her dime-sized notebook.

My eyes wandered around the small joint, looking at all the old pictures scattered on the walls. I then looked over at the bar and watch as a few drink were made. The whole aura of the place is very country styled, with a home-like feel to it. I don't know how, but they definitely achieved the warmth and smell of an ideally perfect home.

The waitress finally walked away, mumbling something to herself. My eyes wandered over to Kellin's and I found him already looking at me with a smile on his face.

"What?" I asked him.

"Nothing," he shrugged, "just happy." And that made me smile.

"How was your morning?" I ask, brushing off his comment.

He shrugged, "it was okay."

"Just okay?" I wondered.

He gave me a disbelieving look and said, "it's unpacking. Okay is the best it can get."

"Good point," I replied, chuckling.

"Yours?" he asked.

"A lot better now that I'm with you," I told him. His cheeks puffed out as he smiled brilliantly.

"It had to've been bad then," he stated.

"Oh please, it could be the best day ever and seeing you would still make it better," I pointed out.

"Aw, you're sweet," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But seriously, tell me about your roommates. I want to hear everything." And I did.

Everything down to which paint colour they preferred, I heard. That's exactly what I wanted, and he knew that. Our relationship dynamics had always been that way. I loved hearing Kellin talk, and he'd always been a talker. Once I would initiate that I want to hear something, Kellin would go on about it until I brought something else up. I liked it that way, I liked hearing him talk. He basked in limelight and transformed it into something of a whole other dimension. He enjoyed the attention, but in a good way. It's like he's the answer to a math question, which is annoying and time-consuming at times, yet extremely rewarding in the end. Although I was the kid who liked math, therefore I skipped over the 'slightly annoying' side effect. I loved hearing him talk. He was always so passionate about even the smallest of things, it was fascinating.

"And then he totally picked on her about it later. It was so funny," Kellin explained enthusiastically, talking about how Maria didn't know cotton from down.

"I bet," I replied, laughing along as he hysterically snorted.

"What about you? I wanna hear some stories about your job, it must be so adrenaline clenching," he said.

I shrug, "not really. I mean, sometimes you get the car chases and fights, but most of it is all in your head. It's just sorting out the pieces of a puzzle before snapping them together."

"Wow. Sometimes I forget how smart you are," he chuckled. I shook my head, refusing the compliment. It wasn't long after that when we had to head back and pack some things for the weekend with the folks. I faught Kellin for the bill, and won, paying our tab before leaving the ginger waitress in the dirt. I gave her a massive tip because, well, I only had that in cash and I wanted to get out of there.