Today I'm going to the aquarium with Tino. I've never seen him so excited before. I guess he likes the aquarium. I hope it doesn't smell like fish.
I'm picking him up at his house. I'm there at 1:00 sharp, just like I said I would be. I text him, "I'm here."
He texts me back, "Just a minute!!" Tino is not very punctual.
After about three minutes, Tino runs out his door, putting his jacket on at the same time. Right when he gets to my car he trips on his own feet, but catches himself before he can fall. He opens the door and stutters "Sorry!" many times.
"I was just finishing breakfast, I didn't think you would be here exactly at one!" Tino says with embarrassed laughter.
"Did you finish your breakfast?" I ask. I don't want him to go hungry.
"No, but it doesn't matter."
"Do you want to stop and get something to eat?"
"Uh, we don't have to!"
Tino looks like he hasn't touched his hair since he woke up. It's sticking out all over the place under his white beret. I stroke the back of his head to flatten his hair. He is very tense. I don't know why.
"Berwald what are you doing?" Tino blurts in a string of words.
"Oh." I put my hand back on the steering wheel. "Your hair looked a little messy, that's all." I start the car without another word. I feel embarrassed.
After a minute of driving in complete silence, I turn on the radio. The first thing I hear is, "loving can hurt". I change the station immediately, and hear a clip of what sounds like the same damn song, "eyes are never closing, hearts are never broken,"
Djävala...no way I'm listening to this crap.
I change to the CD menu and play my favorite song. (A/N it's the Swedish hip hop from the fault in our stars)
Tino is giggling quietly. I look over at him. I love to look at him when he is smiling. I love to look at him in general. He is the most beautiful person I've ever met, after all.
"You don't like popular music, do you?" he says.
"No, not really." After a moment of silence, I wonder if I should have just kept the radio on. "Do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Like popular music?"
"I mean, it depends. I like Taylor Swift. I don't like when they overplay songs like that one. I used to like Ed Sheeran but then his songs got annoying and depressing and they played them over and over again. Sorry, I'm rambling. Heh heh."
"No, that's ok. You can talk as much as you want to."
We arrive at the aquarium a couple minutes later. When we get inside, Tino makes the cutest gasping noise as he gazes in awe at the colorful fish surrounding us.
"What are we waiting for Berwald let's go!" Tino grabs my hand and drags me to a tank with small fish. I watch these little creatures for a bit, darting then stopping, floating for a bit, moving their mouths. Not much to look at.
