Kalon / t.j.

Three

After Tyler and I both walk out of the record store with handfuls of various records we find ourselves back in the tiny space of my car.

"Are you hungry?" I say, trying anything to stay out a little longer, not wanting to go home to that empty house.

"Yeah, can we get Taco Bell?" I was never one to eat Taco Bell but the excitement behind Tyler's eyes somehow convinced me to give in to his pleads.

"Yeah sure" I say as I put the car into drive, Tyler claps his hands together as a smile laces his face. We pull up to the vacant parking lot and both make our way inside the fast food restaurant.

"What are you getting?" Tyler says, causing me to advert my eyes away from the menu behind the counter to his face.

"I don't know, I've never had Taco Bell" I say which causes his face to scrunch together. Tyler doesn't say anything else to me as he orders the food, something for him and me. When the order is placed his swiftly turns towards me, his face plain.

"I can't believe you've never had Taco Bell" he basically yells, his voice laced with hurt. The plain emotion slips from his face as it scrunches together. I laugh at his actions and roll my eyes at the over dramatic boy.

"Whatever" I flash a smile at him as the boy lets out a pouty face and he pulls his arms across his body. I brush it off as I scan the restaurant around me. Trash littered the floors and tables, food was everywhere and I instantly scrunch my face in disgust. "Can we go eat somewhere else? Like a park?" I gesture at the unclean eating area and back at Tyler, hoping he'd get the hint. His eyes span the small area and the same face of disgust washed over his face and I feel relieved knowing I won't have to come in contact with that seating area.

After we stock up on enough tacos to feed a whole family we drive a few minutes to the nearest park, it was a vacant park, no kids litter the play area and I was thankful that I could enjoy my new food in peace. After we both place ourselves in a grassy area under a tree I instantly lay flat on my back as my eyes advert to the skies, a habit I seem to have.

"Accubation" I say swiftly as I put the end of the taco into my mouth. My words cause Tyler to take his eyes off the taco he's holding in his hand to meet my face.

"What did you just say?" He says with a mouthful, obviously not minding his manners. I quickly swallow my mouth full of food and glance at him, the sun lay behind his head so I couldn't see his eyes.

"Accubation, the practice of eating or drinking while lying down" I say as the taco finds its way back to my lips as the flavor instantly fills my mouth. Tyler shakes his head in a swift motion and I can hear a laugh escape from his lips.

"How do you know all these words?" He breathes out, his eyes dance across my face as curiosity leaks from his eyes.

"I have a lot of free time" I effortlessly say in between bites.

"Yeah, I know" he chuckles before he speaks again "but how do you just have them, are you a writer? What's the need for knowing the words" his hands find his hair and he gently tugs on the ends of it as his nerves begin to grow behind his eyes. I sit up at the sudden topic of discussion.

"Words are what makes the world work, lethologica, the ability to recall a precise word for something. I like to speak how I'm feeling or doing, I like to have words for something that I can't describe on my own."  I say as In between bites that finish off my taco. Tyler doesn't speak a word after that until we're back in the ever so suffocating space of my car.

"I like that, the words." Is all he says to me during the ride home as music fills as the space and time in between.

When I pull up into my cracked driveway my stomach itches, not from the tacos I consumed but from the lack of comfort I find within my home. Tyler glances at me swiftly as confusion laces across his face, he must have noticed my uncomfortable state. I watch his lips start to move to form a word but he stops and shuts his mouth as his eyes brush off the worry,  his throat itches to speak but he keeps quiet. I watch him climb out of the small tension filled  car, he waves swiftly and mouths a thank you to me before receding to his house.