It was definitely Harry, the ponytail sticking up from the back of his head confirmed it. I stayed in my seat, unsure whether or not I should get up and leave, or get up and say hi. I'd just spent an hour with him, he might think I'm a creep following him or something. I decided to pull out my phone and act as if I was none the wiser. I had been staring at the screen for a few minutes when I felt a presence in front of me, and sure enough, when I looked up, he was standing beside the table holding a steaming mug.
"Fancy seeing you here,"
"Long time no see," I grinned, happy that he had discovered me.
"We've really got to stop meeting like this."
"You've just got to stop following me around then."
"Can't help myself, can I?" He grinned, and his white smile simply lit up the room. I was really growing fond of this kid. He looked at the empty space across the table and then back at me. "Were you still waiting for your friend?"
"Oh no, he left a short while ago. I was just finishing up my coffee before I head home. Did you just get off work?" I stared at the empty mug and hoped he wouldn't notice.
"Yeah, I only work until 2 on Saturdays." He took a sip of his coffee. "Have you got any plans?" I shook my head no, and he looked at me a few moments before continuing. "I was just headed to the park to kick around a football with my mates. You should join us, yeah?"
My face broke into a smile. "I'd love to."
As we were leaving, an elderly couple was coming in. Harry moved to the side and held the door open for them, and then gestured for me to go through next when they had passed. Manners too, I thought to myself, adding that to the list of things I liked about him. It didn't occur to me that we would be driving to the park until I saw him fish his keys out of his back pocket. Sure enough, he led me to the Ford Taurus I spotted in the parking lot of the gym earlier that day. I caught a closer glimpse of all the bumper stickers adorning the back, and laughed out loud at the first one I saw. It was a red background with the words "Sarcasm: it beats killing people" printed in bold black ink.
"Nice collection you've got back there," I joked as I climbed into the passenger seat.
"Thanks, " he said, laughing with me. "I'm quite opinionated."
He switched on the radio and classical music poured out of the speakers. I didn't take Harry for a classical music kind of guy, but then again he was full of surprises. I didn't pay much attention to the music because we soon found ourselves yet again engrossed in conversation. As he drove, I found out he was a year older than me and had been out of school for over a year. When I asked him why he hadn't gone back, he just said he never got around to it. He got certified as a personal trainer pretty easily, it paid the bills and he liked the job enough, so he never thought much about going back. He talked about his love for art, drawing and digital design, and expressed his childhood dream of becoming a videogame designer. When he spoke about art, it wasn't the same way he spoke about his job at Equinox. He spoke with passion and interest, but the drive was lacking. I wondered if there was a deeper meaning as to why he never went back.
We talked about my schooling some more, and I told him in a month when summer vacation ended I would be starting my placement in the psychiatric wing of the hospital in town.
"Is that code for you're checking into a nutter house?" He joked.
"Might just be, I 'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you." I grinned and saw him glance over at me in my periph, but I stayed looking ahead. As we pulled into the parking lot of our destination, I spotted a group of 4 guys standing in a circle on the soccer field, passing a ball between them.
