Unexpected Encounters [B.H.M.]

18

Brian ended up staying for quite some time that evening and we had fun. At least I knew I did and he seemed like he did too which was good. I even got him to laugh a couple of times, and let me tell you, he had the most wonderful laugh I had even heard. I hoped I would get to hear that more often.

We agreed to meet up more often in the evening, but unsurprisingly he kept cancelling. On Tuesday he even called my school to let the secretary know he wouldn't make it, only to show up at my place later that evening anyway. Just like every other evening. It was strange, but somehow I didn't mind. It was nice, and I enjoyed his company. Even though he kept cancelling I was planning my evenings with him in mind. And he never failed to disappoint, eventually he would always show up at my door, empty handed for the first days of the week, but then always with something, flowers, wine, chocolate, as he said as an apology. Of course he knew that he was being indecisive, and I could tell he felt bad but I tried to make sure that never brought him down for too long.

It seemed to work, because by the time Sunday evening rolled around he showed up at my flat with a small smile on his face and that was a huge contrast to what I had seen on him so far. I had only seen that smile slowly make an appearance on his face over the course of the evening, but now he was greeting me with a smile and that was so wonderful.

"Hey Frida," he said softly.

"Hey," I replied, unable to keep myself from smiling back at him. "How are you?" I had to be honest, I hadn't been sure whether to expect him or not. Because... we had somewhat agreed on meeting up again - he had said 'see you tomorrow' when he had left the night before - but he hadn't called to cancel. And that seemed weird to me. Of course it was good, but I hadn't been sure if maybe I had been stuck in some reverse world where he visited if he cancelled and didn't visit if he didn't cancel. But apparently everything was back to normal - somewhat normal at least.

"I'm okay actually," he told me. "It's been a good day, I had the kids for a few hours earlier," he told me. "I was looking forward to this actually," he admitted as he came inside.

"You were?" I asked him with a smile.

"Yeah. I did have fun these past evenings," he admitted. "I... uhm... I brought this," he told me, handing me a white plastic bag with boxes inside.

"Oh... what's this?" I asked curiously and took it from him. It was nice to have him so talkative as soon as he got here, the past days it had taken quite a bit of effort to get him to break free from this bubble of sadness that always seemed to keep him from interacting properly with the rest of the world.

"I remembered that you mentioned your favourite restaurant, so I went there and I could convince them to give me the food to take away. I hope I got you the right thing, I couldn't remember exactly which of their dishes you like. It's a burger right?," he asked me as he was taking off his shoes and jacket.

I didn't do anything because I was so surprised by that. "You... you got take out?"

"Yeah," he agreed and looked at me warily. "I'm sorry... was that a bad idea? I just... uhm... I wanted to do something nice because you've been so patient with me this past week and I wanted to thank you and I just thought that I-"

I interrupted him before he managed to fill thoughts entirely with negativity. "It wasn't a bad idea, Brian, not at all. I'm just surprised. I didn't expect this, it's so nice of you."

I could see relief wash over his face. "Oh," he breathed, smiling slightly at me. "That's good. I'm sorry, you just didn't seem happy."

"Oh no, I am, I really am, I'm just surprised. They... I thought they don't do take out?" I asked, even though I was sure of that answer. I had asked them multiple times if they were considering that and they had always said no, they wouldn't.