Love Out Loud 5

Playing On The Heartstrings

With Shelley spending the Labor Day weekend in Door County with her parents, Kailen decided to use her temporary freedom and asked Mike out for dinner at Trouble and Sons Pizzeria. Mike picked her up at Augsburg and they drove back to their hometown and the slightly-out-of-the-way restaurant on Silver Spring Drive.

Even though Kailen and Mike had known each other for twelve years, and gone to school together for the first four, on this occasion the pair seemed to have a hard time getting a conversation started. Perhaps each was concerned about telling the other things of which they were embarrassed, or felt like they should carry on a more "adult" conversation than just catching up on the past. The silence eventually became deafening for Kailen and she reached across the table to touch Mike's hand.

Kailen: Mikey....I've comforted you when bullies on the playground would get after you for being more friendly with the girls than the boys. Climbed trees with you and chased you up and down the street with a water hose after you decided to drop a water balloon down my shorts. It shouldn't be this hard for us to pick up where we left off when I moved to Monona Grove.

Mike: You're right. I guess I haven't had anyone around here with whom I could just "chew the fat" and be me since you left and I am feeling I need to impress you a little being you're a college student and I'm not there yet. Not to mention you are seriously good-looking.

Kailen: You don't need to impress me, bud. I'm still the same tomboy I was before I left. I just went through a growth spurt and left my gawky stage behind while I was away. Hey....remember that time when I picked up Michaela on my way home from the middle school and almost got into a fight with some of the boys who were hanging about?

Mike: You mean when the fifth-graders teased me about you being my girlfriend and dared me to kiss you?

Kailen: Yes. You also remember how I responded?

Mike: You said if I tried that, the only thing my lips would touch would be a set of knuckles.

Kailen: You know I wasn't totally serious about popping you in the mouth. I just didn't want THAT occasion to be the first time you and I might have considered doing that.

Now that the veneer of guardedness had been brushed away, the two of them dove into the good, bad, and ugly of their separate pathways, including their current love lives (Kailen being with Shelley and Mike feeling he's gay but not yet having tried anything beyond flirting with other boys), like two longtime pals would after a long separation.

Following the paying of the check and having their leftover pizza boxed-up, Kailen and Mike left the restaurant and returned to Trinity. Before leaving the car, Kailen thanked Mike for taking her up on the invite and hugged him warmly. He placed a kiss on the upper part of her cheek, making her giggle a little. After walking into Augsburg and getting up to the third floor, Kailen made a beeline for Emma and Savannah's room, knowing that they were still on-campus due to the latter's field hockey game tomorrow against DePauw.

Savannah: Kailen! Why you all dressed-up?

Kailen: I went out on a bit of a date tonight with one of my old friends.

Emma: Would that be the guy we saw you with at the wedding last week?

Kailen: Yes. His name is Mike and we lived three houses apart in Whitefish Bay before my family moved out to the Madison area. Anyways, I need to debrief a little and pick your brains about what to make of tonight.

Savannah: Pull up a chair and let it out.

Kailen took the chair from Emma's desk and brought it with her over to the foot of the roommates' improvised double bed. After sitting down and taking a deep breath, she started telling her story of the evening.