ten ways to say goodbye | quackity & aksually

two

"So, uh.. Alex, are you from here?"

Aksel had mostly remained silent throughout the forty-five minutes they had been at the diner. He still was unable to decipher what the other had been doing, or planning to do, on that bridge. He wasn't going to ask.

As long as this stranger was sat here, making senseless small talk instead of doing something he would regret, it didn't matter.

"No," Alex answered with a shake of his head. "Puebla."

Aksel smiled. "Oh, you're from Mexico. That's cool. I'm foreign, too."

Noticing the furrow of the other's brow, he elaborated. "I know, I sound American, but I'm actually from Tallinn, Estonia. I haven't lived here very long, in actuality. My friend Sam and I moved here about a year ago."

Damnit, he was rambling. He was nervous, he supposed. He didn't really know how to go about conversing with an absolute fucking stranger.

Aksel nervously cleared his throat. "How long have you lived here?"

"Three years," Alex answered. There was much less hesitance than before in his reply. It was comforting.

"Oh," He acknowledged, nodding. "I'm guessing it's not just you here, then?"

He watched Alex's reaction to the question carefully. Once again, he appeared reluctant to answer, and seemed to withhold some information when he finally did.
"No. I live here with my mother and my younger brother."

Before Aksel could properly begin to answer, the waitress returned with his credit card. Their brief conversation had to be cut even more short.
And, more importantly, the other would be let out into the world again, alone. He didn't like the thought of what could happen, considering how he'd found him.

They both stood, migrating towards the door. He smiled as thanks for Alex holding the door for him, though the way the cold air hit him was anything but pleasant.

"Thank you," Alex spoke up. It surprised him, to say the least. "For.. this. I needed the company."

It felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted up off his shoulders.

"It was no problem at all," Aksel insisted. "See you around, Alex?"

"See you around."