TJRBB: Human Touch - Part VI
Calibri;color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Human Touch
Part VI
Tommy woke up early; he had to get his flight. Mario was still asleep; luckily he didn’t hear the alarm on Tommy’s phone.
Tommy turned back to Mario who was lying on his stomach, his face towards Tommy. His lips were slightly open, his face relaxed. Watching Mario made him sad in a way that surprised him. They just met yesterday and still it seemed like they’d really knew each other; like they could be so good together.
Tommy cursed silently about bad timing. He resisted the urge to touch Mario and walked out to the bathroom. He thought about waking Mario up. Maybe so he could talk some more, maybe to get a last kiss. But in the end it wouldn’t change anything between them. It would just be harder to leave.
He walked back to the bedroom. Mario was still sleeping. Tommy took time to have a last long look at him. He decided to leave a note. Then he grabbed his stuff and walked out. He hoped it would be easy to forget Mario, just as easy as it was to close the door.
Maybe if they met earlier or under different circumstances they could find out if there was more. But life was like it was. At least they had this one night together. It was ridiculous how much it affected him that this was most likely everything he would ever have with Mario.
He sighed as he got out of the cab at the airport. It was hard to leave Germany, to leave what might have been behind.
He was walking towards the boarding area, when his cellphone vibrated. He got it out and saw a text from a new number. He opened it:
“Thank you for the number and the night. Mario.”
Tommy smiled. It was the right decision to leave his number. Obviously he was right about Mario and that there was something between them. He was standing in the line waiting for his hand luggage to get checked. He was thinking about what to answer when a new text came in.
“Turn around.”
Tommy turned around. He didn’t know where to look at. Then his phone started to ring. He picked up.
“Hello?”
For a few seconds there was nothing.
“Tommy? Look to your left.” Mario’s voice was shaking.
Tommy directed his eyes to the left and saw Mario standing behind a glass front. He smiled and Mario smiled back.
“Tommy, I wish… I don’t even know. I just…”
Tommy’s smile turned sad. “Yeah, I know. Someday, let’s just say someday there won’t be anything between us. For now I just imagine how it would be to walk over and kiss you goodbye.”
Tommy took a deep breath while he waited for an answer.
“Tommy, I can’t promise anything. But I will keep that night in my memory. And I would like to keep in touch, if you want. I mean…”
Tommy interrupted him. “Mario, I gave you my number for a reason. I’m not a twelve year old girl. I know life is not a romantic movie where everything works out eventually. That’s ok for me, really. Whenever you’ll be ready to be more, you know how to contact me. I just can’t promise to wait for you.”
Tommy closed his eyes for a few seconds. Behind him he could hear someone calling for him to move towards the checkpoint. He opened his eyes. Mario was looking at him with the same sadness in his eyes that Tommy was feeling. “Mario, I have to go.”
Mario nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
Silence fell between them and Tommy had to look away.
“Good bye, Mario. Thank you for the nice time, I hope you’ll find what you’re searching for.” Tommy wanted to hang up.
“Tommy, wait!”
Their eyes found each other through the glass again.
“I want you to wait for me.” Mario closed his eyes and turned with his back to Tommy. “But I can’t ask you to do that. That wouldn’t be fair at all. So I won’t ask you to wait. I can only hope you do.”
Tommy saw Mario starting walking away. His heart sank.
“I’m sorry Tommy. I wished things would be different. I wish I would be different.” He sighed and Tommy’s heart was breaking. “Good bye.”
Mario hung up and Tommy was listening to the dial tone while he watched him walk away. He sighed and turned away. A part of him was glad that Mario didn’t ask, because he was not sure if he would have said no.
Epilogue