"We've got to stop meeting like this." was the first thing the man had said to him when Evan opened the bathroom door and came to a stop at the sudden encounter.
Under the dimly lit yellow light, he looked like a ghost, legs stretched out onto the cold tile floor. A light breeze coming through the window wasn't enough to ruffle his well-kept hair. He looked misplaced, like something exquisite had been placed inside a thrift store which clearly did not belong there. Even the jeans and shirt looked too pressed and neat and, they clashed with the dirty, dingy bathroom uncomfortably. Yet he sat there, with a lit joint hanging loosely in his hand.
"Well, don't just stand there. Come in, come in" the man said as he looked at him expectantly, breaking Evan out of his stupor, and he watched in bewilderment as he beckoned him inside with the joint.
“Close the door behind you, that noise is killing me….
Ay, that’s a good lad.”, he said in a pleased tone.
"Well, hello!" Evan stood with his back to the door while the man with a grin kept eyeing him.
"Umm,, hi?" The response came out as more of a question when Evan finally managed to voice a reply, and the man grinned again.
"Well then, sit down stranger. And tell me your name. It’s about time I got to know the man who I keep running into on my hours of miseries." he said while patting the ground beside him. Evan moved awkwardly and sat himself down on the opposite wall from the man, and replied as smoothly as he could.
"I'm Evan Miller."
"Hello Evan Miller, I'm David Woods," the man said, pointing a finger to his face as Evan gave him a detailed look.
He could see that the man was clearly out of it. With his unfocused eyes and awkward limbs, he hid it perfectly well with his clean-cut get-up. But once you know where to look, there is no denying it.
"Now, let’s move on to the more important question. Are you stalking me?". David questioned.
"What? No!" Evan exclaimed, sounding offended, and watched with dismay as the expression of the man in front metamorphosed from that of accusing to amused at the end.
"Alright alright, Evan Miller. I believe you," he said with a wave of his hand before offering him the joint. "You smoke?"
Evan most definitely did not smoke. But, he took it anyway.
Taking a small drag, expecting a huge crash of cough to overtake him, Evan gave out a shrug when nothing happened."Not really," he said, before passing it back, wondering if weed was always this smooth.
"Such a shame," David Woods mumbled as he took it back.
It was silent between them for the next few seconds, as David leisurely smoked away and Evan eyed him wryly. The man looked oddly comfortable sitting on the dirty floor. His posture was relaxed and calm. But something was off about him.
"Why are you sitting inside the bathroom?" Unable to hold in the question any longer, he blurted out, making the man stop mid-drag. Evan shifted uncomfortably as he gave him a long hard look.
David’s response came after a burst of half-hearted laughter, one hand running down his face. "I'm sitting inside a bathroom because I'm tired, Evan Miller."
" Tell me, do you ever feel tired?" he asked, and once again, Evan saw the same emptiness creep into his eyes as he did before.
It was haunting, the expression, like looking at a dead person. And it made Evan twitch.
"Tired of what?'" he asked, drawing out yet another chuckle from the man in front of him.
David Woods gazed at him with a strange expression for a while, before turning his eyes to the weed in his hand. He watched the flare of the joint with that faraway expression on his face.
"Ohh, I don't know. Everything, I guess," he said, before snapping his gaze back to Evan.
Then without another word, the man got up and walked towards the sink, all signs of being high disappearing completely from his face.
After straightening up his shirt in the mirror, he splashed some water on his face, dropping the burnt joint on the trashcan while he was at it.
With his hand on the doorknob, he turned to look at Evan.
"You should join me for a drive sometime, Evan Miller," he said, casually.
"You don't even know me," Evan Commented, feeling a bit baffled.
Hearing his response, David laughed again.
“Knowing someone….” he muttered before looking up at Evan, "Does that even matter in the end? We will all die alone anyway. What is the point of knowing someone, if the memory of them does not last forever?” he questioned, before walking out, leaving Evan on the cold bathroom floor feeling more confused than he ever did.
[This is a fragment of a fiction I'm working on. I might post parts from this from time to time as a series. ]
Image source.