Opposites attract - 6. Chapter 6

Like the two days before Kev woke me up for our running session the next morning. He was wearing the new track suit, I had ordered, and was smiling at me. The bizarre ending of the last evening now seemed distant and blurred; it had faded away like a dream. I smiled back, got up and dressed in the new outfit, too. Kev had some more running tips for me and this time I performed even better. Not much, but notably. I could tell by his look that Kev was very proud of me. It made me happy beyond reason.

During breakfast, we discussed his upcoming job interview, what he should say and what he shouldn't say. We decided together that it was better to wear a shirt and a tie, though he was applying for a job as a fitness instructor. A good first impression could tip the scales in his favor. Kev also talked to me about meeting Coach Derringer and that he liked the way he had planned out his training. His team mates had been very open and friendly, too. And it was the first time that I told him about Rob.

“You will meet Rob this evening.” I grinned.

“Rob who? Did you already mention him?”

Kev was even cuter, when he was puzzled, just like Winnie the Pooh figuring something out.

“If you think, Rob is a ‘he’… then I didn't.”

“That wasn't helpful.”

“Rob is short for Roberta, Roberta Wilkins. But never… listen… never call her Roberta. Don't even tell her that I told you her real name.”

“Um, sounds like a nice person.”

“Oh, she really is. She is a very good friend of mine. But be warned: her ways of social interaction take getting used to.”

“What about those intimidation issues I mentioned to you?” He gestured at himself.

“Rob? Intimidated? She is capable of calling you plow horse to your face the moment she meets you… thinking about it… she probably will.”

“Now I have something to look forward to.” He smiled an uneasy smile.

“Hey, you are a big and strong boy. You can take it. And if you get to know her, you'll love her, too. If I had to pick a single person to cover my back, she would be my first choice.”

“Not me? That makes me sad.” He pouted, but only for a second. A grin could not be kept away from this face for long.

“I would choose you for covering my front. More surface for cover.” Now it was me gesturing at him.

“Hey, you.” He got up quickly, grabbed me in a headlock with one hand and tousled my hair with the other.

“It took hours to get that special hair style.” I giggled. Kev laughed along.

It hadn't evaded me that some of the people in the cafeteria had stirred when Kev had grabbed me. They had relaxed as soon as I had started to laugh, but it was my first glimpse of what Kev called ‘intimidation issues’. It was absolutely clear that I was in no danger, but in their eyes, Kev was one of ‘those types’, someone who was well capable of a public outbreak of violence, just because of the way he was built. It made me sad and angry and it showed on my face. Kev, who had sat down again opposite of me, frowned.

“What's up?”

“Haven't you seen?” I moved my hand to indicate the room.

“I did.” He answered in a low voice.

“It makes me sick. They don't know you.” I didn't bother to lower my voice.

He grabbed my hands and said in a voice even softer than before

“Thanks.”

My anger melted away looking into his grateful eyes, but I couldn't oppress a glare at two guys sitting at a nearby table. They had made the mistake of looking up at my outbreak.

“For goodness sake, I hope I will never be at the receiving end of this glare. Did you know that your eyes turn to a much darker shade of green, when you are angry?”

I looked back at Kev and couldn't help but laugh. Kev joined in.

“I have a good feeling that you won't.”

I realized then that we were still holding hands.

The rest of the day dragged along. The activity on campus had increased. Students returned to the college for the upcoming term. Kev had left early for training. His job interview would be in the late afternoon, five o'clock, and he wanted to be done with training before that.

He returned to our room to get dressed for the interview by four o'clock. Kev had decided on a pair of blue jeans, not as tight as the grey ones had been, a white shirt with long sleeves and a tie with grey and blue stripes. He tried three times to get the knot of the tie right… unsuccessfully.

“Come here, big boy.” I said in jest.

He looked at me with helpless eyes, tie dangling down in one hand.

“Now, it finally pays that my Mom is working in the upper class fashion sector. I could tie those, before I could tie my shoes. Sit down.”

I was sitting on my bed and Kev sat down in front of me before the bed, facing away from me. I quickly went through the very familiar movements. It helped that by the way he sat it was like creating the knot for myself.

“A full Windsor. Given the size of your neck, that's a good choice.” I did some final adjustments to the knot. “Go. See for yourself.”

He got up and looked in the mirror, which was on the inside of one of the wardrobe's doors. He looked around the door, beaming at me.

“I've never looked that good in a tie.”

“Fashion and math: my fields of expertise.”

Kev chuckled and that alone had been worth the effort.

“Thanks. I owe you one. Wish me luck.”

“Break a leg!” I winked at him.

With another smile and a wave he was gone.

An hour after Kev had left, the door burst open and an all too familiar female voice was booming through the room.

“I am back, little one.”

Rob kept calling me ‘little one’ just to annoy me. And to be frank: she towered me by a full head's length, so it wasn't exactly inaccurate.

“My soul, if that isn't Roberta Wilkins.”

Using her full name never failed. Her face distorted into an angry mask.

“What did I say about calling me that and wanting to have all your fingers intact?”

“You wouldn't knock someone around, who was smaller than you.” I said in my sweetest voice.

Her face relaxed, she smiled.

“You know me too well. Come here, little one.”

And we hugged. Her hugs could be as crushing as Kev's, despite the considerable difference in stature. Rob wasn't exactly a beauty queen, but she wasn't ugly either. She had dark blond hair that touched down on her shoulders. She had brown eyes and her complexion tended to be almost a shade of olive. Her heritage was so mixed that no one bothered to give exact fractions (1/8th Spanish, 1/16th Italian etc. you get the gist). Wilkins family reunions resembled international conferences. Been there, done that. Her body was athletic, but still lithe. In high school, she had been a cheerleader and quite a good one according to some articles you could find on Google. But like her full name, her cheerleading career was a soft spot and she would violently deny she ever did it.

“Missed me, little one? Pined away in agony and boredom?”

“Of course, I missed you. Except the pining part.”

“Ouch. That hurt, bastard.” But she smiled saying that.

That was our normal way of communication. A delicate balance of pleasantries and insults, filled up with trivia. We both excelled at this game and that was part of why we came along so fine.

Her gaze fell on the clothing that Kev had discarded on his bed.

“How's the replacement Josh?”

“He is not a replacement Josh… and he is nice.”

“Nice? Oh, my fucking God. You fell for him head over heels, didn't you, little one?”

“Don't use the Lord's name in vain.” I tried to distract.

“Don't play the smart aleck on me. You did fall for him?”

“It's that obvious?”

“You can't hide much from your ‘alternative’ part-time fag hag.” She did the quotation marks with her fingers. “But no one else would notice, I swear.”

“I would prefer, if you do not call yourself my ‘alternative’ part-time fag hag, when he is around.” I mimicked her quotation marks.

“Ah, in love and not even out to him. You haven't been diagnosed with pathological masochism, have you?”

“As always, you are the helpful guide to the shallows of my gayness.”

“You are welcome, little bitch. What does he look like?”

“He is big.”

“Big as in having a zip code of his own?” She raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“No. Big as in making He-Man look like a wimp.”

“Yeah, that's more your type. And I have to refine my diagnosis: add severe self-destructive tendencies to the pathological masochism.”

“He is nothing like that… violent… or such.”

“If you say so.”

That was when someone knocked at the door. Kev opened the door carefully, looked around it and entered.

“I heard voices and didn't want to intrude.”

These small things made Kev even more likable. But Rob was somehow immune to any form of chivalry.

“We still have our clothes on.”

Uncertainty spread on Kev's face.

“As if anyone would like to be around you naked.”

I had added a liberal amount of venom to this sentence. At least, it had struck hard enough to silence Rob for the moment.

“Rob Wilkins, bad mouthed friend girl, meet Kevin Schneider, my new roommate.”

Kev relaxed visibly at the usage of the term ‘friend girl’. He extended his hand, put on his grin and said

“Nice to meet you, Rob Wilkins.”

“Nice to meet you, Kevin Schneider.”

They shook hands. Only I would know that she was mocking him by using his full name as he had done and gave her a warning sideway glance.

“What do you normally do with these hands? Compacting trash cars?”

Her face showing nothing but pure sincerity.

“No. Usually, I do uproot trees with my bare hands. But today is my day off.”

Kev was smiling.

I looked up at him and couldn't suppress a grin. He had gone for the offense, the only way to deal with Rob. That should have earned him some points in her book.

“Oh. They sent the funniest one of the barn.”

A friendly sentence by Rob's standards.

“I even won a prize at the state fair.” And Kev whinnied.

I started to laugh, Kev and Rob joined in.

“Touché!”

“Hey, I have to unpack and the trip was quite exhausting. See you tomorrow, you two.”

She was almost out of the door, when she turned to Kev.

“The little one is mostly a pain in my ass, but the Lord may have mercy on you, if something happens to him.”

She slammed the door shut.

“What was that about?” Kev gestured at the door.

“Mother complex.” I shrugged.

We both snickered.

“Kev, it may not have looked like it, but that went exceptionally well. You have been cordially welcomed by Rob.”

“Lucky me.” He made a funny face.

Kev started to remove the tie.

“Don't tantalize me, Kev. What about the job?”

His face turned sour and I started to regret my question.

But then the familiar grin grew back on it.

“You are talking to Kev Schneider, assistant fitness coach at Dave's Holistic Fitness Spa.”

“Holistic? Like in …?” I asked, imagining nude people jumping around, burning incense sticks and imitating animal sounds.

Kev chuckled.

“They offer Yoga and Qui Gong courses as well, nothing too weird.”

“Okay. Though it will take some days to get rid of the imagery that had just popped up in my mind.”

Kev's chuckle turned to full out laughter.

“Congratulations, Coach Schneider.”

“Assistant Coach Schneider.” He corrected, still laughing.

We had a small dinner in our room, consisting of cup noodles, after we had both changed into something more comfortable. We compared time tables and to our delight we could have lunch together every day except on Fridays, when Kev would have a regular two-hour team meeting from 12 to 2.

“Just to warn you: I will be on my new nutrition plan starting tomorrow. Mostly proteins and not too many carbohydrates or fat. You may find my meals a little strange.”

“I had to live with my sister, who must have tried every nutrition plan that has ever been invented. She never had weight problems, but was a little paranoid regarding her body. So, I've seen almost everything meal-wise, I can assure you.”

We both smiled at each other.

“You are close to your family, aren't you?”

“Yes. I am. Mom and Dad have always been more like friends than parents. They let me find out things for myself. Tiffany and I, we had our quarrels, but nothing serious. Normal sibling stuff. I've told you about her husband Marc and their toddler, Christopher.”

“That sounds nice.” A subtle sadness had found its way to his eyes.

“Hey. You will happen to meet them all… and then you'll regret that you did.”

The sadness persisted. We talked a little bit more, listened to some music, but having in mind the pending start of the term, we called it a night early.