"Hey, preppy."
Kevin Keller's face shot up as he heard someone use the nickname that a certain person used to call him. He was greatly surprised when he looked up to see a smiling Moose above him.
"Moose?" asked Kevin as he closed the book that he was reading and checked his surroundings. "Uh… what's up?"
"Nothing much," said the giant as he shrugged his backpack off and took a seat across from Kevin. "I was walking in and I saw you in here alone. Where's your crew?"
"Probably out solving another murder mystery," said Kevin as he rolled his eyes at the mention of his friends. "They can't help themselves when a murder mystery comes to town."
Moose chuckled at Kevin's response but it was quickly followed by an awkward silence.
"So… what are you doing here?"
"I came to pick up a shake before I head home-"
"No," interrupted Kevin as he laughed at Moose's understanding of the question. "I mean what are you doing here? Like in this booth… across from me."
"Oh…" mumbled Moose as he tried to form an answer. "I don't know. We haven't really talked since I got jumped. Guess I wanted to see how you're doing."
"I'm good," stated Kevin as he began to play with thumbs, not knowing what to say or do. "You?"
"Doing pretty well myself."
The two searched the diner for anything to distract themselves with as another awkward silence started to set in.
"Moose," said Kevin as he broke the silence and looked at the football player. "Did you actually come over here just to see how I was doing?"
"Of course. Well… maybe not. I mean I did want to see how you were doing. But there was something else that I wanted to talk to you about. I just don't want to bring it up at a bad time or anything. So I'm starting to consider not bringing it up at-"
"Moose, just tell me!"
"Okay," said the giant as he sat up straight and cleared his throat. "I think I'm bi."
"Um… okay," muttered Kevin as he tried to figure out why Moose was telling him this. "What does that have to do with me?"
"I think I like you," said Moose bluntly as he forced the words out. "I think I have liked you for a while now and I was hoping… that we could hang out sometime?"
"Hang out as in how we tried to hang out at Sweetwater River? Or hangout as in… dating?"
"Dating… maybe. I don't know. I just want to spend more time with you, I guess."
The two once again fell into silence as they stared at each other, trying to get a sense of where each other were at. Kevin would have normally jumped at the chance to hang out with Moose but one person was making him think twice: Joaquin.
"Moose… I just got out of this relationship-"
"And it's too soon for you to try dating anyone else. Especially a closet case. I understand."
"No! That's not what I was going to say. This guy… I thought we had something real… but it was based on lies. I ended up getting hurt while he just left town and moved on with his life. I don't think I'm ready to get hurt like that anytime soon."
"So what are you saying?"
"I'm saying… let's take things slow. If it's too much, then it can't happen. But if we like where things are going and we like each other… then let's keep at it. Deal?"
Moose smiled a wide grin as he looked back at Kevin and said, "Deal."