The Long Road: pt. 1
You're a fisherman's long time suffering daughter who would rather do anything but get married and settle down like your older sister and brother did. You've begged your father to go out and travel but he would like you to settle down. After three years of begging he finally caves in but there's one condition. (sfw)
Female Character x Male Monster (cis)
Your father stood by the shore that morning instead of on his boat. He looked at peace as he watched the tides roll in and out. He didn't hear or acknowledge you the first time you called out but by the time you were almost next to him he turned around and sighed deeply.
"There's nothing I can do to convince you to stay here is there?" he asks.
You look down and twiddle your thumbs, a habit of yours when you got too nervous to speak up.
Your father had been trying everything he could to get you to stay, even going so far as to finding you a husband in this small fishing town.
"I-I want to travel," you finally answer.
He scratches the back of his head and stomps the sand a few times before he looks you in the eye.
"For three years now you've been beggin' me nearly every damn day and every time I said no. I didn't want you to leave like Roslyn and Peter did when they married," he admits, eyes tearing up.
"I don't know what I'll do if you leave and never come back to see your old pop. I still don't know what I'll do once you leave."
You feel an odd sense of guilt and hope all at once and it makes your stomach churn in ways its never had.
"Does this mean I can go? I-I can travel?" you ask him.
He doesn't answer you but guides you further down the shore line to the docks. You see the fishermen coming and going, some with large catches and some cursing their bad luck for catching nothing at all. Merfolk making deals to guide the boats to good spots and people haggling over the fish before they could even be brought up to the market. Chaos as usual you thought. It was right when the both of you got to your father's boat that you saw something unusual. Well in this case someone. You could tell he was tall even though he was sitting on the coils of his tail. His leather black scales shown in iridescence in the morning light and his long silver hair was held up in a loose knot. You eyed him up and down as your father walked up to him and started chatting with him like they were old friends. Your father looks back and waves you over.
"And this is the one that we've been talking about!" he claps his hand on your back and you give a little squeak which makes both your father and the stranger laugh.
Your father has you introduce yourself before he starts talking to the stranger about your obsession with wanting to travel. You do everything you can to not stare at the stranger but every so often when you do look up you see him stealing a glance at you. You start feeling your heart race as your mind goes further from what they're talking about and towards your fears and doubts. He didn't answer you when you asked about traveling again nor did he say what this meeting was about. You wanted to ask but you were too afraid of the answer.
A tap to your shoulder brings you back to and your father clears his throat.
"As I was saying, I talked it over with Silas here and he has agreed to be your traveling companion for one year."
Your mind goes blank as it tries to process all that your father said. He knows how badly you want to travel and see the world but he'd rather have you here. You'd never really gotten angry before but today might be the day if he plans to use this Silas fellow to sway you from your dreams.
"I've already bought all the supplies he's suggested and have everything ready to go," your father continues.
Your impending rage quickly subsides and is replaced with confusion.
"Wait I thought you said you couldn't afford for me to travel that I'd have to forge along the way and sell what I could at the villages." you raise a brow and step back.
"I've been saving up for either your wedding or this. Thought that if you stayed here I'd at least give you a wedding worth having but now it's all going into backpacks and traveling stuff," he says and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small leather pouch.
He takes a deep breath before opening it and pulling out a small compass and handing it to you. He tries to speak up but he starts to sniffle and stutter.
"This was your mother's. Your father wanted to give this to you as a gift to help guide you on your travels," Silas explained with a voice that was surprisingly smooth and soft.
You started crying and hugged your father thanking him for the gift and for everything he's ever done. He's always been selfish and stoic and hard to understand but he's always been your loving father and you'd miss him every day while you're away.
Your father breaks out of the hug and tells you to stay right there while he gets your things off the boat.
There's an awkward silence between you and Silas and you don't know how to break it. You think of a few questions to ask him, like how he knows your father and why he agreed to travel with you.
The both of you speak up at the same time and he laughs, letting a few strands of hair slip from the loose knot.
"Sorry uh you go first," you tell him.
Silas stops laughing but is still smiling when he looks you in the eye. You felt caught in that moment and he knew it as he looked you up and down.
"He always spoke about how much you wanted to travel and how you reminded him so much of your mother, but..." he trails off as he slinks down from his coils and right up to you, eyes locked on yours.
"It seems he failed to tell me how beautiful you are."
Your nerves start to act up again and you give him a forced smile.
He sticks out his hand and fully introduces himself as Silas Locs, one time adventurer who'd rather not talk about how bad that adventure was.
You shake his hand while muffling a laugh but he crosses his eyes and you can't help but let a snort of amusement.
After that it's a back and forth of none sense infectious laughter between the both of you for a couple minutes. You wonder if he realized that you were a nervous wreck and that this was his way of trying to lighten things up. It made you happy to know that you'd at least be traveling with someone who was at least nice to you.
"You really do snort when you laugh, it's cute." Silas sighs, catching his breath.
Just how much did your father really talk about you to this stranger, you start to think. You feel your face flush so you hide it in your hands. A clawed hand gently pries yours away from your face and you see a composed look on Silas' face.
"I'm embarrassing you aren't I?" he asks.
You don't want to hurt his feelings but if your father has really told him anything about you, he ought to know that you're not good with people. You tried for years to get over your nerves, you even took a job as a waitress at your brother's tavern only to end up in the back washing dishes. However you figured that since you'll be traveling together he needs to know where to draw the line, and so you nod.
He cusses under his breath and apologizes, but you notice that he's still holding onto your hands.
"He told me that you get like this around new people and I completely forgot... I don't want things to be odd between us, so I'll try to refrain from well, giving you my honest opinion." he smiles and gives your hands a light squeeze then lets them go.
It irks you how he can make you both blush and feel annoyed all at once. He was already getting under your skin and he hasn't even said that much to you.
The awkward silence returns between the both of you but is luckily broken by your father who comes off the boat with two backpacks and a couple small bags. He hands you one of the bags and tells you that these were your mother's old clothes and to try on and see what would fit. You decide to change in the boat's cabin while your father rummaged through the other bags. The clothes he gave you fit well although there were some holes in the sleeves and the pouches that hang off the belt had some strange rocks and arrow tips in them. All in all though, the clothes were good.
When you get back out you see that Silas is ready to go but your father is still talking his ear off, however the both stop and stare when they see you. Your father starts tearing up again.
"I can't believe how much you look like your mother." he sniffles.
You race down the ramp and give him a big hug and he nearly squeezes the life out of you. You hear Silas chuckle and so you peak up at him. He's smiling at you, but something about his smile nearly breaks your heart.
After a couple minutes you finally peel from your father's arms and straighten yourself up. Silas hands you your pack and once again your father starts tearing up.
"If you keep crying like this I won't be able to leave till sundown," you laugh while holding back tears of your own.
You never imagined a heartfelt goodbye from your father with crying and such, you'd figure at best you'd get into an argument with him and storm off with less than what he'd prepared for you.
Silas stood by while you and your father said your last farewells, never commenting on the time or rushing things along. However when the old fishermen who work with your father came by he started to gesture to you that it was time to leave. Taking the hint you give your father one last hug before running past the crowd and to Silas's side.
"Ready to leave?" he asks.
You were already a little bit ahead of him and didn't want to chance looking back in case your father was crying to the crew. Once you're off and away from the docks you turn and face Silas. He's surprised by the sudden stern look upon your face and staggers back a bit when you walk up to him.
"Tell me this isn't some last ditch effort that my father planned just to get me to stay!" your eyes are still red from crying earlier when you look up at him.
He looks back at you with a softness in his eyes that you've never seen around these parts. They were dangerously comforting.
"I promise," Silas whispers and holds up his pinky to you.
You laugh at the childish gesture but wrap yours around his all the same. You couldn't remember the last time you did a pinky promise but it couldn't have been as sweet as this.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a needle in my eye," he continues on and you catch that something is off about it.
You raise a brow and he laughs.
"You ever see a Naga fly? Weird business, highly uncomfortable, and we just kinda twist about. Saw a wizard lift my neighbor once, he just kinda looped about in midair, tail flailing about!" he explains exuberantly.
You try to imagine him in a similar situation and you can't help but to giggle.
He tries to say something but the wind picks up and his hair flies out of its loose knot and into his face.
"Blast this hair of mine," he spits as he swipes it away.
You reach up and move a small strand away, his hair much softer than you'd expect. You nervously ask if he'd let you help him tie back his hair and he agrees. He sits on his coils as you brush out his hair and you're almost reminded of when your sister did this for you. She was always rough with the brush so you did your best to be gentle on his scalp. Ever so often you'd hear him sigh and when you stopped you could have sworn you heard him pout. As you gathered his hair and tied it back you felt him stiffen up.
"Am I being too rough?" you ask, worried that you were pulling on his hair too much.
Silas doesn't reply immediately however after a few seconds he starts to clear his throat.
"No uh you're fine, just didn't want to mess up your hard work. Please continue, if you'd like."
His voice sounds strained and his soft tone seems to snap like a worn fishing net. You try not to read too much into it and go back to working his hair into a more tidier knot.
"All done!" you exclaim, proud of your work.
Silas lightly touches the knot and smiles.
"And with this I think I'm fully ready to venture on."
---------------------------
The both of you find yourselves out of Melmar by the end of the day and about half a day away from the edge of the forest. Silas spoke about his village that rested at its border on the other side of the fishing town. He went on and on about how he used to sneak away just to go to the docks and hang out with an old childhood friend, who so happened to be Peter. Knowing that made it oddly easier for you to converse with him, but it also made you wonder even more why you've never heard of him.
The sun sets as he starts setting up camp and you go off to collect wood for a fire. The wind had picked up around noon and you could see a storm rolling in from the distance. You didn't want to chance walking in the rain so the both of you agreed to stop and set up here for the night. When you get back from picking up small logs and sticks you see that he's set up a tent large enough for the both of you. You already knew that you'd be sleeping in the same small camp with him but it didn't cross your mind that you'd be sharing a tent.
"Oh good you're back! I was just wondering what we should do for dinner. It looks like your father packed quite a bit," Silas smiles at you, his eyes lit up by the setting sun.
"He probably wanted to make sure that we'd have more than enough just in case we can't catch anything on our own," you reply, stuffing your nerves down the best you can.
"Makes sense, but I think he could have done so without packing such a smorgasbord," he raises the bag your father packed to reveal the load of food.
You smiled and shook your head, this was just like your father to over prepare.
"If you want to start on the fire I can try to make sense of all that he packed and pick out something for dinner," you suggest.
Silas sets the bag down and takes the wood from you, lightly brushing his claws against your skin. You clench your teeth at his touch, uncertain if you're frightened of his sharp claws or if it's something else you're much too embarrassed to admit.
As he starts on the fire you go through the bag and find all sorts of ingredients and spices, some of which were of high quality. It was surprising but your father did say he was saving up for a grand wedding and he didn't hold back when Roslyn and Peter got married. There was always a part of you that wondered how a small town fisherman could afford to throw such extravagant weddings, especially to meet the high expectations of your brother-in-law's family who belonged to a noble house of the merfolk. You gave the thought a few more moments before your stomach interrupted it.
"Maybe something quick and easy tonight..." you mumble to yourself and grab a few large potatoes. You think of what herbs you'd like to use and when you turn to ask Silas if he likes his a certain way you find him whittling one of the smaller logs. His eyes look so focused on his work and you find yourself staring at his clawed hands and how easily they work the wood. You think of how gentle Silas has been whenever he's touched you with those cool and smooth claws. You keep watching him whittle until he stops and lets out a sheepish laugh.
"I couldn't help myself," he raises the piece of wood. You're not certain of the shape just yet but you can tell that he's been doing this for a while.
"A hobby of yours?" you ask.
"Yes, it's something I picked up when I was younger. Peter tried his hand at it too, but..." Silas trails off with a soft snicker.
He didn't need to say no more, you already knew how uncoordinated your brother was when it came to craft work. You and Roslyn used to spend hours just undoing and fixing the nets he tried to help mend for your father.
"At least he eventually realized he's none too good with his hands. Now then, have you an idea on dinner?" he asks.
"I was thinking some diced potatoes and reconstituting some of the jerky with some spices we have." you reply.
Silas sets his project down and trades out his knives.
"Hope you don't mind if I whittle the skins off the potatoes?" he asks, twirling the knife in his hand.
You shake your head and hand over the potatoes to which he instantly goes to work on. He's quick and has the first potato done before you had a chance to really pay attention to his hands.
"You'd make a good cook," you smile.
Silas bursts out laughing and nearly drops everything he's holding.
"My mother would say otherwise," he states.
"That bad?" you ask.
"I'm banned from the kitchen if that says anything," he shrugs, grabbing the next potato.
You couldn't even imagine how bad at cooking one could be and didn't even want to think of the concoction created by such foul cookery on an empty stomach.
"Then I guess I'll be in charge of our meals," you note.
"Yes please," Silas replies.
The both of you get to work on dinner, Silas doing to prep work and you the cooking. It's a simple meal but it smells and looks delicious all the same. However by the time it's ready the winds pick up and chills the both of you to the bones. Silas suggests taking dinner to the tent and you had no real reason to refute the idea. So you gather up all the courage you had and slide into the tent right behind him.
"Sorry if it's a bit snug in here, this was the biggest one your father and I could find," he apologizes.
There wasn't much room for you to sit, much less even lay down. You try to step over his tail so you could curl up in the corner but you nearly trip.
"I don't think this is going to work out..." you say, looking up at him with a bit of defeat.
Silas loosens up the coils of his tail and spreads it a bit more in the tent making for even less room.
"If you don't mind.. I-I don't.." he croaks, looking away from you then clears his throat.
"Since there's not a lot of room in here you can sit on my tail. I won't mind."
You're pretty sure your heart does a somersault as you carefully tiptoe between his coils to sit on one that's a bit higher up. His tail is cool to the touch when you lower yourself to it and the muscles tense up once you're fully seated.
"I'm not too heavy am I?" you ask.
"Not at all, I'm just not used to having my tail being used for a chair is all," he replies and hands you your bowl.
"If it makes you feel better, I'm not used to using a Naga's tail as a chair." you poke.
"Not so much as making me feel better, but I'm glad you don't make it a habit of sitting on people's tails," he quips, then pops a chunk of potato in his mouth.
Finally a bit more comfortable with the odd situation you start tucking into your meal until a dreaded thought comes to mind. What will it be like once it's time for bed? You nearly choke on your food and Silas practically panics. You assure him it was nothing as you take a swig of your water.
"Dinner's good, I don't think I've ever eaten potatoes this way." he comments.
You highly doubted that, it was jut diced potatoes with some simple seasoning and a sprig of rosemary.
"I mean it!" he blurts, picking up on your disbelief.
"My mother hates them and the only time I've ever had them they were just the baked ones you'd get at stalls in the market."
You of course know of the stalls he's talking about, you and your sister frequented them often during winter.
"Fine fine, I believe you. I'm glad you like it though, I wasn't sure if they'd cook properly since the wind kept messing with the fire," you smile, looking down at your bowl with pride.
"If you can make a potato taste this divine-" he pauses, lips curling into a coy grin, his tongue slowly and deliberately licking the fingers he's used to pick at his food. Your eyes meet his and you hold your breath waiting for him to finish that thought. "I can't wait to taste our next meal."
For as simple as the compliment was, the effort he put into it was effective in making you flustered. You couldn't tell what he was getting at anymore and it was starting to mess with your head a bit. On the hike here he was friendly and joked with you in a way friends do but he's also complimented you in ways no one ever has. You do your best to put it out of your mind and get back to eating when a yawn escapes your lips.
In that moment you feel Silas' tail stiffen under you and the dreaded thought of bedtime returns. You look up at him and you see that he's scanning the tent and his own tail as if trying to solve some impossible puzzle.
"Don't tell me that I'm also going to be using you tail as a pillow?" you joke, but in truth you're just guessing that it might be the case.
"I-I don't mind given the circumstances and after all you humans are warm I hear." he chokes.
"No.. I mean I figured since I really didn't have room to sit that it might turn out like this. Excuse me please," you get up and exit the tent.
The cool wind from the storm feels good on your heated skin and helps to calm your own personal storm brewing in your heart. Silas knew a lot about you, from whatever your father and brother told him and so he had some sort of edge on you. It was more than unnerving and unfair, you decided. But what was worse than all that is the way he makes you feel. You've never opened up to someone so quickly, especially to someone who keeps changing the pace of conversation like he does. One second he's being a flirt and the next he's nervous about you sleeping on his tail!
You shake your head and resign to cleaning up the camp to get all this off your mind. You pack things up and put away the makeshift kitchen. You look around to make sure you don't forget anything and then you see the little lump of wood Silas was working with earlier. It's a crude shape and you start to wonder what he's planning to make or if he was just passing the time with it.
"It was sort of falling apart too much as I was working with it so you don't need to pack it up."
You nearly jump out of your skin when hear him.
"You can't sneak up on me like that!" you squeal.
"I'm sorry, you were out here for a while so I thought I'd come and check on you," he slithers back, hands in the air as if you're the one who scared him.
You shake your head, something you feel is becoming an odd habit lately.
"I just needed some room to breathe and I thought I would clean up while I was out here," you gesture to the packed bags and cleaned up camp.
Silas looks around and nods, his face shifting expressions as if it were the ocean rolling the tides in and out.
"You aren't worried about the fact that we'll be sleeping in the same tent are you?" he comes right out and asks.
You don't say anything because you really don't know what to say. Yes, you're worried. You're worried because you've never been this close with an absolute stranger! Your father seems to trust him and he's friends with your brother, but something about the fact that you've never heard of him has you on the edge.
"I know you might not trust me and that I'm probably wasting my time by saying this, but I promise I won't do anything weird or uncouth. My mother didn't raise a ruffian and I'm certain she'd hunt me down and force me to eat my own cooking for a year if I did anything to you." he looks sincere and a bit hurt as he speaks.
"I believe you, but..." you pause. It was now or never and there's no time like the present.
"You're friends with my brother, you've been talking to my father for almost three years about this trip, and you frequent Melmar and yet somehow I've never even heard of you or much less seen you around! It's weird and it doesn't feel right!" you exclaim, tears stinging the corner of your eyes.
Silas' mouth hangs open for a moment, exasperated and somewhat confused.
You think that he's just as thrown off by the fact that you know nothing about him until he stops looking at you.
"There's a lot of reasons why Mr. Zale nor Peter said anything about me. To be honest, your father and I only had been talking about this trip for two years since the first year I saw him again we were just catching up," Silas admits, his eyes still looking away.
"What do you mean catching up? Did you know him before that?" you ask, feeling like you had a million more questions though.
"I knew Peter when I was a lot younger. Some things happened when I was a kid and it made it difficult to come out to Melmar. It wasn't till I was about twelve that it was easier for me to sneak out and hang by the docks with your brother." he replies, leaving certain details out.
"Were those 'things' that happened part of the reason why I've never heard of you from my father or Peter?" you continue with your questioning, careful of what to ask.
He nods his head and finally looks at you, the silvery glint in his eyes all but gone. You almost feel bad for bringing up the subject seeing how it's done nothing but upset him, but you had to get this off your chest.
"I won't ask anymore about it, but I don't think it's fair that you know so much about me and I hardly know anything about you?" you cross your arms.
Silas sighs in relief and gives you his now signature soft smile.
"I'll answer any questions about myself, but first-"
You didn't have a chance to protest much less blink before you were being hoisted up in his arms.
"Let's go inside. I don't fancy catching a cold right as we're just starting this journey of ours."
Too stunned, you don't do much resisting as he takes you into the tent and sets you down on one of his coils. You take a second to readjust and see that he's prepared the tent for bed.
"I could have gotten in here myself," you pout.
"I know, but I didn't want to take the chance of you tripping all over my tail just to get comfortable." Silas says as he stretches, his shirt lifting up just enough to reveal a line of black scales reaching up from his waist and nearly disappearing at the hem of his shirt. You'd dare to look a little longer then you should and nearly squealed your soul out when he lifted his shirt over his head.
"I hope you don't mind but I've never liked sleeping with this thing on," he waived his shirt around before discarding it to the corner.
You shake your head and at that he gives an audible stretch this time and lays his head down on his own tail.
"Why bother with pillows when you can be your own?" you jest.
He chuckles at that and nudges you up with his tail.
"Come lay next to me please, it's going to be a cold night and I don't think these thin blankets will offer much warmth for me." he looks at you with pleading eyes.
"No funny business alright." you reply sternly.
He crosses his heart and pats the spot right next to him. You roll your eyes and lay down. Silas places one of the blankets over you and then one on himself before he covers up the light crystal hanging above you.
He snuggles up next to you and loosens his hair, letting the silvery locks of silk settle to his shoulders.
"Comfortable?" he asks, his voice somehow even smoother than before.
You frown though, almost convinced that he's dodging something important.
"I'd be more comfortable knowing a bit more about the person I'm sharing a tent with," you answer.
He scooches his face a bit closer to yours as if to share some grand secret.
"Very well my dear, ask away."
You spend a good portion of the night pretty much interviewing your travel companion. He has quite the way with words you discover as he weaves a detailed story of his life, his likes and dislikes, and that one adventure he'd rather not have gone on. You found his stories to be addicting and the way he speaks in his smooth and silky soft tone to be more comfortable than anything you've ever experienced. Eventually the both of you succumbed to sleep somewhere along the line and didn't stir till the sun had all but risen.
When you wake you find yourself wrapped in his arms, the cool pale of his skin surprisingly pleasant against your cheek. You turn ever so carefully till you were facing him, feeling a bit daring as you did. He was handsome even when sleeping, his long lashes just as silvery and silky as his hair and his features though sharp were made soft by the dim lighting in the tent. A lock of hair falls and tickles his nose. Silas scrunches his face and you dare yourself to brush the lock away for him.
He giggles as he feels your hand gently place the lock behind his ear.
"Thank you my dear," he whispers, opening one eye.
You flatten your lips and try not to look too flustered.
"Morning," you mutter.
"A very good morning," he corrects, messing with the tangles of your bedhead hair.
He looks at you with sleepy eyes and chuckles at something he's keeping to himself.
"What's so funny? Is it my hair? I know it's an absolute mess but it can't be that bad." you ask, swiping his hand away as you feel the knots and frizzes.
"It's not your hair, though I must say it is pretty bad. No, I was thinking about this question I wanted to ask you. It's a bit bold mind you, that's why I laughed." he smiles, and starts playing with the tangles of you bedhead again.
"So what is it then?" you inquire, very curious of his 'bold' question.
He chuckles some more and gives you a bit of a nervous grin.
"You have to promise not to hit me then."
Mimicking him from the night before you cross your heart and await his answer. He decides to scooch in even closer and brings his lips up to your ear.
"Would you let me kiss you, just on the cheek?" he asks, his usual smooth voice is gravely and it does something to your head.
He waits for you to reply now, brushing his claws gently against your skin as if to gauge your interest.
You had a thought about the softness of his lips as the both of you talked last night. Several thoughts if you were being completely honest. Never did you imagine an opportunity to feel them would come so soon, much less at all.
"Only the cheek then," you give in and sharply inhale at the sudden touch of his lips against you skin.
They were warm and soft, more so than you'd expect. He peppered a few more kisses on your cheek before he perched himself up against his tail.
"We should really get started on our day if we plan to make it to the forest by sundown my dear," he stretches and flicks his shirt up with his tail and catches it with one hand.
Agreeing you straighten yourself up and go and start of breakfast. The late morning flies by as does the break down and packing. You catch him spacing out here and there but he tends to snap back pretty quickly. You wonder what's on his mind but you figured you'd bothered him enough with your questionnaire last night. It's not till you start towards the forest that you can really tell that something's is bothering him since he's hardly spoken to you since breakfast.
"Are you alright?" you ask.
"Yes and no. I've been thinking about what was bothering you last night. That you have no idea why you've never heard of me and I meant it when I said that there's a lot of reasons why. One of them being because I asked and before you say anything, I need time. Time to figure out how best to put it all and how you'd handle it. It's not something I like to think about, but you deserve to know the truth. I just need some time, please," his voice cracks, and you see a tinge of pain and panic on his face.
You take his hand and give it a light squeeze, hoping to ease his nerves.
"Take as long as you need. I appreciate that you've put some thought into it, but don't rush... especially if it's too much for you," his claws twitch in your hand as you rub his hand gently, trying to assure him that you trust what he says.
"Thank you my dear," he smiles, twisting his hand out of yours he holds it gently and guides it towards his soft lips. He kisses your fingers than the back of your hand, sullen eyes shifting into something you couldn't quite read.
"We should hurry along now," you squeak.
"Very well, let's try for the forest before sundown." Silas perks up and adjusts his pack while still holding your hand.
Taking advantage of your hand in his, you tug him along and he follows you eagerly. You feel more at ease with him as your traveling companion today and you hope that sentiment will increase as you get to know him. He's sincere and open and thus so far you'd like to believe he's been honest with you. You just hope that whatever secrets he's waiting to tell you won't ruin any possible friendship between you.
