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Akande Ogundimu was a man of routine. Every morning he woke up at 6:00 AM, got dressed and went on his morning run, ate breakfast and showered, changed into his suit and went to work, got off at 6, went home and ate dinner, and finally went to bed. He knew he did not lead a very interesting life. He hadn’t ever since he took over his father’s company. Of course, he was grateful for this lifestyle, he lived comfortably and the company was able to provide him with a personalized prosthetic arm that he wore every day, but Akande was forty-five years old and it felt like he was living the same day over and over again. This was until about a month ago.
Akande’s morning runs were the only part of his day that he really looked forward to. He would pull on his tennis shoes, sweatpants, and hoodie and be off. Every morning he took the same route through the park near his upscale apartment and every morning for almost a month now he would be met with the same familiar face.
The first couple of times the young man had run past him with ease, flying by without a sparing glance at Akande jogging along, but as the days progressed, he would find himself being pulled into conversation. At first, it was talking about the weather, then work, and the young man’s interests and hobbies. Akande never really said much to the stranger, but he quickly found himself learning more and more about the young man.
Lúcio Correia dos Santos started attending the community college in this city a couple of months ago after moving here from Brazil. He has a roommate named Hana who is his best friend. He works at a music store and loves his job. He wears annoyingly bright colored shorts and tank tops and keeps his hair up in a dreaded ponytail. He likes to run and play soccer and has a strange affinity for amphibians. He is twenty-six years old and wants to be a musician, which Akande finds ridiculous due to not seeing it as anything more than a hobby. Perhaps the most noteworthy of the young man’s attributes is his investment in helping others. He quickly learned that Lucio concerns himself greatly with the problems of both friends and strangers, and volunteers regularly at the hospital with a friend of his, which is something that Akande finds slightly endearing.
This morning was no different from the rest. Akande was rounding the corner toward the park fountain when he heard the quick pattering of footsteps running up beside him. The businessman doesn’t even have to look to know that the young man has slowed down to a light jog next to him. When he turns his head, he is greeted with a short, dark-skinned man grinning up at him. “How’s it goin’ Mr. Ogundimu?” Lucio has barely taken out one of his earphones before greeting the older man with an almost blinding smile.
“Fine,” Akande says shortly, sparing a sidewards glance at the young man next to him. He waits for Lucio to either continue to run past him or say something more, but after a moment gives up. “How was the test?” he asks, turning his attention back to the sidewalk in front of him, listening to the thudding of two pairs of footsteps as they jog beside one another.
The musician seems delighted at the question. Akande hardly engages conversation with him, so when he does, Lucio seems to eat up the attention. He surprises himself a bit with remembering how the young man had mentioned a midterm exam in his math class yesterday morning, and even more at the fact that he was genuinely curious to know how Lucio did.
This sends the younger of the two into a long story about how long he studied, how the test went, and what he did afterward. Akande finds himself a bit lost in the details but is content with listening to the other man talk as they go along.
After a while though, he finds his thoughts straying a bit. Lucio has been doing this for almost a month now and it was not as if the businessman was giving him any reason to come back around. Akande knew he was not good company. He was not interesting, kind, or funny, and he certainly was not a good conversationalist. Still, this young man saw something in him that was worth stopping his run and talking to him every morning. Was it not just a matter of time before Lucio realized this, and got bored of speaking to him?
As this thought hits him, Akande finds himself slowing down in his pace before stopping completely.
“So basically me and Hana are going to coordinate our classes better next semester so we can grab lunch between-” Lucio had been mid-sentence and had not been prepared for the sudden change of pace, causing him to run a bit ahead before stopping and turning to face the older man. He pauses in his story, breathing a bit heavily from the exertion as he grins up at Akande. “You okay man?” he asks with a hint of worry, though his smile does not leave his face for a second. Akande’s eyebrows furrow in confusion as he looks down on the younger man. “Why do you do this?” he asks a bit suddenly. His lips form a hard line of a frown at the look of confusion that crosses the other man’s face. “You take this time out of your day every morning to annoy me?” he asks a bit harshly.
“You never changed your route,” comes a quick reply, not missing a beat.
Akande is dumbfounded at the realization. He stares down at the young man who is grinning up at him, frowning hard as he tries to think of a comeback. As loathe as he was to admit it, he knew there was not a real excuse. Lucio had not annoyed him to the point of changing his route. In fact, Akande found himself enjoying the company that the young student provided him and had begun to find his presence more welcoming as time went on.
“So I haven’t,” the older man trails off in thought before continuing, “You do not know me. I doubt that you have anything to gain by doing this,” he rationalizes with slow, calculated words. Lucio gives Akande a soft smile, staring up at him for a moment before talking. “You’re right. I don’t know you too well… But I want to,” he explains happily, “and I don’t know, I think if I can get you to come sit down and talk to me over breakfast I’d think it was all pretty worth it.”
It takes Akande a moment to soak in everything Lucio had just said. Did this kid just ask him out? Surely he had better things to on a Friday morning than to spend it with him. He should say no. Akande has his work to worry about. He hasn’t gone on a date in years, why would this strange young man want this from him? Akande stays quiet for a moment. “I have a meeting at 11 o'clock,” but what he says next seems to surprise both him and the smaller man, “We have until 9:30. We better finish up the route if you want breakfast.” With that said, he walks past Lucio to speed up into a steady jog once again, barely glancing at the elated expression on the musician’s face.
Akande cannot help but smile as the light sound of footsteps begin to catch up to him.