Chapter Text
A human brain loved certainty and a proper, stable routine which it could stick and roll with from day to day.
Ryland Grace was a man of habit too - not really strict or healthy one, but the one that made him the most comfortable and let him live his new teacher life with more confidence each week.
He didn’t like to cook or even didn’t have time for it, honestly, so he found a diner in his neighbourhood which worked around the clock. He stopped there particularly every morning, even made himself known among employees and started to recognise a few customers, who were there at that early hour, too.
The kitchen wasn’t good, but cheap and eatable enough - Ryland was fast to learn that they couldn’t ruin a ham sandwich and a black coffee, even though he preferred sweeter breakfast. Still, Ryland didn’t want to ruin his day with local pancakes - it wasn’t worth the trouble even to try and order that out of stubbornness.
Maybe, once Ryland would have a time off from work, he would pay a visit here just to order something that he really wanted as many times as needed, until the kitchen would make it the right way.
But for now his usual order was simple.
Besides him, there were several customers, who he started to recognise and got used to pretty quickly.
The old man who seemed to live here just to chat with workers and read his newspaper while drinking several cups of coffee that particularly could become beer after lunch. His usual spot was in the corner of the diner, on a shabby sofa, where he sat every day.
He occasionally exchanged a few words with Ryland too, when he noticed that he was here each weekday morning.
There were also two middle aged ladies who worked some corporate jobs, based on their clothes. They were sitting at the counter, while waiting for their order, talking with each other, and didn't pay much attention to other guests. Then they left the place with some fresh cookies and coffee to go.
And a young man with big wolf ears who always sat behind the counter in the corner alone, eating his food with a tragic face and lazy robotic motion of someone who disliked the taste but needed to eat nonetheless to stay alive.
Ryland became part of their routine too eventually.
Every morning Ryland Grace biked there before work and came inside. The worker greeted him and Ryland said it back, while going to the table with a sofa near a window and seated himself down.
The old man often nodded at him when he looked up from his newspaper, so Ryland nodded back. The two ladies waited for their order and then left.
The young man wasn’t always at the counter, but when he was here - he was already eating and didn’t look up from his plate to acknowledge him. Ryland didn’t mind, he wasn’t here to make friends either.
Other faces in the diner weren’t permanent enough for Ryland to recognise them, or, actually, even meet them. The hour was too early and the neighborhood wasn't popular, so it was a miracle that the diner like that was working day and night.
However, Ryland was here only to eat his breakfast before work, read his emails and check new articles and news in his scientific sphere. Maybe now he wasn’t a part of that community, but he still needed to know about everything that his former colleagues were up to. Even from a distance.
Today Meg was on a shift. She was a small woman who seemed to use this work as temporary and, unfortunately, was stuck here for years and years now. That made her look older and sadder, so she was always tired and a little rude with customers.
Ryland wasn’t suffering with her sharp attitude, so she, somehow, became gentler with him after several weeks out of familiarity.
“Eeyore isn’t here today.” She said to Ryland instead of greeting out of blue with a long sigh, and Ryland looked at her with surprise.
“Who?” He asked dumbly, while moving his laptop to the left.
“The young man with wolf ears.” She said with a shrug, while adjusting his order on the table. Ryland looked at the counter and didn’t find the man in his usual spot.
“Oh.” Ryland answered and frowned a little. He didn’t know what to say to that information. “Why Eeyore?”
Meg gave him a stinky eye, as if he started this conversation.
“Because his ears are big.” She said and then sighed again more dreamily. “And he looks lonely and sad, especially with those cow eyes.”
Ryland never saw the young man so close before to have any proper opinion. So he hummed and looked down to his plate, but Meg didn’t leave.
Ryland looked at her again and she was too occupied, staring at Eeyore’s place at the counter.
“Do you have nicknames for all regulars?” He asked, so Meg was startled and looked at him with some irritation.
“Yes. Yours is Four-eyes.”
She said and left.
Ryland blinked two times and shrugged to himself - ordinary and predictable, his children had more imagination involved in nicknames.
“Don’t think much of it, pal,” the old man said from his own place. “My nickname here is Old Fart.”
Ryland was caught out of guard and laughed out loud for five minutes straight.
***
The next time Ryland came to the diner - all of the regulars were there.
The ladies, Eeyore, Four-eyes and Old Fart.
As soon as Ryland placed all their nicknames in his head, he snorted out loud, trying to cover his grin under the hand. It was stupid and, because of that, really funny.
Sometimes he was as bad as his students, sue him!
He sat down on his usual spot and set his laptop. For now Ryland was pretty sure that the kitchen had already placed his order and the waitress didn’t even need to ask him about what he wanted.
Ryland never thought that one day he would become this predictable but, on the other hand, it felt nice to be recognised and to have an opportunity to say “just my regular, please”.
While waiting, he looked around the place. The two ladies had left already with their coffee and cookies, Old Fart was reading his newspaper and Eeyore was eating his breakfast with his emotionless face.
The morning was quiet and the same as usual.
Then the waitress - Penny - placed his ham sandwich and coffee on the table with a smile. She was a young and friendly girl with sparkling eyes, maybe, Meg once had been the same as her.
The quiet morning shifted slightly, but it was enough for Ryland to avert his gaze from the laptop once again.
For this hour it was pretty uncommon to have other customers, but now a new stranger came in.
The man was short and restless, he didn’t bother himself with a menu on the wall and came straight to the counter.
To Eeyore.
Ryland’s brows shoot up. Was that stranger his friend or something? Oh, boy, the work with children made him so nosy.
The stranger sat with his back to Ryland and started to rumble right away. Penny tried to come to him, asking his order, but the stranger waved her away.
Ryland could not hear a word from him at all - the stranger was talking too low and private, and his back shielded Eeyore too, so Ryland couldn’t see his face and didn’t have any opportunities to guess the topic.
At that point Ryland could see only the young man’s wolf ears that now were tensed and focused on the stranger.
Eeyore stopped eating.
Ryland tried to come back to the newest article on the laptop, but he couldn’t. The stranger across from him made an ugly little chuckle, while Eeyore remained silent, and continued his speech.
Maybe it was out of familiarity too, but Ryland now was keeping an eye on them just to be sure that Eeyore was okay.
He didn’t know the young man at all, he didn’t speak with him either. Ryland even was closer to Old Fart at that point, but it still felt necessary to be sure.
It was like when you watched luggage at the airport for some strangers, even though they didn’t ask you to, you just kinda noticed that they were always near you for several hours. So, when they left their luggage unsupervised, you became the top security guard for the next ten minutes simply because they were an acquaintance of yours now.
Eeyore didn’t ask to look after him in any sense either, but Ryland felt this strange involvement nonetheless.
“No.”
Ryland blinked, surprised to hear a clear word from the conversation. The stranger shattered too, because the word wasn’t loud but still monumental and sharp enough to cut through all his mumbling and stop him dead.
The stranger was silent for five seconds. Then tried to open his mouth once more, so only several words, smashed together, came out from him before the young man interrupted him again.
“Are you deaf?”
Eeyore’s voice wasn’t harsh or spooky - it sounded buttery and soft, honestly, but there was something that made the place quiet in a second. Ryland was positive that he could hear his own heartbeat because nobody in the diner was even breathing right now.
Only the kitchen played some muffled music from a radio in the background.
The stranger huffed and stood up.
“Fine,” he said louder, irritated. “Your loss, doggy.”
And the man left the place.
Eeyore watched as the man went with sharp eyes and full attention. Even when the door closed behind him, Eeyore’s focus was on entering for some time.
Ryland was so taken aback with the scene that he forgot to politely pretend that he was eating and reading. That interaction was so rude, that he felt second-hand irritation.
Eeyore’s eyes were on him now.
The young man didn’t look stressed, his face was pale, yeah, but there wasn’t much to see actually. His eyes didn’t have anything that made him look like a cow - he was sharp, attentive and watchful.
His wolf ears were now focused on him as if Eeyore expected him to intervene in his peace too.
Ryland knew better than to do so.
So, he smiled a little and nodded, trying to be reassured.
Eeyore didn’t blink and didn’t smile, but his face shifted a little - he wasn’t so sharp now and became softer. He nodded too after a moment.
Then he turned away and continued to eat his breakfast without an appetite.
Ryland took a breath, he wasn’t even aware that he held one, and the morning after that was the same - quiet and regular.
***
People liked to pick Eeyore from time to time.
Ryland went to the diner for some time already, particularly the half of the school year, and he witnessed how some strangers came inside and talked with Eeyore specifically.
It wasn’t as dramatic as the first interaction that Ryland saw, but still memorable.
And it wasn’t often - maybe only three times for the whole period, but every time Ryland couldn’t stop himself from wondering what all that was about. He couldn't hear the conversation each time it happened, but out of three times, Eeyore said ‘yes’ once.
Ryland noticed it because the stranger, who had a long smooth tail, shook Eeyore’s hand after their one-sided conversation and made a happy salute when he left the place.
That day Eeyore didn’t finish his plate and sat with slightly furrowed brows for a while. Then he stood up. He kept his right hand a little bit funny, as if it was wet after the handshake, and left the diner too. It was uncommon - if Eeyore was here, Ryland often left to work before him.
After that Eeyore wasn’t at the diner for a week and a half.
When Ryland finally saw the young man on his spot at the counter on some Wednesday, he was really happy and actually surprised that he cared to see him that much.
But Ryland didn’t want to bother anyone with his unprompted questions, after all, they were all strangers here, he even still called the old man as Old Fart in his head, and the young man was only Eeyore for him.
All thanks to Meg.
But, Ryland was free to think about it over and over again. So it became his new favorite hobby - he came to the diner, ate his breakfast, checked emails and wondered, who was Eeyore?
The man didn’t look like a corporate worker like the ladies with cookies, and he was still too young for retirement like Old Fart. So he had to have a job like Ryland.
Maybe those people, who came to him occasionally, were his coworkers? Honestly, all of them looked a little shady, in strict teacher Grace’s opinion, but what did he know about the other people’s life at all…
Well, Eeyore might have a job. Maybe, in the mornings he wasn’t heading to one - he ate too lazily for someone in a rush - and for him it was closer to a very-late-but-early dinner? The young man looked like a type with a night shift job.
That thought stuck with Ryland for so long that he headcannoned it after some time. See, he was better with slang now!
However, Eeyore was here without a pattern - he might be on his spot for three days straight and then - gone for a whole week. Ryland tried to calculate his working hours but it seemed impossible - it was random days of the week, and didn't actually match any significant holiday, so each time was a solid fifty-fifty guess.
Ryland started to play this game by himself - if Eeyore were there, the rest of the day would be good.
Once he even decided to make a test for his students easier, on a whim, if Eeyore would be at the diner.
So, his children passed it easily, Eeyore was, in fact, there that day.
And the whole school class was praising Eeyore (the Donkey) for the next month because Ryland thought it would be funny if he confessed to them that he made the test easy on purpose, just because of Eeyore (not the Donkey).
After sometime Ryland’s brain was done with all that guesses, he couldn’t add anything to the pile and it was a little bit frustrating. So, Ryland stopped to wonder about Eeyore so much - he could become as bad as Meg towards him.
And she had a crush.
Ryland was just curious!
***
Today was cold.
The sky was grey and wet, so Ryland was in his bright yellow raincoat and looked from the diner’s window with a sad grimace. He had to head to the school right now, before the rain - he hated to ride in the rain, he always looked like a wet cat and was fast to catch a cold and a running nose for a week.
Penny made him coffee and wrapped a sandwich to go, which went straight to his bag. He chugged coffee fast, didn’t even bother himself with work emails, and stood up.
Even in a building he could hear how the wind became stronger with every second.
Old Fart nodded him goodbyes, unbothered. He had a long umbrella near the sofa and nowhere to rush.
The ladies with cookies left too, as always, and Eeyore wasn’t here today. Ryland didn’t pay much attention to that, not at all.
When he was near the door, it opened and Eeyore stepped in. They particularly hit each other but somehow managed to stop a collision.
Ryland gasped in surprise, clutching his bag to the stomach, and stepped back. Eeyore’s eyes widened too and he made a very quiet huff of the air, while his wolf years stood up in a sharp focus.
They had never seen each other so close before.
“Sorry,” Ryland mumbled.
They had never spoken to each other before, either.
Eeyore didn’t make room for Ryland to squeeze past him, he blinked and looked at his watch on the left hand with a light frown. Ryland looked at it too - well, it was nice that Eeyore was familiar with his routine too.
“Yeah, don’t want to be caught by the rain.” Ryland answered even without a question, and Eeyore looked right in his eyes.
They were… nice. Ryland remembered how the man looked at him for the first time, it was the sharp gaze of someone who dared you to speak. But now, when they looked at each other, Ryland was surprised, how anybody could manage this stare, with the eyes so soft.
It was a brief moment that went away in a second as soon as Eeyore looked past Ryland to the diner’s windows. He looked there long enough without blinking, so Ryland turned his head too.
The window was already wet, and it was raining heavily.
“Shoot…” Ryland signed. He would be wet as a rat when he would come to work.
“Need a ride?” The soft voice came out of nowhere as if it was something otherworldly.
Ryland turned back to the man and looked at him, mouth agape. He wasn’t even sure that Eeyore said anything - his face was unreadable as if he had never moved his lips.
“Sorry, w-what?” Ryland needed to check.
“I can drive you.” The man repeated himself gently, and Ryland watched intensely how his lips were moving in each syllable just to be sure that he wasn’t imagining things.
Oh, sweet god, Eeyore actually repeated himself! The last time in the similar situation he asked if the other man was friggin deaf.
Ryland was happy that today Penny was on a shift and not Meg.
Well, decisions - decisions. On the one hand, Ryland didn’t want to be soaking wet. On the other hand, Ryland wanted to be polite if Eeyore had said it out of politeness too and had been just a nice person. If so, Ryland would be a big fat fool, if he said yes right away - he didn’t want to bother anyone.
“It’s okay! Not a big deal, really, you don’t need to worry.” Maybe his face betrayed him somehow, because Ryland didn’t actually want to bike in the rain, and his smile wasn’t honest enough to believe him.
“It’s not a problem.” Eeyore made a step forward as if gently shepherding him back in the diner, still didn’t make room for him to go outside.
Ryland could be mad, because it was rude to corner people like that, but he really didn’t want to bike in the rain!
He could pass himself one moment of weakness just for today. Like a sweet treat.
“If you insist…” Ryland said and turned to his usual table. Yeah, he surrendered after one try and had no self esteem, so what.
Old Fart looked at them with something odd in his eyes, but didn’t say anything and went back to reading.
Ryland sat back on the sofa a little bit stiff. He had around half an hour until his usual time of leaving. So he probably should eat his ham sandwich and read emails.
If Eeyore wasn’t joking and really would drive him to work today.
Ryland shot a tentative look at the young man, but found only his back. He was leaning on the counter, placing his order; two leather gloves were peaking from the back pocket of his tight jeans. Ryland had never seen that he was wearing them inside or never caught them near him.
Well, not like Grace had perfect eyesight.
Or was staring at the young man’s ass before so attentively.
Okay, jail.
Ryland moved nervously, trying to set his laptop on the table. He didn’t need another coffee today, it would make him even more stupid.
“May I?”
Ryland jolted a little and raised his head. Eeyore stood beside his table and looked at him expectantly. His voice was so soft, but somehow rang in the silent diner as a church bell.
“Oh… Oh! Yes, of course!” Ryland nodded, and the young man sat on the other side of the table with his own coffee.
Did it mean that he wasn’t joking about the ride?..
He didn’t have his food either.
“I’ll eat after giving you a ride.” As if he heard Ryland’s thoughts, the man said. He stared into his eyes with confidence of an established deal and waited until Ryland’s nod. Then Eeyore blinked and looked at the grey street outside the window.
He seemed to be blinking not really often, as if Eeyore did it only when proactive remembered to do so.
Well, it was strange to have a company at the table. Especially, when Ryland had been studying him out of pure curiosity for the past months, as a wildlife cinematographer, and was sure that they would never speak at all.
Ryland felt that he knew about Eeyore more than the man knew about him in return. And that made them not on the same page from the start.
Ryland couldn’t say that any of his hypothetical assumptions were correct, but it still somehow felt a little unfair.
But having Eeyore here wasn’t a problem, actually. The man was silent, calm and steady, he wasn’t crowding his personal space, just sitting here with his coffee, looking outside.
Ryland did everything to save this atmosphere, so he kept his mouth shut and started his regular routine with work, while eating the ham sandwich.
He faked it until made it - it was so easy to forget about Eeyore’s presence, that when Ryland was done with his routine and looked up from the laptop, he was genuinely surprised to see Eeyore waiting for him across the table.
When their gazes met, Eeyore looked at his watch and nodded in satisfaction. Was Ryland just in time? He supposed so.
The weather was cold and shivering, which made Ryland’s mood more and more grim. The rain was about to ruin even his dignity and the actual first impression with Eeyore.
Because only now, near the diner’s entrance, Ryland was shot with the realization that he needed to take his wet bicycle with him too.
The young man could say no, because he didn’t want to ruin his car, and then Ryland would ride his dirty wet bicycle through the dirty wet streets and die out of shame and anger in the first pit he would meet on the way.
So he would never step in the diner after.
“My bike…” Ryland started when they stopped at the door. Eeyore looked at him expectantly. “Do you… um, I should ask it beforehand. I need to take my bicycle, and it was outside, so…”
Under Eeyore’s gaze Ryland’s voice felt weak. He couldn’t even say what he wanted to say. The sentences were awkward and the question didn’t make it past Ryland’s thoughts and never left his mind.
“‘S fine,” the young man just shook his head.
Outside, the rain was still there, washing the streets with streams. Ryland adjusted his raincoat and went straight to the bike, opening its lock.
He was already wet and felt heavy under the rain drops all over his open face and hands and fingers, and he wanted just to go back inside the warm diner to sit here forever.
Stupid job. He wanted to quit immediately.
He started to move, when a blue car gently pulled from the parking lot and stopped near him. Its body shined with drops all over it, making Ryland paused.
Eeyore appeared from the driver seat and quickly moved to open the trunk for the bike. He was now wet too, so his wolf ears were flat on his head, white jacket became darker and greasy, and Eeyore took the bike from Ryland, dutifully putting it in.
Ryland didn’t know why he couldn’t still believe that Eeyore was sure to help him get to work. Even when he closed his truck and looked at Ryland a little confused as if he didn’t understand why he was still here and not inside the car.
Actually, a very good question!
They sat, closing the car doors in unison. Ryland felt so out of place that it made him nervous and painfully quiet, although the silence made him even more uncomfortable.
He nervously glanced at Eeyore - the man rubbed his face and moved his short dumped hair from the forehead. His wolf ears were still flat on the head, wet with heavy water drops on the fur tips.
Eeyore made some abrupt movement of his shoulders as if he wanted to shake all the water from him, but at the last moment he thought better and stopped himself.
Did he really want to shake like a wet dog, or was Ryland just extremely racist?
By the way, if not Ryland, Eeyore wouldn't be so ruined by rain.
At the same time Ryland thought about his own wet hair, raincoat and a big puddle under him, soaking in the seat. His fogged glasses were on a tip of his nose, ready to slip down into his lap.
“Oh, golly molly!” Ryland looked at himself with a frown, so glasses fell down. He catched them clumsily, so the glasses jumped between his fingers a few times. “Ow!”
Eeyore didn’t say anything, he just waited with patience until Ryland calmed down in his place. His eyes were soft too as if he wasn’t irritated by this performance.
“Sorry! I’m making a mess all over your car,” Ryland finally said a proper sentence and smiled sheepishly, his eyes nervously darted at Eeyore.
However, the young man looked away the second Ryland looked at him with his glasses on.
“It’s only water,” he answered with a small shrug. His ears were still flat on the head. Did it count as irritation or was he uncomfortable? Maybe it was a physical reaction to being wet.
Ryland didn’t know and was surprised that he actually wanted to.
“Where do you work?” Eeyore asked. Ryland opened his mouth, a dumb question like “why do you need it?” was ready to leave his tongue, but Ryland snapped his mouth shut just in time.
All this situation made him so stupid, it wasn’t even funny.
“It’s Grover Cleveland Middle School,” he said. “I’m a teacher there, actually. Oh, do you know where it is? Should I show you the way? Wait, I know how to bike there, but it might be a different route for cars. Let me check the phone.”
It wasn’t necessary to bombard Eeyore with this information, but Ryland did it nonetheless. He tried to fetch his phone from the bag but it became enormously bottomless and full of junk as if aware that Ryland was in a vulnerable position.
“No need. I’m familiar with the city,” Eeyore replied easily.
“Oh, okay!”
It took Ryland another several long moments to understand that the car was already moving and they were on the street, smoothly going with the traffic.
That made Ryland finally stop his frantic mind and body. He sat more comfortable but still clutching the bag on his lap to make himself anchored. The silence now was light, it wasn’t buzzing or painfully stretched between them.
At that moment Ryland remembered his old hobby from the diner, the question of all past mornings and a few particularly boring evenings - who was Eeyore?
He was in his personal space now, it was an excellent opportunity to find out more.
Ryland carefully looked around with just his eyes.
Eeyore was driving with the ease of a man who was confident in what he was doing - he checked the mirrors with attention but it still seemed relaxed. There were the leather gloves on his hands, the same ones that were once in his back pocket. It made him look professional and strongly reliable, so Ryland felt less nervous with each second - he wasn't even afraid to be car sick with a driver like that.
Eeyore's focus was on the road ahead, but his wolf ears were loosened now and one of them was slightly turned to the passenger seat, as if he was ready to listen if Ryland would speak.
But, unfortunately, Eeyore had none personal belongings on his front panel - there weren’t any little trinkets or toys, or stickers, or any car perfume. There weren't even crumbs or empty bags of candy, if Eeyore even ate anything like that.
The inside of the car was clean and well cared of, Ryland was upset again that he ruined a space that was so cherished.
But it still gave enough details about Eeyore’s mysterious persona.
The young man seemed like a closeted and strict person but not unkind. It was like he was quiet and preferred to keep everything to himself - the thoughts, the words, the things, the actions - and somehow Ryland was let in his deeply private world to participate in short conversations and - even crazier - to ride in his car.
The last thing felt particularly important. Maybe, it was his actual work - he drove people around as some sort of a fancy taxi, because it seemed obvious that it wasn’t just a hobby. The knowledge of the city, the gloves, the well maintained car, the manner of driving and the attentiveness on the road with polite awareness of passengers inside easily marked Eeyore as the best driver which Ryland had ever seen in his whole life.
Well, he hadn’t met many of them, actually, but he felt that he wasn’t wrong at all.
So, it was safe to say that Eeyore was paying attention to Ryland in the diner too and became familiar with him enough for this act of kindness to show him this part of himself, huh.
Oh, did it mean that he had a nickname for Grace too? Or was he using the one that Meg was using? Four-eyes, if Ryland remembered it correctly.
Because Ryland indeed was using the nickname Eeyore.
It ingrained in him a little too deep by now.
Wait, should he ask Eeyore for his real name and introduce himself?
It seemed like a proper way in a situation like that - honestly, they had needed to do it back in the diner while Eeyore had been sitting and waiting for him.
Because they were no longer the same strangers, they were… strangers with benefits. It sounded awful, Ryland cringed a little, but kept himself shut.
It was a miracle that he wasn’t talking right now.
However Ryland wasn’t ready to ruin this comfort with his stupid mouth, and the situation still felt like some new adventure where he didn’t want to know the real names or provide anything from his side too.
Even though he could speak enough for both of them and had already blubbered some nonsense.
The school parking lot wasn’t crowded, Ryland was here even earlier than he usually accustomed to. Eeyore parked the car, but didn’t move from his seat, looking at Ryland with his full attention.
“Thank you, you saved my day, actually,” Ryland met his unblinking gaze with a soft smile. He was honest in his thanks too - he wasn’t as wet as he thought he would be and he still had enough time before his first lesson to prepare some papers and drawings on the board.
“Sure,” Eeyore replied softly. His face was emotionless and he stared too intently for an average eye contact, but Ryland saw how the young man tried to fix it by blinking and looking away.
Ryland also remembered how Eeyore had been acting after the handshake he had witnessed once at the diner, so he decided that no direct contact would be appreciated too, even though the man wore gloves.
The rain was easy now, just some light drizzle in the air, going to be a mist soon.
Ryland got out of the car and paused a little, looking at the grey sky with clear blue patches at the horizon and the bright yellow sun. He even could see the glimpse of the pale rainbow - blink and you miss it.
The trunk slammed and Ryland jolted, whipping his head around. Eeyore was already moving Grace’s bike closer, carefully clutching the bicycle handlebar with one hand.
Ryland’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
“Oh, my bike!” He exclaimed and took the handlebar. “Sorry, I almost forgot about it. Thank you again, if my head wasn’t attached to my body, I would lose it somewhere. I didn’t even think about how I’ll go back home from work. It’s good that the weather is better now, so I’m not going to catch a running nose or something. Well, I need to go, I assume you need to go too… Sorry! I’ll buy you a coffee or breakfast tomorrow morning. As a thanks. So, thanks! See you.”
Eeyore was a saint human being, Ryland couldn’t believe that he listened to all that rambling and didn’t get annoyed with him. His ears were focusing on him, so it made Ryland speak more as if he owned information to the young man.
“See you,” Eeyore echoed with a nod, and Ryland turned away, going to the school.
This morning was indeed abnormal.