"A bit too many responsibilities for one person."
"Ask the staff for an intern."
"We already have one new. Two will be a nuisance."
"Hm, you're probably right. Sorry for today."
"What? I should be the one..."
"I don't feel hurt. I understand. I've already got used to this kind of situation. For you it was probably something new.
"Yes, definitely something new"
The elevator arrived and they both went inside. The Szwedas pressed the ground floor button.
"Where to?" He asked Skrzynecki.
"Ground floor."
"So it's over for today?"
"Yes."
"I would like to start work on a new offer for individual customers this week. Will you be able to find time for this or will we wait a few more days until you get used to all the duties?"
"I can handle."
"That's good," he smiled contentedly. "I was specifically waiting for your boss to go on vacation. I was told that a solution was expected any minute, so there was no reason to start a project with her that she would not finish."
"Right."
They reached the ground floor.
"You came by car?" Asked Szwedas.
"No, by tram".
"I'll give you a ride."
"Thank you, you don't have to."
"For sure? It's not a problem."
"For sure, these are just a few stops."
"Then Wednesday I will give you some remarks that I would like you to do a little bit about. These new agreements."
"Yes, of course."
"Good night."
"Good night."
Mikołaj stood speechless watching as the Szwedas recedes in the light of street lamps.
What was it just now? He thought, unable to take his eyes off the slowly and nonchalantly shrinking figure. Has he just had a normal, completely, absolutely normal conversation with the guy he was afraid of revealing his little secret?
Well, what would he reveal if he didn't remember the incident? And why was it so stressful?
By the way, Szwedas was really cool. You couldn't feel bad in his company. Smiling, with a gentle, warm look, able to find a topic for a random conversation - no wonder he attracted people towards him. He charmed them. Seduced.
Mikołaj sighed and dropped his head in resignation.
Unfortunately, he also did not remain immune to the charms of this man.
And what can you do here to use common sense?
A telephone rang in his pocket. He reached out and took it in surprise.
"Mikołaaaaj !!! Let's go drink today," said a familiar and familiarly wailing voice.
"Mirek? What happened again?"
"He dumped me! He really dumped me! Mikołaj! Let's go drink!"
Mirek, his best friend for years and a cordial friend in more than one adventure had a painful love break again. There was no choice. Skrzynecki could not leave him in this condition, although he was tired after work and tomorrow he was waiting for a not a lighter day.
"Okay," he agreed. "In 'Tam gdzie zawsze'".
"Uhm, uhm."
"I'll be in half an hour."
***
'Tam gdzie zawsze' it was a small bar that they came to get drunk from as a student. They didn't come here so regularly since graduation, but all the drunkards - and those happy and sad - were organized here so they could still pass for regular customers.
Mirek was already at the table. Almost literally. He lay on his body and resembled a battered corpse. Two glasses and a open bottle were in front of him.
"U, bad, he started without me," Skrzynecki thought as he approached. The matter looked really serious, which surprised him a little. Previously, at the great parting, he did not drown his sorrows in the bottle, but went to Tenerife to use some pleasure. Mirek was simply that few things could move him, and he preferred to devote himself to looking into the bright future rather than reflecting on the painful past. However, since he was drinking now and started alone, he was not very well with him.
Mikołaj sat down without a word and poured himself a glass. He did not like to drink on an empty stomach, so he began to crunch salty sticks exposed as snacks.
"It's over," Mirek muttered. "End."
"Stop melodramizing. It's not the first girl who dumped you."
"Girl?" Mirek looked up. His eyes were full of tears.
He's crying?
"Girl!" He snorted and tears ran down his cheeks. "It was the only true love of my heart. He ...
"Wait, wait, 'he'? What 'he' again?
"Sylwuś! I didn't tell you about him before, because Sylwuś didn't want to, but now ..."
"Are you telling me you're crying because a guy left you?"
Mirek nodded. Skrzynecki forgot about salty sticks and put out a glass of vodka. He was so shocked that he didn't even taste it.
Mikołaj looked at his friend's tearful face and his swollen, red eyes and he thought he was seeing him for the first time. They had known each other for years, he thought he knew everything about his buddy. In life, however, he would not say that his heart can be broken by unhappy love. In addition to the guy.
"So after Tenerife you started dating men?"
"Not really. I went to bed with two. Then I met Sylwuś. You know, he is a little younger than us, but wonderful. He belongs to the wrestling team. With him, I was the experienced one, but he had so much passion! No one else made me feel that way!"
Skrzynecki felt something tight in his heart. He felt sorry for Mirek, heartfelt regret. He could not imagine what it was like to have a broken heart, because he never got involved so much, but it must have been a really painful experience. Poor Mirek.
"You said he was younger than us."
"He's in graduation class."
"What? Is he still a kid? Is he at least eighteen?"
"Nineteen."
Mikołaj reflexively reached for another salty finger.
"You know," he said, "nineteen years is very little. Do you remember how we were then?"
"I remember," he sighed. "But Sylwuś is different. More mature. He really knows what he wants to do in his life, which is why it hurt so much when he said that there was no place for me in it."
"He may have plans for his future, but he's just a brat. He probably doesn't quite understand what's going on with his emotions. Perhaps he was scared that someone suddenly appeared who did not fit in with his plan and did not know what to do, he made an incompletely thought-out decision."
"You think so?"
"There is a possibility."
"Mirek!" someone shouted from the door. Before Mikołaj realized that it was about this Mirek, he was attacked by a hurricane grabbing his jacket and aiming for the left hook. "You bastard, Mirek is crying because of you! I will kill you !!!"
The hurricane turned out to be a young man with blue eyes and blond, short-cut hair. He intended the blow a second time, but this time Skrzynecki blocked the blow.
"I think you made a mistake, you brat," he hissed.
"Who are you calling a brat, you bastard ?!"
"Sylwuś?" Stammered quietly surprised Mirek.
"Sylwuś ?!" Mikołaj was genuinely surprised.
The boy lost his drive of rage for a moment.
"It's all right, jerk," snarled Mikołaj and jerked the teenager seated him at the table. "I don't know what you got into that stupid head to attack calm people, but I'm already fed up with getting in the face for innocence. What's with you? Damn you, if you have problems in a relationship, solve them by talking. Oh damn, my nose is bleeding again. Beautiful!"
He left the table, leaving them alone. He saw the boy sitting glumly massaging the hand that Skrzynecki was holding. A member of the wrestling team, yes, Mikołaj smiled with satisfaction.
"Can you give me some ice?" He asked the bartender.
"Sure," he answered, barely holding back a smile. "May I ask what it was?"
"You can. The snag is that I don't know myself. People, why recently when someone sees me with their partner I immediately get in the face? What bad karma?"
"Maybe because you are too handsome? Someone like you could make everyone dizzy."
"Don't say that you too will want to pick me up."
"No," the bartender laughed. The guy was almost fifty and wore a ring on his finger, although everyone knew that his wife had died ten years ago. "But as a bartender, I see a lot and see different people. You, I have known for years. I remember you pimples and now you have grown up to be handsome men."
"Don't say you treat us like sons."
"Rather like younger brothers. You know that you are handsome because you have been told more than one mouth, but you have not only a pretty face and body. You are intelligent, confident, go-ahead and at the same time you make people feel good in your company. .
"Hey, are you sure you describe me?"
'It fits in with Szwedas more for me, he added in his thoughts.
"You, you. Just look at yourself. The kid hit you in the face and instead of making a scene, you forced them to talk."
Skrzynecki turned to the table and saw that Mirek and Sylwek were embracing each other. Mikołaj didn't even try to stop his smile.
"You see?"
"I'm glad they made up," he said again, turning to the bar.
"Hm, I'm sorry ..."
The bartender signaled to Skrzynecki that he should turn away. He went a bit further and took care of checking the cleanliness of the glass.
Mikołaj turned on the chair and saw Sylwuś standing in front of him. The boy was actually quite pretty and his look, at that moment full of remorse, showed some maturity.
"I would like to apologize and thank you."
"Apology accepted. And thanks for what?
"For ... you said to Mirek something I didn't yet understand. You're right, I only recently discovered that I was gay. Mirek's appearance changed my life completely and I got a little lost. I didn't think anyone could love that much ... "
Love? Does he really love so much or is he too young to really recognize his feelings?
"I am happy. I hope you will get along better now."
"Yes. I will do everything to make it happen. I never want to hurt Mirek again. And ... I know that you are his close friend, that's why I would like to get along with you."
Well, the boy is actually mature.
"I am Mikołaj " Skrzynecki stretched out his hand to him.
"I'm Sylwester. But please call me Sylwek."
"No 'Sylwuś'?"
"I would prefer Sylwek" blushed.
"Relax, I was joking. Sylwek. Get better back to Mirek, because I will get a blow in the face again, but this time from him."
After all, it was nice to look at a happy friend, even if it was happiness that he found in the arms of a man. Anyway, who was Mikołaj to judge anyone?