Eye for a Guy II

I've had so many searches for "Eye for a Guy" since that entry about Q. Sorry, guys. No photos of Howard and Wolfgang here.

But since I'm taking a self-imposed break from lab today, I thought I'd give someone else an ego boost, and share a story about... toothpaste.

***

To find someone that you can feel comfortable with within five minutes of knowing them is a rare and understated gift. If you can laugh at the same things and laugh at each other, it's always a friendship worth working on. :)

Under normal circumstances, W wouldn't have come into my life, but it's a combination of a complex network and a not-that-interesting story that made him one of those people. We don't get to meet up all that often, and even less now that he's in Australia, but when we do, there is always an air of familiarity and ease.

***

It was a beautiful night; the stars were quite something to behold, the water was cool beneath our feet, and the silence was penetrated only by the gentle creaking of the swings. Towards the end of the evening, laughter and jesting gave way to exhausted smiles of contentment.

We retreated back to the chalet, half tired from the all the frolicking, the other half reluctant for the long walk to end.

***

My eyes flitted open at the sudden onslaught of light; I was sleeping closest to the bathroom.

W saw my head turn, and whispered an apology: "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Nah, it's okay," I assured him. "What time is it?" We were due to check out by 10 AM.

"It's still early, go back to sleep," he hushed.

"Mm-hmm," I mumbled into the pillow, trying to block the glare from my eyes.

***

When I finally got out of bed, the sky was lit. I reached for my glasses, flustered from the thought that we might've overslept. But a look around showed that everyone else was asleep. I heaved a sigh of relieved as I looked at the clock. Eightish; still time.

I arched my body in a lazy stretch and tip-toed to the bathroom. I stood in front of the sink, and instinctively gave myself a once-over in the mirror after rubbing my eyes. Then I looked down for my toothbrush...

To my surprise, I found that all of our toothbrushes were laid out in neat parallel rows, and each one had a strip of bright-white toothpaste across the bristles. I generally don't expect to be surprised within five minutes of being awake, so the memory of that sight puts a smile on my face to this day.

I was still staring at the toothbrushes, afraid to disturb the perfect alignment, when W popped his head into the bathroom.

"Are you done yet?" he asked.

I jumped in shock, as I turned to face him. "No, I'm not. Hey, did you..." I pointed to the toothbrushes.

"Shhhh," he put his finger to his lips and furrowed his eyebrows.

"You woke up in the middle of the night just to..."

"SHHHH!" he shushed even louder. "It's our secret, okay?"

***

I guess the small gestures are really what touch me the most. Because they are raw, unpretentious reflections of someone's heart -- something I can trust, and something that I treasure.

***

The rest of the gang spent the morning trying to solve the who-put-the-toothpaste mystery over breakfast. W and I joined in for a while, but we eventually caved. Yeah, we're pretty horrible liars. ;)