On The Train

His smile widened.

"Excellent. I'll buy you dinner at the first good diner we can find, my treat. And if I were you, I wouldn't worry so much about your troubles--at your age, I looked a hell of a lot worse than you do, so I'd say you're doing pretty well."

Mars shrugged.

"We'll see how things turn out, I guess...Wellp, that's enough depressing talk," he decided. "I'm gonna try to focus on, well...other things."

He nodded.

"Let's talk about something more fun. What type of music do you like?"

"Me? I like things like Switchfoot and Mumford and Sons, maybe some Carbon Leaf," he said before he took out his iPod and scrolled through for bands he listened to. "You?"

"I like a lot of things," he replied. "Lately, I've been in the mood for Sir Mix-a-Lot and Queen--quite the odd pair, don't you think?"

"Wh...what?" he laughed despite himself. "That's weird," he said. "How old are you, anyway?"

"Old enough," he said, winking. "How old are you?"

"Old enough," Mars replied right back. "You tell me first, Father."

He shrugged.

"If it matters. I'm in my thirties--it takes a while for a boy to grow up and become a man of God."

"Whoa, you look really young," he replied honestly. He leaned closer to Priestly, examining his face. "Are you really that old?"

"Nah, I'm twenty-two," he joked, unable to repress a chuckle. "God keeps me young, I guess? Or maybe it's travel. It's certainly not anything I did when I was younger--sheesh. Word of advice, kid, don't take the phrase 'heroin-chic' literally."

"Uh, right," he replied as he leaned back in his seat. "Oh, yeah, I'm, uh...twenty-one," Mars fibbed.

"Twenty-one and twenty-two--what a coincidence, huh?" he asked, smiling. "Do you drink?"

"A little bit," he admitted sheepishly. "Try not to, though."

He nodded. "I can understand that--though I have to, for my job. The wine's terrible, I wouldn't recommend it. That's what I get for going Catholic."

Mars burst into laughter, grinning widely. "I can highly relate. So, I forgot to ask, what's your full name? If we're going to be travelling together it'd be helpful to know. I'm Cyprus Gray, officially, but, well...I never really shook the nickname 'Mars', so that's where that comes from."

"Giles Priestly," he responded with a wink. "Everyone's always called me Priestly. Maybe it's because I went to Catholic school."

"Is Priestly really your last name?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Seems kind of weird for a priest."

He shrugged. "Probably fate. Funny how things work out, huh?"

"Yeah, well it's not like I haven't run into weirder things on my travels," he admitted with a slight shrug. "So, you got any hobbies? Personally I like photography, in case you hadn't noticed." He laughed.

He frowned, thinking. "Well, I guess my biggest hobby is meeting new people. I love people, it's one of the reasons I love travel so much."

"Actually, I'm sort of the same," he admitted somewhat sheepishly. "People are...interesting to me. I just don't tend to get too close, I usually bring trouble to whoever I meet."

"Well, I'm sure I'm prepared for any kind of trouble you might bring. I'm a priest--dealing with trouble is my job." He smiled brightly.

Mars tried to smile but it fell short.

"Yeah, well...you might be surprised about exactly how much trouble I bring," he joked half-heartedly.

"Oh, I don't mind--I used to be the same way, remember? I understand very well. Of course, I never ran into a priest about my age."