Billiards, a First and a Road Trip

We went to shoot pool one other evening. It was the time when I learned the first words in his language. They don't seem to have a very diverse vocabulary for swearing. Like 5 words, which they mix and match. Yeah, I am quite a good pool player. And he wasn't, at the time.
We were a bit crazy and very much into each other. The room smelled ... let's say... heavy. I don't suppose they ever opened the window or anything. Too hot during the days, or paranoid someone might get in and steal something if they weren't in; too noisy during the nights. Anyway, it was the first time, it was a bit awkward, but still extremely special. It felt like he had never done that before, although he said he had... I was to find that out a few months later.
The date of his leaving was approaching quite rapidly. the insecurity of it all, increasing rapidly as well. What would happen after he took off and continue his life thousands of km away? Then one day, while having coffee in my office, somehow we found ourselves looking at flights. Ten minutes later, I had a ticket to go visit him. For a month, two months after his leaving. One of the happiest days, that was.
The weekend before his leaving, we went on a road trip. We drove through half of the country, went to the highest mountains. The road was amazing, there even was snow taller than the car on the side of the road; he was impressed. The pictures were great.. he came up with this idea of taking long exposure photos of the river. With him standing in the water. He was a good poser, and apparently Very resistant to cold. It was a mountain river, after all... We went to the other mountains as well, the beautiful jewel of the valley royal palace (technically, the royal summer cottage..). Even the famous creepy castle from the movies... We drove home from there in one go. It took... long. I don't remember, like 15hours or so. We stopped near a lake and took one picture of us looking at each other, camera was on the car. It's etched in my brain, like so many others. But that one, it's special, even now, after all these years.