Sunday, February 04, 2007

Ruth, not Annette

I was sitting in the library, innocently doing homework, when a girl I kind of know from my English class walked in, holding hands with a boy. They came and sat down in the seats immediately next to mine. They chatted about schoolwork for a minute, chemistry and English. Then all of a sudden the girl said, "We need to talk. About us."

The boy got a little defensive. "What is there to say?"

"Are we dating, or what?"

"Look, two drunken hook-ups don't mean we're dating."

Right about here, I started melting inconspicuously into the carpet.

"Ugh! Then what do they mean?!"

"I guess I'm just not down with the whole commitment thing right now."

"That's such a lame excuse!"

"Well, maybe so, but it's the truth."

"You are such an #&!" Girl left.

Boy sat still with his hand over eyes. I hid behind my books.

Eventually, the boy left, too, and I, bemused, continued my homework.

Strangely enough, about 10 minutes later, they came back. Together. They sat in the same seats. They held the same conversation. Chemistry. English. Two drunken hook-ups. It was incredibly surreal, something out of a fantasy novel.

This went on for my entire free period. At one point (maybe the fourth time through) when the boy was sitting alone with his hand over his eyes, I asked him, "What is this?"

He said, "I wish I knew."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? It's a lot like that.

Nate said...

Wow. That kind of reminds me of people I knew in medical school, except they were of legal age to be drunken. I guess maybe not a fantasy novel, but more like a bad romance or the start of some true crime book.

Annette said...

ruth, not annette:
YES! i LOVE groundhog day. it was very much like this, now that you've made me think about it. you know, the montage of her slapping him all those times?

Annette said...

ruth, not annette:
oh, and nate, everyone my age in holland IS of legal age to be drunken. just not on the particularly hard stuff. that would be 18.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yes, I'd forgotten the slapping part. It makes me want to watch the film again.... :)