Speeding towards the classroom, with mere seconds away from being late, I saw him making a beeline right towards me. He was my student last semester in my school’s tutoring center, and because he reminded me of my brother, I had a bit more tolerance than I normally would have when he sat too close and wrote sentences about his lack of a girlfriend.
I thought that I would never see him again, but he somehow managed to bump into me randomly on campus. And he has a class right before mine in the same classroom. If I mismanaged my arrival time, he intercepted me and monopolized my time talking about music (he plays piano) and one of my friends, who is very pretty and a better pianist than he is. Fortunately, today, because I was late, I managed to say, “HiBorisIhavetogotoclass,” in response to his “ELIZABETH: WHAT ARE YOUR SUMMER PLA—“ and slip past him. There was no loophole for him—my professor was already at her desk taking attendance. I relaxed over my close call.
Immediately after class, I fled downstairs to exit in the front of the building. With our last newspaper issue on stands Monday, the staff was celebrating the end of the year with a picnic. It had been raining in the morning, so I wasn’t sure if we were still going to be outside, but I went to check just in case. Then I saw him again, coming in through the doors. I quickly changed directions to exit through another set of doors, but he saw my maneuvering and he intercepted me. “ELIZABETH,” he said, keeping pace with me as I sped up through the doors and down the steps. “WHAT ARE YOUR SUMMER PLANS?”
“Oh, this and that,” I said.
“YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE?”
“No,” I said, trying to move around him as I surveyed the lawn in front of the building. I saw no one I recognized. I would have hung out for a little while to see if anyone showed up, but Boris was not going away. He was talking about his summer plans, and something about the Dean’s List – I abruptly sped up and charged in the direction of the newspaper office. At this point, my only thought was escape.
“DID YOU GO TO THE CEREMONY?”
“What ceremony?” I asked, not making eye contact.
“THE DEAN’S LIST CEREMONY.”
“No,” I said, “I don’t think I made the dean’s list.”
“OH, YOU DID,” he informed me.
“Hm, I didn’t get a letter or anything.” I was close to the gate. There was the stop light. It was changing—I was plunging across the street, and Boris was still walking with me. He was saying something about how he didn’t go to the dean’s party because he’d wanted to practice so he could be a better piano player than my friend, and I said something vague about it being unlikely. He finally turned back, after making it to the middle of the street with me. I made it across the street and couldn’t stop laughing.
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Every time I go to work, I see her, and I say hi and how are you doing? She says she's fine, but there's something going on with Matt/Bob/Nick/Joe/Mike/Tim.
Matt is the guy she met online.
Bob was also from online.
Nick was the guy at the doctor's office who took care of her when she was sick.
Her bartender, Joe, walked her home one night but now he doesn't talk to her.
She met Mike in the bar and he seemed really sweet so they went on a date, but she isn't sure about him.
Tim showed up over spring break and they've been dating for three weeks but he won't kiss her. Or is the kissing nice? I can't remember.
She gives up on guys about every other day, and I think that maybe that's a good idea because I can't keep track anymore.
"Is Nick the one that gained weight?" I ask.
"No, that's Mike," she explains.
"Who sent you that funny text?"
"Tim. I like Tim."
But I can tell that she's looking for any excuse to not like Tim, and today she found it. Something about a really weird Facebook message. But I forget to ask for details, then I have to work, and I wonder what it was exactly that made her not like Tim anymore.
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