Ordering quickly, I followed him to a table way in the back corner. It felt too private, but we were already committed.
“Ok, so spill. I have told you all about my life, it’s your turn now.”
My face fell ashen. “Yeah, there isn’t much to tell.” I heard our order called ready, and I shot up from my seat. Why hadn’t I prepped for this? Of course, there would be talk and conversation, that was the point of a date, right?
Walking back, I set the cups down, deciding it would be best to focus on this evening and honestly, get through it. “About me.” I offered as I scooted the chair back in. “I am from a tiny town in southern Idaho that no one has ever heard of, I went to a high school that had to be two towns together to have enough to actually make a full school. I toured the college when I was a freshman when we came here for History Day finals and really liked the campus. I decided this is where I would come to college. That’s pretty much it.”
Moe laughed, “I came from a pretty small school, we had about 800 in my class.” He smiled a cocky grin. “That’s small right?”
“Not at all.”
He shrugged, “Well, it felt small. I swear but the time senior year hit, I had dated all the girl’s worth dating.”
“So maybe the school wasn’t small, just the person.” I took a sip, shocked that the words tumbled out.
“What?” apparently, Moe hadn’t heard.
I shook my head, “Oh nothing, tell me more about you?” That did it. He dove into sports stories, and weekend debauchery memories of the boys at home, and all the crazy stuff they did. Honestly, none of it sounded plausible, but I added the correct eyebrow interaction, ohh’s, and no ways to make him keep going.
Obviously, this date with Moe would be over soon and never be repeated. My mind started to drift.
Tyler was so much easier to talk to. Well, Tyler used to be so easy to talk to. Used to be so fun to hang with. Moe was definitely not Tyler.
I had finished my coffee and had already returned the cup back to the dish holder, as I waited for Moe’s latest story to wrap up.
He looked down at my interlaced fingers. Slowly he reached out to touch them. “Hey, you wanna go for a walk? This downtown area is really nice.”
Instinctually, I pulled my hands from the table and tucked them under each leg. “No, I think I should get back, I have a ton of homework to get through.”
"Ok, if that is what you want.” Moe’s expression fell, and he leaned back in his chair acting as if another glory story was going to start.
“It is.” I popped up from the chair and grabbed his empty coffee cup. “It really is.” I set the cup back in the dish return and walked quickly back to the table. I didn’t sit back down, but stood next to it, waiting for Moe to stand up.
He got the hint, and slowly stood grabbing his jacket. I didn’t check to see if he had followed me but when I reached the truck door, I saw him slowly crossing the street. Yeah, this didn’t go like he’d hoped.
We drove back to campus relatively silent. I turned the truck radio up when a hint of a song I sort of recognized sang through the speakers. Then that was it. We were back at campus.
We shut the doors of the truck and began walking towards my dorm. “Don’t you live in Simplot?” I asked as he continued toward my dorm.
“Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you made it back ok.” He looked down, a little stricken.
“Oh, thank you.” There was no need to be rude, he had gotten the message that I wasn’t interested. Let him at least have some dignity left.
We approached the doors and he started to lean in, so I awkwardly turned it into a hug. “Thanks Moe, this was-good.” What was I supposed to say? “I’d never been there before.” My smile hung thinly on my face, as I back stepped to get to my door. Unfortunately, I stepped right into someone, I turned to apologize. “I am so sorry,” I added, as I turned to face them.
Of course. It was Tyler.
His eyes went from Moe to me, and his expression hardened for just a second. Then he quickly hid it in his smile. “Here let me get the door for you guys.” He stood on the side opening it wide.
I looked at Moe and then to Tyler, “Nope, just me,” I walked through, “Thanks again Moe,” I waved as I continued down the hall.
I rounded the corner glad to be away from the testosterone. My head's dull ache echoed in my ears. I didn’t want to think. Thinking would cause me to get a bigger headache, bottom line, I was not open to this.
Sleep didn’t quite touch my mind, as I lay captured in the space between deep sleep and reality, the small sliver of vortex that existed when my subconscious couldn’t quite let go completely, and when the mysteries of my imagination peeked around the corner, just barely visible.
Crystel’s alarm went off and pulled me back to reality.
I turned over chewing through the remnants of dreams that hadn’t escaped the clutch of my fingers of consciousness.
An image from the corner caught my attention. It
