Sunday, July 09, 2006

"I took off my glasses and pretended I was somebody else."


I always thought that if I ran into Anne I would be an adult and say hello, ask her how she's doing. After all, it seemed only inevitable that I would run into her on the streets of Park Slope. The conversation would probably be brief and awkward, but I would know that I could give myself a pat on the back for handling the situation well.


As I stood on the corner of 9th Street and 8th Avenue with two of my lesbian club members and waiting to cross at the light, I noticed something familiar about the woman across with her bike and hair pulled back. She wasn't looking towards me, but instead was with another girl. In the second it took me to realize that it was Anne, she stooped to kiss the woman she was with.

I wanted to run. I wanted to be anywhere but the corner of 9th Street and 8th Avenue. I was paralyzed with shock even as my friends began to cross the street towards her. WHAT THE FUCK WAS I GOING TO DO?!

I took off my glasses and pretended I was someone else. I let my hair fall into my face. I kept my head turned down 8th Avenue like I was checking to see if there was any traffic coming. I kept myself close to my two friends. I prayed that she wouldn't recognize me so quickly as my hair was considerably longer when we last saw each other three months ago.

I don't know if she even saw me. I kept walking. I know it was her because I heard her voice as I was walking by. Shit. Shit. Shit. Running into people you've slept with is AWKWARD, especially when you see them kissing someone else.

3 comments:

EnnuiHerself said...

I bet you're re-thinking the wisdom of my "cut & run" philosophy to dating.

~Dennise

Red said...

Ah, the Superman/Clark Kent approach to disguise. Classic :)

bad apologies said...

GoodNESS. To me, the hardest thing about running into people when you know the encounter might be awkward, is that its always when you AND they are with people. But isn't that how it's always going to happen?