Eye contact

escapril III - eye contact

The girl is out at her regular club. It’s 5am and she’s taking a break on the black faux-leather couches near the bathroom line. The girl is smiling, chatting with her friends as they debate going home. She sighs at the prospect of having to stand up and looks in awe at the line of people doing just that, walking in and out of the restrooms and

Eye contact.

Is that him? The situationship from two years ago that lives on her block? The guy she stopped seeing to get into that relationship to nowhere? the guy she lent a book to and never got back? (The girl has habit of doing that.) He smiles. She smiles. They hug. He leaves and her stomach turns at the what ifs the past two years contain.

The girl turns to her friends on the couch. How weird to run into him right here, when she’s not once run into him on the street they both share, when she’s been coming to this club every week for months and has never seen anyone she knows. They laugh.

They really should go home now. They take a collective sigh, look up again and

Eye contact.

There’s no way that’s him. Is that him? Oh my god that is him. The friend turned hook up turned friend. The guy whose girlfriend turned them back to strangers. She didn’t like the idea of seeing someone he had a past with. The guy whose birthday it is today. (Yes the birthday the girl was disinvited from). The guy is right in front of the girl, standing despite his lack of spine, his eyes shifting between the girl and the girlfriend, his mouth mumbling the spoken equivalent of doctor’s handwriting. « Happy birthday » the girl says before the guy runs off.

The friends burst out laughing. On tonight of all nights? With the girlfriend? Karma is a bitch sometimes… but tonight karma is a better friend than he was.

There’s a buzz around them now. They should go. Put the renewed energy to good use. They scoot to the edge of the couch while searching for keys in their pockets. They finally join the line of people standing up and

Eye contact.

You?

Hand contact.

Here?

Chin contact.

I’m going home.

Nose contact.

Come with me.

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