my buffalo

(a holiday vignette) I’m taking a chunk of my holi-days to work on my thesis (So is Lisa). Without classes we can fully devote our minds to them. My senior thesis hangs over me, I can’t ignore it. I banged my funny bone - what even IS a funny bone? My entire arm is tingly and numb. This song is playing ? ’Talk talk featuring troye sivan by Charli xcx & Troye Sivan” I’m feeling so happy—it’s electric—peridot—it’s good. I’ve got a buffalo. It’s really not that much of a story. Lisa and I were walking down 5th avenue and there was like, this old man, who was standing out by the curb with a camera—in kind of an adorable way—looking for things to take pictures of—so I smiled as we walked by. Not Lisa though, she’s from Manhattan. Manhattan girls don’t smile on the street. Then he was like, “Stop, STOP! Stop right there!” I stopped, Lisa walked on a step or two. “I take street photos, and I want YOU TWO to model in them.” I was like, “OH, oh NOOO, I don’t know about that.” I looked to Lisa, who looked aghast. “I use the pictures for street fashion layouts - have you seen New York Magazine’s ‘Street Style?’ “What are you stopping for?” Lisa whispered to me exasperatedly.” She has a horror of modeling. “He’s kind of adorable, don’t you think?” I asked in a ‘come on,’ pleading voice. “Most of the time they don’t even use the faces—and I can give you one if you’d like,” he said. He handed me a New York Magazine business card, he’s on Insta, so he wasn’t some crazy homeless guy. “Ok, I said,” after a moment, shruggingly. He smiled and backed off several feet, getting ready. "Anais!" Lisa said, shocked at my ‘out of towner’ naiveite, “I’m not,” she shorthanded, stepping away. So, for a couple of minutes he took a potpourri of pix, posing me with comments like “turn sideways, pout, pop your waist,” and “look bored.” Now it was cool and windy, I was wearing a hoodie and jeans, and he was never creepy or anything, but I thought, ‘how do you pop your hip in a hoodie?’ As we walked away, Lisa said, “Why’d you agree to do that?” “Charles is here,” I said defensively, “he had a card and book,” I shrugged. If anything, Charles was amused. He gave me a couple of pics - cringy and un-model-ly. I think he really wanted Lisa (duh). Anyway, that was my New Year’s Day buffalo. I felt glamorous—for a minute. Then we went for apple-brandy slushies—which were pretty buffalo too. . . Songs for this: Glamour Girl by Louie Austen Street Life by Randy Crawford Talk talk featuring troye sivan by Charli xcx & Troye Sivan