sleeping dogs
Yesterday’s weather was squallish, so Lisa (one of my roommates) and Mich (her bf) were posted-up all day. They’ve been hanging together lately but tolerhate each other - I don’t get it.
Mitch, a Junior, is the snippiest man I’ve ever met - except for my brother, when he’s actively trying to be a dick. Everything Lisa does seems to rub him wrong, but he’s got a massive boner in her direction.
Sometimes Lisa lets him intersperse his harsh music and we get “Neural Milk Hotel” or “Bikini Kill” - screemo tracs that set me *pinching fingers close together* THIS close to unplugging the damn router. I don’t think Mitch is a comfortable fit around here.
So, the three of us were going to pick up dinner at “Charley’s Place” and bring it back for the room. We get about ten feet out in the rain and Lisa says, “Argh! My Phone,” holds up a finger in the “1-second-sign' and turns back.
Mich, with the rain lashing down, is clearly irritated. He turns to me, looks me up and down and says, “Should we sleep together to see what it’s like?”
I decided that either his irritation with Lisa was emboldening him - or more likely, he was making a joke. “Wow, you’re really smooth with the seduction thing,” I said, hoping he'd take the joke path.
“I’m being direct,” he says, bending his legs or something to look me more directly in the eyes. “I like you, I’m attracted to you.” I looked away. Then turn back.
“It’s wrong. The whole idea. Deeply wrong,” I say, deciding that he’s serious and starting to get mad, “Lisa’s my friend,” I say, wondering how I can tell her about this, “die for that.”
“We know each other - it wouldn’t be like sleeping with a stranger,” He said, trying a logic so odd I almost laughed.
“Collapse already,” I said, dryly, as the dorm door opens and Lisa emerges.
I moved to put Lisa between us. “You know,” I said, sweeping my hair back from my forehead but keeping my palm pressed there like I’m taking my temperature, “I think I’ll call it a night.”
“Awww,” Lisa says, grimacing disappointedly. “Really?” Tilting her head in concentration as she searches me for reasons, symptoms, or a change in heart.
“Yeah,” I say, giving her a hug, “see ya later.” I turn and go in, as they walk off arguing.
I decided to work on an essay I’d been putting off, but my heart wasn’t in it - I couldn’t concentrate. Everything was irritating me - my clothes felt like wool - thinking I was going to have to tell Lisa about Mitch’s proposition.
Forty minutes later Lisa’s back home - with sandwiches for everyone. I’m sitting on my bed playing Animal Crossing when she scooches onto the foot of my bed and tells me she decided the Mitch 'thing' wasn’t working anymore.
“Thank God,” I said, letting my head fall back on my pillows, “You couldn’t trust him.”
.
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Slang: post-up = staying inside ……….. tolerhate = hate but tolerate
There’s a song for this: All I’ve ever known by Bahamas
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