Some days you just have to accept that the best choice would have been to drop everything and just go home, because things aren't going to get any better. We all have those days. Mine was yesterday. I woke early, around eleven, natch, and primped myself for a relaxing four block walk downtown to read my book on the patio of Peets with a pot of green tea. I'd bought a pair of sunglasses the day before and was really excited about wearing them. I strolled down the sidewalk feeling not unlike Giselle Bundchen, looking at the nice clear day through my fashionable new aviators.
All I remember is the noise I made, a kind of short, comical "Aaaaaaah!" and then a bump to the shoulder. Then all I saw was the underside of the grill of a BMW. Staring at the front of the now stopped car, I had the sudden flashing vision of the driver imagining they'd hit a mere speed bump and trying to continue on their way. I sprung up, hands defensively splayed, and tried to see inside the darkly tinted windshield. "Why is this person not coming out to apologize?" I thought, just as the door slowly opened to a smiling middle aged woman with lardaceous gums and a bad dye job. In my welling anger toward her glib apologies and creepy demeanor (I have not once gotten the creeps from a woman until yesterday), I wandered off downtown, mumbling something about how I was all right. I think I was in a bit of a shock.
The world seemed slightly unreal as I shakily wandered into a clothing boutique. At this point, I'd forgotten that I'd walked downtown with the intent of drinking tea, so I started thumbing through the clothing racks until I felt an arm around my shoulder, and an enthusiastic "Hi Julia!". It was my friend J*, and by friend, I mean a fellow that I have been acquainted with mostly though drunken, fumbling snogging and pawing at each other in bars. He's quite a handsome fellow, but whenever I see him outside of a nightclub, I never quite know what to say. I escaped the store with his number and a promise to meet up later that night, and made my way toward Peets with a new found remembrance of tea and my book.
Just as I'd stepped (cautiously) across the crosswalk, a dark pick up truck pulled up, and a man in the passenger seat gave me a watchful head nod. My. exboyfriend. whom. I. haven't. seen. since. walking. in. on. him. with. another. woman. a. month. ago. I think I gave him a sort of shocked half wave, but whole day is a little fuzzy for me. Then the light changed, and off he went.
I finally made it to Peets, but before I could refill the water in my jasmine green tea, I timidly headed back home to the safety of my apartment, looking twice before I crossed every street.
