I knew the guy beforehand. We'd had several classes together, both being CS majors. I knew his name, knew that he seemed kinda morose and quiet, but had never spoken to him. I'm not even sure I'd even seen him smile before. I could probably write that exact same paragraph for about twenty other people in my department.
He sat behind me this morning, two computers down. I saw him when I did my semi-hourly head count of the computer lab. The administration is trying to decide if we need the computer lab open as much as we have it, so we take head counts. I always feel the urge to pad my counts just a little, so at least if anyone's hours are judged superfluous, they won't be mine.
He was staring into space. To be fair, I do a good bit of that when I'm in the lab, too. But unlike me, he didn't have to be there. And he wasn't even facing a computer. He was turned around in his chair, looking at nothing in particular with no programs or anything open on his computer. I added the word "strange" with a question mark next to it in my list of opinions about him and went back to my own spacing out game.
Suddenly, he was beside me, standing next to me, leaning on the counter talking to me for the first time ever. I was definitely taken aback, partly because of the out-of-the-blue quality the encounter had, but mostly because I'm scared of strangers and even with all I knew about him, he still qualified as one.
Him: Hey, how's it goin'?
Me: Not too bad.
Him: Getting a lot of work done?
Me: (Hiding instant messenger window with program code I had been looking at) Not really.
Him: My name's Spencer.
I'm going to pause now to mention that I'm a little hazy on this part of the conversation. I'm not sure if I introduced myself or if he said something about already knowing me. You say that of course I introduced myself, that should be the instinctive thing to fly out of my mouth when someone else introduces themselves. That would be true, if I were not Sandra and somewhat socially retarded. Of course he doesn't know that because I don't think I told him. Anyway, no time now to apologize for poor social skills, moving on to my next brilliant line...
Me: Hi.
Pause again because he sure as heck did. I was totally mystified at this point as to why he was even talking to me. I was supposed to be monitoring some quizzes for a class. I thought maybe it was because he needed me to turn on a quiz for him so he could take it. I kept waiting for him to ask me about the quiz. I was just about to mention it when he continued the conversation on his own.
Him: So, are you dating anyone?
Oh. Ohhhhhhhh.
Me: Yeah.
Him: Oh, well, that's not very surprising.
Me: Heh, thanks.
At which point he said a friendly goodbye and left, while a deep blush remained on my face for another 5 minutes. I got that little "Someone likes me!" glow and wondered if he had been staring into space with visions of me leaping across meadows in flowing dresses. Then I pondered what girls do when they don't have boyfriends with which to block hopeful suitors, which led to me thinking of Casey leaping across meadows in a flowing dress.
Aside from all the regular perks of having a boyfriend, using him as an excuse is a often-overlooked one. Even when you only suspect someone is edging toward that "Care to work on the same strand of spaghetti with me?" moment, you can play the boyfriend card, saving both yourself and him from future embarrassment. That is, if you play it well. I always end up waiting too late and being too obvious. I think they appreciate the effort just the same, and think of me nicely when they cry late at night.
Having a boyfriend excuses you from having an opinion. No one follows up the conversation by saying, "So, if you didn't have a boyfriend, would you find me attractive?" although you sometimes get a half-hearted "Call me when you break up," one of those jokes people make when they're not really kidding.
I am always flattered by these attempts for my affection, not that they happen all that frequently. It's hard not to be flattered by positive attention. Casey says I like it too much. Maybe. He should just be glad I get to add one more reason to my huge list of reasons why I'm glad I have him.
And most of them are much less shallow.
No comments:
Post a Comment