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Trouble, dangerous trouble, sidles up, Asian characters tattooed around her calf. Somehow she has gotten an earring stabbed into her bottom lip, just above her chin. If she knows it's there she shows no sign. As painful as is looks, it seems not to bother her. Trouble has a tendency to be codependent and has anxiety issues. She's a little too "easy," a total misnomer for that particularly troublesome dysfunction and the difficulty it brings her. She is asking if you have a smoke she can bum. You tell her that you don't smoke. She asks what you're doing. You tell her in painful detail and technical jargon. You don't stop talking and you don't look at her. You just talk and talk and talk. When you look up, she has excused herself without your notice and she is gone. Disaster is averted. You feel a little guilty, but mostly you feel relieved. One day, in the distant future, you will look back and wonder why you always felt so threatened by people, so afraid. You will try to remember the face of everyone you ever brushed off. You will try to imagine how the conversation would have gone. You can't remember too many of them, but you keep picturing this girl with a pierced lip. She is smoking a cigarette and you are explaining your job to her. She's fascinated. You notice her leg tattoo and wonder if she's easy. Hello, friends. How are you today? Later. Love. |
