"Hey, I saw you earlier."
Quickly redirecting and reprogramming, my mind switching from look-down-keep-moving mode to acknowledge-fellow-human-being mode, I turned to take in the speaker. He was a guy roughly my age and height, latino, and a complete stranger.
"Oh," I said dumbly. "Hey." I rejoined the traffic stream of bright-minded college students, but a quick glance to my left found that he had too.
Matching my speed, he continued, "You were walking in the hall. A few hours ago."
"Oh."
"Do you always have class this late?"
"Yeah, I'm on campus until 6:45 usually. Get here at 11:30."
"Oh neat. What are you studying?"
Pausing slightly to wait for a gap, we turned left at the corner and entered another hallway, this one less populated.
"I'm an English major," I said.
"Spanish Education." He smiled as he said it. His teeth, flashing like a beacon, were perfect.
"K, well, I'm heading this way," I said, turning abruptly into a side hall.
"Oh... See you around!" he called after me.
I had no need for the hallway I took and after waiting a reasonable amount of time, I reversed my direction and came out the way I came. Some more reprogramming was necessary, so I shook my head, pulled out my phone and sent my husband, Brian, a message.
"I love you, honey. Moomoos."
And sensing my need for a response, he replied seconds later.
"I love you too."
Then I lost service in the winding underbelly of campus.
No comments:
Post a Comment