There are not many people I can spend hours and hours with and not get bored, not get antsy, and not do something about it. I didn’t mind changing my plans to accommodate her plans, just as I was about to reach for the door and head out for the day.

I enjoyed going from bike shop to bike shop to help her on her errand and explain to her what little I know about bikes. It was still more than she knew, so she felt I was a great help. And fortunate for me, the main drag for bike shops is just down the street from where I live.

It rained intermittently all afternoon, as the last of the recent typhoon was still moving offshore.

She treated me to dinner for my help. I was feeling the social fear creep in. How am I going to get through another couple hours without boring her? How about the other stuff I need to be doing? But I didn’t run, we’ve known each other for four and a half months, and as language students in Taiwan, we were familiars. Good friends.

As we continued talking after finishing eating, my concentration waned as I’m not used to spending this much time with one person, concentrating for this much time on one person, one person as charming as her. As pretty as her. Is she pretty? She’s not not pretty. She’s more charming than pretty. But she’s pretty. Her charm emphasizes the pretty. The corner of her eyes, her lip movement as she talked, her face changes as she smiled, she was relaxed with me, and I with her.

I didn’t want to kiss her, but I launched into the visualization anyway. Kissing her. Lips together, mouths moving, munch, munch. Isolate the two sets of teeth in space, isolate the two tongues in space. Banana slugs. Two people. Which one am I? Two people kissing. Isolate the four eyeballs in space, the brain behind her eyeballs. This is another person, why would they want to be kissing me, lips locked, munch, munch? Her brain full of memories I have no idea about, ideas, thoughts and feelings I have no idea about. I have no idea what else her eyes have seen. She showed me a picture of her from last November with long hair. I wouldn’t have recognized her. I don’t know who she is. The life she has lived. I don’t know how old she is, just that she is way too young for me. Pull away from the kiss. Her spit on my lips. Gross? Yum? It depends on whether she says the words “my boyfriend”. And today, she never did.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Good Night (The Beatles)
2. Beam Me Up (Rare Air)
3. Sweet Sixteen (B.B. King)
4. Unknown Legend (Neil Young)
5. Doll Parts (Hole)
6. A Little More Mascara ("La Cage Aux Folles")
7. Shambelle (The Police)
8. I'm Gonna Crawl (Led Zeppelin)
9. Day Tripper (Yellow Magic Orchestra)
10. It's So Delicious (Dreams Come True)