when i was at university (south of england, 2017), i worked part-time as a library assistant. there was this very dark-academia coded guy who was always there, studying on the same floor every time i had a shift. headphones in, a book open on the side, his laptop covered in stickers. we would lock eyes sometimes, and i found him so enigmatic, even though men rarely caught my attention.
by the third month i had a full-blown crush. i never spoke to him - too afraid he’d have a girlfriend, too afraid of rejection. eventually, a facebook page popped up for anonymous submissions from students, and i wrote in: “does anyone know the tall, mysterious man with glasses, covered laptop, always on the third floor of the library?”
that was my desperate attempt at reaching him. i thought maybe he or one of his friends would see it and be curious. but no response came, just banter and spam.
and that was the end of our non-story.
sometimes i think i’ve been unlucky in love ever since i broke a mirror at fifteen.
