murphy, roman, leo
murphy: what’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done?
"i hate to say it, i really do, but it’s actually probably this one time years ago with robin. he had just gotten back from a film festival in seattle that he did really well in, and after we went out to eat at his favorite place, we got back to my place where i had set up this really cozy bean bag situation with dimmed mood lighting, plus the walls were decorated with a mix of pictures of us and pretty shots from his favorite films. and i bought this dingy projector the weekend before, which i used to project onto the walls this short animation i made about us before i told him i had found us a place to move into after i graduated, gave him a key and everything.” he doesn’t remember the night perfectly, but he does recall the feeling in his chest - that sharp yearning, that belief that he had finally solidified his forever. “but then, you know, he respectfully declined that and broke up with my dumb ass, so maybe romance is dead, folks.”
roman: what are your thoughts on the west coast?
“i’m sorry, have we not talked before?” he asks in mock-shock. “and i lasted a whole conversation without mentioning the fact that i’m from california? and that west coast is best coast? and that in-n-out fries beat quite literally any other fast food these city slickers can throw at me? really?”
leo: what’s worst thing you’ve ever done?
he doesn’t like to think about this, let alone talk about it, but there it is. “the second time robin broke up with me i thought it was over - like, really over - and so i dated this girl named poppy from august to january. i’d talk about our future together all the time, she adored that stuff, and i made all kinds of promises about moving to a cottage on the coast of scotland with her. and she loved me, you know? it was honeymoon love, but it was real. then robin came back into my life, and i realized that i never really stopped being infatuated with him, and so i told her that same weekend that i couldn’t keep dating her. and she just. bawled and bawled at my kitchen table. told me she didn’t think she’d ever find a heart like mine again. after that, she walked out of my apartment, quit her job with me at the art museum, and i never saw her again. i think about that a lot, how i did to her what so many other people did to me before. but at the end of the day she was just a raft, and robin was always the shore i was looking back towards.” until, of course, he wasn’t, but no need to bring that back up.
