i let that sit there for a second, like maybe if i donāt touch it it'll deflate on its own. but it lands and it stays, and i kind of hate that heās not entirely wrong, which is a deeply irritating pattern with earl.
i turn my head a little. not fully. iām not committing to eye contact in a moment like this. thatās how you get trapped in sincerity, something i have spent years carefully avoiding. ' yeah, ' i say, which already sounds like iām agreeing (which i'm not) but now it's out there and i canāt take it back. so that's great.
i push up onto my elbows like i'm about to give a lecture nobody asked for, then kind of stall there, because suddenly it feels like maybe this isn't one of those times where i can just... riff my way out of it.
' wow, ' i say, staring up at the sky like it personally failed me, ' that is ... an incredibly bleak pep talk. ' i drag a hand over my face, slow, like i can just reset myself if i do it right. ' and also, ' i add, quieter, ' you can't just - reduce her to that. she wasn't just some- ' i gesture vaguely, because of course i donāt have the vocabulary now of all times. ' i mean, yeah, fine. statistically speaking, i will, unfortunately, continue to meet girls. that's just how the world works. i go outside, there they are, existing. nightmare. '
a small pause. i pick at my sleeve, then stop, because i'm going to end up with a pile of thread in my lap and nothing else.
' but it's not the same, ' i say, and this part comes out more solid than i expect. ' that's the whole point. it's not like - oh, this one made me different, and then the next one will also make me different in the exact same way, and we just keep stacking identical different experiences like some kind of ... terrible emotional jenga. '