A short story, based off of a dream last night….
When v. Until I found myself in a room with my friend and his ex. I'm not quite sure how that happened. She hates me and had been avoiding me for years. And I was under the impression that she was not especially happy with him, ESPECIALLY considering the circumstances of the breakup. While I pondered these things, he was talking to me. "I asked her if she will take me back when North America slams into Asia ten billion years from now." Geologic time. I laughed. Applying geologic time to humans was funny. I laughed. This was so many times worse than the time I was nineteen and I told the 22-year old I had a crush on that I would look her up in ten years (shoot, that's soon; what if I do see her again?) I buy into the philosophy that laughter is good for you. So when I do laugh out loud, I laugh out loud. I don't hold anything back. I once scared off a date because I enjoyed her company and laughed loudly at her jokes. Well, she WAS funny. So I laughed loudly. Then I ran back my mental tape recorder to listen to what he had said. "I asked her if she will take me back UNTIL North America slams into Asia ten billion years from now." Wow. That was a different statement. For the guy who hates to make any long-term commitments---and is not particularly good at keeping short-term commitments--- 10^10 years was as close to forever as he would ever come. THAT was a big deal. And I had no idea he felt this way about her. I had no idea that he had EVER felt this way about her. And I had laughed. I didn't have to turn my head to see the emotions on her face. I didn't want to see the shock and hatred on her face. I didn't want to see the disappointment on his face. I got up and left the room without looking at them. I had made an jackass out of myself yet again.