I know as I drive that I am making a mistake. It has been a year since I gave in to this. Why start now? The answer comes to me before I finish the question: Sunday is Valentine’s Day. The day I’ve convinced myself that I hate because it’s commercial. In reality, I’m terrifyingly lonely. Coming here has always made me feel wanted. And who doesn’t want that?
By chance, he’s getting out of his car as I park. Let the games begin.
“Hey Nik, what’s up!?” He smiles that smile. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!”
“I know!” I say as I lock my car behind me. I make my way across the snow to meet him in his driveway. He goes in for the hug and I comply. I did come here for a reason.
“Kerri just left to pick the kids up from school and take them out for ice cream. Why don’t you come inside, and we can catch up?”
The name is Nik.
"Then, all of a sudden, something very spooky started happening. Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street. I thought I’d just go down, down, down, and nobody’d ever see me again."
-Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye
I know as I drive that I am making a mistake. It has been a year since I gave in to this. Why start now? The answer comes to me before I finish the question: Sunday is Valentine’s Day. The day I’ve convinced myself that I hate because it’s commercial. In reality, I’m terrifyingly lonely. Coming here has always made me feel wanted. And who doesn’t want that?
By chance, he’s getting out of his car as I park. Let the games begin.
“Hey Nik, what’s up!?” He smiles that smile. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!”
“I know!” I say as I lock my car behind me. I make my way across the snow to meet him in his driveway. He goes in for the hug and I comply. I did come here for a reason.
“Kerri just left to pick the kids up from school and take them out for ice cream. Why don’t you come inside, and we can catch up?”
