Yesterday at university, I gave a woman my seat and somehow ended up in a two-hour conversation. I’m nineteen, she’s twenty-three, and I had gone in expecting a meeting. The meeting faced unexpectedly strong competition.
She wore glasses and seemed quiet and a little closed off at first. Once we started talking, though, we kept finding things to say. Random things, mostly—the kind of conversation where you don’t notice how long you’ve been standing outside whatever you were supposed to attend.
Friends passed by and mentioned that the meeting had started. She knew. Each time, her answer was essentially, yes, but we’re talking. I tried not to make too much of that, which went about as well as you’d expect.
At one point she mentioned her grandfather, who had died. I said I was sorry, and she gave me a heartfelt thank-you. It was a small exchange, but it stayed with me more than any of the possible flirting.
She played with her hair. We kept looking at each other. Usually my attention wanders when I’m talking to someone; with her, it stayed put. Whether that says something about us or simply about how much I liked her is a distinction I have not successfully resolved.
Eventually we went into the meeting, and she sat beside me with her head turned toward me. A few times I thought she was looking at me or at my phone. She checked WhatsApp herself, then put her phone down without seeming to type anything. I noticed all of this. Apparently I had become the minutes secretary for a completely different meeting.
When I asked for her Instagram, she said she’d give it to me later. She also seemed nervous and, at times, as though she was trying to keep some distance. She left, came back about an hour later, and sat behind me.
That’s where things stand. She was warm, told me about her friends, and chose to keep talking long after she could have left. She also left the Instagram question hanging. I’d like to talk to her again. I just can’t tell whether we had a promising first conversation or a very pleasant reason to miss the start of a meeting.
