girl-on-the-train.org (2785B)
1 #+title: The Girl on the Train 2 #+date: <2020-06-24 Wed> 3 4 Dedicated to the girl on the train, without whom I would probably have 5 had a good day yesterday. 6 7 * Introduction 8 9 I'm a music student, and university is a 1-hour train ride from where 10 I live. Due to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_New_Zealand#Education_sector's_responses][corona-chan]], all on-campus classes were replaced by 11 [[https://stallman.org/zoom.html][Zoom]]. Thus, my social skills have diminished to a major degree. 12 Thankfully, a couple of weeks ago, my lessons (one per week) were 13 moved back to campus. 14 15 The weather was quite unusual--the whole city was coated with a dense 16 layer of fog, higher than most buildings in the CBD. Because I had my 17 cello with me, I decided to catch the bus from the train station to 18 university. 19 20 I had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep that night, as I was up 21 late writing an assignment, and woken up by my dog around 6:30 in the 22 morning. 23 24 * The Train 25 26 After my lesson, which went well, I got a burger before hopping on the 27 train. I usually avoid sitting near people I've met to avoid boring 28 small talk. This time, didn't pay any attention to where I was 29 sitting. It wasn't until about 5 minutes had gone by that I noticed 30 the girl sitting in front of me. 31 32 * The Girl 33 34 I recognised her as she was the year below me at school. This girl is 35 drop-dead gorgeous. Her face is weirdly circular -- eyes, cheeks, 36 chin, ears, all have a round quality that is indescribably beautiful. 37 38 We started exchanging glances through the reflection in the window. 39 After a while, we reached the sunny spot that looks down at the ocean. 40 She put on her sunglasses and looked at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapiti_Island][Kāpiti Island]] -- I could have 41 sworn I was sitting next to an angel. 42 43 When we got to the third stop from mine, she turned around and asked 44 me if I was comfortable having a conversation. I was stunned, and 45 after some delay responded in a shamefully awkward way. She kept 46 asking me questions -- I told her about my cello, the commute, 47 corona-chan. She asked me what my highlight of the day was, and I 48 couldn't think of anything -- hers was meeting a friend. We 49 unironically talked about the weather, which I've never done before. 50 51 She got of at the next stop, I wished her a good week, and that was 52 it. I've never had a worse conversation in my life. 53 54 * TL;DR 55 56 I told the story to my friend like so: 57 58 #+begin_quote 59 this girl and I were exchanging glances on the train for ~45 mins, hot 60 stuff 61 62 then in [some place] she asks me "are you in the mood for a 63 conversation?" 64 65 ffs I freaked out, was in shock for 10 15 secs 66 67 said some dumb shit like "ok", awkward 5 min chat about the weather 68 until she got off at [some other place] 69 #+end_quote 70