Conversations From Afar

17 / art boy again

"Hey," I look up from my computer, into the eyes of Ellis. He looks chagrined but he's got a cute little smile teasing at the edges of his mouth.

"Hi." I'm frowning. He wasn't very friendly last time.

"Um, so." He drops onto the chair across from me, placing a sketchbook there. "I seem to keep running into you, anyway, I drew you again and then I started feeling stalkerish so I'm just gonna give it to you."

"Uh, don't worry about it."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I have a boyfriend and this is starting to get awkward.

"Well, this is it." He flips the book over, and it's a very simplistic line drawing: I can make out my laptop, my hand holding up the side of my head, my sad shoulders again.

"It's good," I tell him.

"Thanks." He makes his face, like he wants to say more but doesn't quite know how. "Um, are you okay?"

"Sorry?"

He looks uncomfortable, and adjusts his shirt (a paisley button down). "You just seem so sad."

"Oh." I look down at my laptop, then up again. "My boyfriend moved to Montreal for grad school."

Boyfriend seems like such a simplistic word for us. Perhaps every young couple feels this way, but it feels like so much more.

"That's unfortunate." He says, closing the book and resting his arms on it, as if settling in for a chat. "Are you guys trying long distance?"

"We're doing long distance." I sound more vehement than originally planned.

He makes the hands-free gesture. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."

I make an apologetic face but it feels sad. I wish I could talk about him without the overwhelming rush of nostalgia and longing.

"So...where do you go to school?"

"Dalhousie."

"What are you studying?"

"Gender and Women's studies."

"Interesting stuff." He says with an easy grin. He takes a pen out of his bag and sketches as our conversation snowballs into a sort of friendship.

***

thoughts on ellis?

i love herbal essences naked shampoo & conditioner the grapefruit one smells gr9