Hermosa

A Conversation Between Acquaintances (Part 2)

Returning from Somewhere

Jules:              Wait, hold on [laughs] what was it that you asked me?  I'm sorry, I got off topic.

(It is now afternoon,  and someone is in the car with Jules on another stretch of interstate.   There is more traffic than this morning.  She appears distracted.)

Jules:              Was I  attracted to Diego? God, uph, [giggles nervously] this is going to  sound terrible, but honestly [switches on the blinker] no.  He wasn't someone that I would have ever considered being in a relationship with or even-even dating casually, uh.  I'm really, I'm really not trying to be mean.  Please don't judge me for saying this, but [sighs] I had always dated like skinny, pasty  white boys.  That was like, that was almost like the stereotype of the  type of person that I would date.  My friends made fun of me because all  of my boyfriends looked the same.  I would just go from one scrawny, tall, lanky white  boy with really bright blue eyes and brown hair to the next.  I mean, I  guess the only variation would have been how long their hair was  honestly. [laughs, scratches her eyebrow]  Some had, y'know long hair  and some had short hair.  That was it, that was, it was essentially I  kept dating the same people.  Um, ts-hah, so eh Dee; he was the complete  opposite of everything that I was attracted to [pauses before quickly  adding] back then.  He was, uh, well I'll just say it.  He was Hispanic.   I had never dated anyone outside my race.  He was relatively dark.  I  mean, I've seen Hispanic men who were darker, but he was pretty tan.   I-I remember one time, [sniffs] we were having some trouble with this  shoplifter at the store [chuckling during some words as she is saying  this] and after Dee asked to see inside her bag and we got into a bunch  of trouble and she was causing a big commotion and creating a lot of  chaos, I overheard her telling my store manager something about the guy  with the beautiful caramel brown colored skin. That really stuck with me because it was so true.  He was caramel  brown. He was sweet as candy.  Anyway, anyway sorry [smiling widely].   But no, I'd picked up from conversations with him that he, like he  straight up admitted that he never brushed his teeth.  And I thought that was so gross.  I couldn't even pretend that it wasn't gross to me.  I would be like, "Oh my God, Dee, are you serious?   What do you mean you don't brush your teeth?"  And he'd be like,  "Well, I do sometimes." And I'd be like, "Well how often is sometimes?!   That's crazy!"  And he'd be like, "Eh, maybe once a week." "Do you ever  floss?" "Uhhh, no, I can't even remember the last time I flossed."   [laughing hard]  I uh, oh, it was so appalling to me to even think you  could leave the house and make it to work without brushing your teeth  first.   I was so-so, anyway-anyway um.  But yeah, hold on just a  second.

(Jules has been watching  a car in her side mirror, which has been keeping her from merging into  the right lane.  She turns on the blinker.  She speeds up to squeeze in  between the car and a tractor trailer truck.  The blinker switches off.   Once she has completed the merge, she continues the conversation.)

Jules:              So  yeah, no but like he smelled.  He always smelled really sour, like  really really sour.  It would take me a long time to figure out why.  I  mean, he didn't wear deodorant.  He would sweat profusely, and I learned  over time that he smoked a lot of weed.  Like, a lot of weed.   So much so that he was going out on his lunch breaks and smoking.  He  couldn't finish the work day without being stoned.  That also was  another huge negative point for him for me 'cause I've always, I uh, I  was never straight edge or whatever you want to call that.  But I was  definitely, um, I never had much interest in any sort of false reality.   You know, I wanted to face the world sober.  I had a really tough  childhood.  Um, there was a lot of alcoholism, a lot of drug use, a lot  of friends and family in and out of jail or overdosing.  Just from like  watching them and seeing how miserable they were, I couldn't see the  benefits of using.  I was like, "This sort of thing just isn't for me.  I  don't understand why anyone would want to do any of that."  [appears  anxious, scratches eyebrow, scratches forehead]  Here, let me turn the  air up.  It's really warm all of a sudden.  It still feels like summer  and it's like late October.

(Jules adjusts the temperature and the speed of the fan on the car's air conditioning controls.)

Jules:              So, no I wasn't attracted to Diego.