european // ONEYNG

three

On the half hour ride back to what Arin coined the "Grump Space," I got to talking to Chris a bit more. He was easy to talk to, very open and found very quickly I had a soft spot in my heart for funny voices. He quickly used it to his advantage, and seemed impressed when he could make me laugh.

I could understand that, since I was the same way.

Arin chatted me up quite a bit, we spoke about what I was doing, what he was doing, how different I looked, how similarly I acted, and so on. Suzy mentioned how I had lost weight, not that I had a lot in the first place, to which Ross replied, "she looks like a recovering Jew."

I figure it was from a lack of eating. I didn't mean to look like a holocaust survivor. I just didn't have a lot of time to eat as of late. Chris laughed at the comment Ross made, and I found it funny as well. I didn't have an eating disorder, in fact, I loved eating. I just got too busy to even do the simplest of tasks.

I was 5'1" and weighed 110 lbs. I was absolutely tiny and hadn't grown since 8th grade and used to hate it. Now that I was 23, it was somewhat enjoyable being small. I could reach things tall people couldn't, and people seemed to enjoy picking me up and walking around with me, thus not having to use my legs.

We finally arrived at the Grump Space at around 9. Chris talked a lot, it seemed. He was an entertaining guy, so I let him speak. I preferred listening to him over replying. His voice was like the inside of a chocolate lava cake.

Chris was a cool guy after all, and I found him quite easy to talk to. Arin, after pulling into the driveway of the office, brought me inside, sat me on the couch, and told me to stay put so he could get the others. So I sat, situated, directly across from Chris.

"Do you mind if I eat?" I asked, and Chris shook his head, he didn't mind, so I tried a Vegan Chicken Sandwich I had bought previously in the airport and saved for later.

"What are you eating?" Chris quizzed, he seemed genuinely interested in the food I had, and I couldn't blame him since it looked good.

"Vegan Chicken Sandwich. It's not good. It's like just tofu and you can tell." My expression turned sour, "it's reminiscent of white people food."

"Why's that?" Chris chuckled.

"No seasoning. It's like eating a sock. And I'm not vegan either, I just asked the cashier chick to get me a sandwich and she does this to me."

"Well that was my next question. Are you that hungry that you're eating shit food?"

After hearing Chris converse easily with me, I felt plenty more comfortable. "Yes!" I exclaimed in half pain and half excitement.

"It's not that I hate vegans," Chris explained as he put down his phone, "I hate the vegans that go out of their way to make you feel bad."

"Yuh," I tried to agree with a mouthful of food, I swallowed my bite then continued, "like those fuckin people who share slaughterhouse posts on Facebook and Twitter."

"Oh my god." He was about to complain, but was swiftly interrupted by Dan and Brian busting in the door.

"What's up, bitch?!" Dan enthused, holding his long, lanky arms open for an embrace. Brian stood idly by with his hands behind his back.

I stood up and hugged Dan, "man, what has it been, 4 years?" I asked rhetorically, and gave Brian a hug next.

"Man, I dont fuckin' know! You think I was keeping track?" Dan laughed, while Brian gave me a simple hello.

"What's your surprise, Brian?" I asked, assuming it were a half-eaten Slim Jim, or something of the sort.

He pulled a tiny human out from behind him. I could only assume it was his daughter, since they looked so alike. It thrilled me to see my old friends having children and pressing on with their lives so nicely.

She introduced herself as Audrey, told me a story about how she stubbed her toe, then told Brian she was tired and needed a nap. In retrospect, we had very similar personalities. I told Brian how proud I was, how exciting it was to be back, and he replied that he and Dan actually needed to get back to recording. I let them be, and sat back down. This time, next to Chris.

"You're much taller than me," I stated, something obvious, but simple enough to start another conversation.

"I'm 6'3"." He stated, still scrolling on his phone. "I'm probably a giant compared to you."

"I'm a foot shorter than you." I stared at him in awe, "that's like, crazy."

"Stand up." he put his phone down, and stood up, "stand still."

He measured where I came up to on his body, which was near the mid-to-top of his chest. "Jesus Christ you're fuckin' short."

"I know!" I got riled up, "it's fucking great!"

"How do you even function, you goddamn goblin?" Chris poked fun at my height, but I rather enjoyed it.

"Leprechaun, I believe you're more familiar with," I chuckled as I mocked him being Irish, "small green man."

"Oh, hon hon baguette," Chris mocked me being French right back, all in good fun.

It was about then that I realised how pretty his eyes were, a light green. His most alluring feature, tied with the voice. I knew I had found him attractive, I never really had before, he had a lovely face. I wondered how he viewed me, not that I was looking for anything in him at the time. I always wondered how people saw me. I even wondered if he had ever heard of my animations. For some reason, I needed to impress Chris O'Neill. And for another reason, I was going to try to.