broken bikes

of conversations (two)

He wrote down every conversation that they ever had. They were all piled into a notebook, arranged by date, scrawled in messy cursive. His favorites were marked with blue marker; just a little dot of ink, spreading its veins into the edges of the page.

January 3rd, 2000: the Canyon Apartments, number 14, 4:33 p.m.

HIM: I've never seen where you live.

HER: Maybe that's because I don't want to show you.

HIM: But you must live somewhere.

HER:

HER: I never said I didn't.

HIM:

HIM:

HIM: Will you ever show me?

HER: You've already seen where I live.

HIM:

HER: I live here, on this planet, among these people, within this universe, beneath those stars, with the rest of the human population that fails to understand that they belong to a much larger entity than just themselves.

HIM:

HIM: That wasn't what I meant, but it'll suffice.

♥️

February 14th, 2000: the Little Teapot Cafe, San Diego, California, the booth in the farthest corner of the room, 6:53 p.m.

HER: Valentine's Day is by far the most useless, pointless, worthless holiday to ever exist.

HIM: That's not true. It's about love.

HER: No, it's about the hopeless concept of love. There is no such thing as love. It's a hoax to trick people into procreating, a scam to make money off of heart-shaped chocolates and sappy cards, a dream that eventually transforms into a hallucination. People think they're in love, but really, they're going through life with the same person, under the impression that love is about wedding rings and four-bedroom houses and joint bank accounts. It's all a load of corporate bullshit.

HIM:

HIM:

HIM: Corporate bullshit.

HER: That's right. It's a way for supermarkets to rake in millions over the course of a week; a way for men to be guilted into pleasing their girlfriends and boyfriends and wives with candy; a way for women to feel better about their pathetic sex lives; a way for teenagers to believe that there is something worthwhile out there.

HER: Just look as this cafe. It's the most sickening fucking place I've ever seen. Hearts don't look like this. A heart has chambers and aortas and pumps blood, it doesn't float around like a fucking glitter-filled balloon.

HIM: But there are some benefits to believing in love.

HER: Humor me.

HIM: Well, you say that love is corporate bullshit. You say that it's a dream transformed into a hallucination. Have you ever heard of the phrase "ignorance is bliss"? Think about it, these people are going through life believing that they've found love, believing that they've achieved the ultimate goal, believing that they've found the key to happiness.