Stories, Thoughts and Snippets
Study Abroad 1 Study Abroad 2 Study Abroad 3 Study Abroad 4
"That sounds like fun, let me have your phone number." It was Mona. I had her attention. Julie, Mona, and I packed ourselves into the narrow lift and during the descent I had a distinct feeling that Mona was not pulling away from me, even though I was pressed against her a little more firmly than the confined space actually required.
It was cold and raining, I turned my collar up, and followed a step behind the girls on the way to the metro. When I saw that the girls meant to split and ride trains in opposite directions I followed Mona without hesitation, even though my home was in the opposite direction.
"Where do you live?" I asked her.
"I stay with a family in the 15th arrondisement. It's pretty nice, my room is on the opposite side of the apartment from there's so I really don't see them except in the kitchen in the mornings."
"You are like a true French student then, you still live with a family. I moved out of my parents home when I was 17. That is very young here, but I did not get on well with my father. I think it was for the best."
"Where do you live now?" She asked.
"I share an apartment with an old friend of mine on Rue Oberkampf."
"That it is in the other direction."
"I know, but I wanted to continue talking with you." She smiled, which was good, that was the crucial moment.
"You had better change at the next stop, or you won't be able to catch a train going the other way."
"It is not so far that I cannot walk if I must. I do not have to work until the afternoon tomorrow."
"I might be a little drunk, and you might be a little cute, but I do have a boyfriend."
"Would it bother him for you to talk to me. He must trust you better than that."
"He does, but I don't know if I do."
"I think that if you aren't completely certain that you want to be faithful to someone, then you don't really want to be with them at all. But it does not matter, all we are doing is talking."
"This is my stop."
"Would you like me to walk you home?"
"You'll miss the last train."
"I think that is the last train just leaving. I can take a taxi if I must, but it is not so cold, if the rain stops I think I will walk."
"Then you may as well walk me home."
This was a residential area, and the streets were dark and empty. She asked me about the women in my life. Women always seemed to want to know how they would stack up against your past, and it usually seemed to me, that no matter how favorable you tried to make things sound, they always found themselves to be a little wanting. If women ever develop an accurate sense of self-worth it will be a very sad day for men everywhere. Mona walked a little closer to me than would have been casual, our natural deviations would sometimes cause our shoulders to bump. At one moment she tripped on a slightly raised cobblestone and I caught her.
"I love the fact that you have condom dispensers all over the place in this city, look there's one right there, in the middle of nowhere. I'm going to buy a pack to take home and show everyone. It's hilarious." We stopped and she dug around in her purse for a two-euro coin. Slipping the condoms into her purse she pointed up the street.
"That's my building up there." She was acting a little drunker now than I think she really was.
"D'you want to come in for some coffee, maybe some cookies?"
"I thought you didn't want me to come in."
"Well I mean, I'm not going to sleep for awhile, and you might as well keep me company for a little bit, maybe the rain will stop and you won't need to take a taxi."
"Coffee would be nice." I followed her into the building. "And you do have those extra condoms now."
"Hey," she turned around, put her hand on my chest and her face very close to mine, "I do love my boyfriend." She took my hand and pulled me up the stairs.
"The elevator has been broken for a few weeks now."