Anticipate

In a lecture in first year, I sat next to a girl.  Those were the days when I wore provocative badges and rainbow belts, increasing visibility.  She asked about one of my badges.  After the next lecture, she asked if I wanted to grab a coffee.  There was a lovely cafe, the Harlequin, which eventually died of generosity.  We sat there and shared some jasmine tea, or some coffee, or something.  We liked similar books and music.  She started to pour out her heart about an experience she'd had with a girl, and what that meant, and how she felt about the whole thing.  We went to a couple of things together- a creative brainstorming session at the university theatre; a couple more lectures we sat together in.  And then out of the blue, she started to ignore me.  Facebook messages avoided.  Invites ignored.  I wasn't certain what had happened but it felt very strange.  Those were also the days of 70cl a day, a tendency to offend, a propensity to risk.  But I was fairly certain that that wasn't the case with her.  Totally certain, actually.  I don't know- maybe she decided to iron herself straight and didn't need the association.

I was thinking about that earlier because of a song I had in my head today, Ani diFranco, that she once posted on her Facebook wall just before we stopped speaking.  Weird how certain things jolt certain people's echoes into the forefront of your memory.