Granola III

I call her around noon on Saturday. She says that she's just waking up; she stays up late. I think she's afraid of sleep. She says that she wants me to come over at like two or so, and then just hang out all day. I propose three.

I'm off to the store for deodorant and shampoo, both of which I am out of. I have to try a new deodorant, because my standby is absent. New shampoo, as well. I head then for the car wash. A man named Jeremiah who works there offers to fix the chip in my windshield in two minutes, so I say go ahead. Turns out later that this was a lie. I am at the wash for at least 30 minutes. They make my car smell like a cinnamon bomb, even though I asked for vanilla.

I get out of the shower around 3:15, hurrying. I know that she hates to wait. I decide to stop at Watson's Flowers, and the girl who works there is just locking up the door as I pull up.

"Hey, are you guys closed?!"
"Yeah, sorry. Did you know what you wanted? Is it something that I could just run in and grab?"
"No, no, don't worry about it...thanks"

I call her and apologize for being late. She's obviously a little angry already. She hates to wait. I stop at AJ's, because I remember that they have a nice flower corner. Payoff. Orange spray roses and purple (dark center) gerbera daisies, with wildflower purples as accent. Large green leaves. Kind of lame Easter ribbon. I'm on my way now.

It's about 3:40 now.

Now it's almost 4:00. I'm getting off of the 60 at Mill avenue. My phone sings and I talk to her for a minute. I tell her that I'm just a moment away now.

I get to her door. She answers. Pretty flowers. Mr. Cat is there. He seems to like me. Scary Eye shows me the top that she is going to wear to a wedding that night. Shoes, too. I help Granola force the flowers into a too-narrow vase opening. She gives me a highly potent small glass of Emergen-C. Things are moving slowly, like a fat man in a foot race. Painful and obvious. It will warm up.

Scary Eye and Adolf (SE's boyfriend) leave for their friend's wedding.

We stand around for a minute, and then sit in the living room. Small talk, short forays into depth.

It's later now. We're talking about many different things. Her seizures. Her having dropped out of high school. She says that she isn't too worried about it. A few hours later, I trick her into honesty. Ask things in rhythm and answers sometime flow the same way. I get into a groove, and then:

"Are you embarrassed about not having your GED or diploma?"
"Yes," she answers a little too quickly, "Yes."

This is when I convinced her that I am indeed more aware of who she is than she thought. That I was able to get her to admit something that she wasn't even sure of herself before then is a little frightening, but mostly exciting. To both of us.

After that, she opens up completely. She takes off her bra. Yeah, I find that weird, but she says that she doesn't like them. Scary tells me the next day that this means she is really comfortable with me, which I already knew.

We play Mario. 1 and 2. We suck at this.

Talk more.

Her house may be haunted. I'm not afraid. Mia is a soul gazing cat, who surely protects us. Mr. Cat is sort of worthless, but I'm sure he'd jump into action if she were in danger.

1:30am now. I tell her I need to leave. She calls her mother to pick her up. Long story. She doesn't want to sleep at home alone, so she seeks her mother. I wait until her mom arrives.

2:05am. Her mom is outside. I walk her to the car and shake the woman's hand. She is pleasant. I hug Granola goodnight and go home.

This would be promising if we hadn't spoken about what we were in it for. She warned me that she wasn't really looking for anything, but that she thought I'd be very valuable to her as a friend, and so wanted to keep me around. We agree to just see where it goes, though I get the impression that she wants it to go somewhere that I'm already so familiar with. Fine. I'm there for her as well.

"Sex alleviates tension. Love causes it."
- Woody Allen, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy