“You aged as I suspected you would.”

“That’s what you would say?”

“Yes,” she tapped her lower lip with her finger. “Yes. mmhm.That’s what I would say.”

“Okay, let me repeat the scenario…” he said, “We leave here tonight, slowly get to know each other, fall in like, fall in love, get comfortable in each other’s company, commit publicly to each other, move in together after a year and a half of dating. Then we are together for 8 years we almost get married, we break up, 9 years go by and that’s what you say when I see you?”

“Yes.”

“I’d probably tell you that I’m sorry I missed 9 years of you.”

“Bullshit.” She said, laughing. “Bull-fucking-shit.”

“What, why?” He looked affronted. 

“Because.” she said, “that’s just sad. People only say sad things when they’ve got nothing else to say. Mine can be designated into two categories. One, you age like shit, you know it, I know it. It’s a direct hit that can still be considered polite depending on my tone. The other being you aged like I’d always hoped and I’m giving you this slight nod of understanding, and appreciation, tinged with a pinch of sadness. Not enough to bring the room down, allows for further conversation.”

“You’re terrifying.” he said.

“That’s right! Then I’d walk away and leave you to buy your wife and kids those ice pops they’d requested. I’d grab the band aids and Neosporin I needed and we’d never see each other again.”

“So we’re in the grocery store?”

She hummed again. “Grocery store, a Target near an airport across the country, a Walmart/truck stop near where you and your family are camping and I’m driving down the interstate. Something dumb, and run of the mill and the kind of opportunity where the cameras could have followed us through the aisle and we could have missed each other. Maybe you’re family’s in the car and I have a bleeding person in mine. Maybe we don’t even get to say it, maybe we check out in the same line 12 minutes apart.”

“So you’re a pessimist?”

“I think I just have a dark, comedic mind, and overactive imagination.” She said dipping her chin and smiling.