Friendship in the Big City
Dec. 18th, 2004 01:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xaaraI just had the most wonderfully surreal evening.
It started with a party that was anything but fun, with a bunch of people I sort of like but don't really enjoy. We were sitting in a friend's party room, eating crappy frozen pizza, drinking Diet Coke, and laughing at jokes that just weren't funny. And so Alison (Ali), Noah, and I decided that we didn't have the patience for that sort of time-wasting and headed out for an afternoon/night on the town.
We walked for nearly two hours, having these beautiful conversations about people we know and the things we do and the books we like and how there's been no good music written since the 70s. Then we hit the E Street Cinema (a little indie film place) for a showing of Sideways, which was okay and really made me want a glass of wine. After the movie, we ate dinner in Chinatown and then took the Metro to Dupont Circle where we bought coffees at the Starbucks and sat in the circle to drink them. An incredibly drunk old man came up to me as the three of us as we sipped our drinks, told me I was beautiful and charming and elegant and that he was crazy totally in love with me. And Ali said that while she had wondered before if I just send out "Strange people, please apply here" vibes, now she knew for a fact that I was definitely a weirdo magnet. Noah talked about getting high with his mom, and Ali told us about her theories about teenage rebellion with regards to political belief. I talked a little about Italy, and a little about literature. Noah and I compared translations of Homer's Odyssey in KramerBooks and I proved to yet another person that the Fitzgerald is the best. Ali and Noah double-teamed me into being a part of their trip to Peru, which has been in the works for almost six months now. Apparently, I'm supposed to stay in the city while they climb mountains, so that if anything happens I can call for help.
At a quarter to ten, we split up, Ali taking the Red Line south to her area while Noah and I rode north toward our homes. We just smiled at each other for much of the trip--it was utterly comfortable and relaxed. "We should make this a Friday night thing," Noah said just before we arrived at his stop, and I agreed. He waved at me, stepped onto the platform, and then the doors were closing and the train was moving and I was alone again.
But the memory of our shared laughter cheers me even now.
It started with a party that was anything but fun, with a bunch of people I sort of like but don't really enjoy. We were sitting in a friend's party room, eating crappy frozen pizza, drinking Diet Coke, and laughing at jokes that just weren't funny. And so Alison (Ali), Noah, and I decided that we didn't have the patience for that sort of time-wasting and headed out for an afternoon/night on the town.
We walked for nearly two hours, having these beautiful conversations about people we know and the things we do and the books we like and how there's been no good music written since the 70s. Then we hit the E Street Cinema (a little indie film place) for a showing of Sideways, which was okay and really made me want a glass of wine. After the movie, we ate dinner in Chinatown and then took the Metro to Dupont Circle where we bought coffees at the Starbucks and sat in the circle to drink them. An incredibly drunk old man came up to me as the three of us as we sipped our drinks, told me I was beautiful and charming and elegant and that he was crazy totally in love with me. And Ali said that while she had wondered before if I just send out "Strange people, please apply here" vibes, now she knew for a fact that I was definitely a weirdo magnet. Noah talked about getting high with his mom, and Ali told us about her theories about teenage rebellion with regards to political belief. I talked a little about Italy, and a little about literature. Noah and I compared translations of Homer's Odyssey in KramerBooks and I proved to yet another person that the Fitzgerald is the best. Ali and Noah double-teamed me into being a part of their trip to Peru, which has been in the works for almost six months now. Apparently, I'm supposed to stay in the city while they climb mountains, so that if anything happens I can call for help.
At a quarter to ten, we split up, Ali taking the Red Line south to her area while Noah and I rode north toward our homes. We just smiled at each other for much of the trip--it was utterly comfortable and relaxed. "We should make this a Friday night thing," Noah said just before we arrived at his stop, and I agreed. He waved at me, stepped onto the platform, and then the doors were closing and the train was moving and I was alone again.
But the memory of our shared laughter cheers me even now.
