12:00
A’s mom texts him to text me that she’s outside my house to pick me up. I roll out of bed and step into her car. It’s just us two aside from the baby in the back seat. She tells me that it turns one today and that he is named after her dead father. She talks to me about her dead parents and addiction. This is the first conversation I have ever had with this woman. A refers to the baby as a bundle of sadness and I understand why now, being that it cried the entire car ride.
12:14
I arrive at A’s house. The first floor smells but I can’t figure out it’s source. We take turns playing bad music and catching up while he straightens his hair.
1:00
We head down to get a drink and discover his extended family has arrived. None of them make an attempt to introduce themselves. We run into a woman outside who introduces herself as grandma. I don’t respond for 30 seconds because I was debating whether or not she would get my humor if I also introduced myself as grandma. I decide against it and give her my dead name then hide my Buddha necklace. Just in case. She says the place smells like pot. I realize she’s right. She tells me she knows because she had some earlier.
12:15
A man covered in tattoos starts a conversation with her. I wait for him to introduce himself so I can compliment his tattoos. He doesn’t introduce himself.
1:20
We head back up stairs and A tells me that tattoo guy is a felon. He is in awe of the fact that his family is getting high at his one year old brother’s birthday. Then he is upset that they didn’t share.
1:25
We head back downstairs to get food. No one reacts to me being there still. I wonder if I exist. I notice a vape on the food table.
2:00
A makes me watch a TV show about two old women that live together because their husbands left them to be with each other. I ask if the women are lesbians. He says no. I don’t see the point in it if they’re not. I watch anyways.
2:40
A gets us more food and tells me that his family thinks we’re an item.
3:20
A notices me text someone with the contact name ‘Novia’. He asks me who I’m texting. It’s my girlfriend. I tell him it’s no one. He gets quiet.
4:00
A tells me he’ll keep my secret, that he won’t tell anyone my girlfriend’s name is Novia. Novia means girlfriend in Spanish.
5:34
A notices me text my dad to pick me up. He asks if something is wrong. I tell him its nothing, that I have something to do. He asks what. I tell him Its just something. I don’t remember whether or not I told him I was going to the movies with my girlfriend or K. He assumes that I was hit by a sudden spell of depression and tells me it’s okay to admit it. I tell him that’s not it, and that I’ll explain one day. If I’m being honest I’m not sure I will ever get to.
6:50
I arrive at the cinema. I’m wearing a dress because all my pants are in the wash. I haven’t shaved my legs since October. Three people attempt to make conversation with me while I wait for K. I know none of them.
7:05
K arrives and we go into the theater. We realize 30 minutes later when a horror movie starts playing instead of a musical that we walked into the wrong showing.
7:40
We watch the movie like we’re friends.
9:00
The movie ends. We missed the first 40 minutes of it. I didn’t like the movie but I know K loved it so I tell her I liked it on our way out.
9:15
We go our separate ways like we’re friends.
11:00
I think about how much we aren’t.
I love the time increments. They make the piece flow really nicely. I also like how this is just about a day, but it kind of falls into prose and poetry as well and that’s really nice. You write so well! I’m excited to read more works of yours:)
This is really a sort of sad post and maybe you intended it to be but it shocked me for some reason. Anyway, I really enjoy your writing and the end of this piece broke my heart a little because of how real it is. Great post!
The display of this piece, like journal entries, really amplified the way I read and understood it. The whole blog, from beginning to end, was well-written and consistent. Nice job.