some girlfriend things
1. On the commute to work, I stood behind a black-haired girl, probably in her early 20s. For about 12 minutes, she didn’t do much of anything. Then she took out a black sharpie and started to write. “I keep thinking about how I can’t stop thinking about you,” she printed in stubby, grade-school handwriting, and drew a circle that she filled in like the globe. She was writing on a Walgreens receipt. It couldn’t wait.
2. On the commute home, I stood next to a man with shoulder-length, light brown hair and a female friend whose hair was exactly the same, but a little thicker, a little longer, and with bangs.
“It’s a small country,” he said. “I can’t just bring her there.”
“She has to get a visa, cause we’re not married,” he said, with his inflection equivalent to an eye-roll.
“Why don’t you just marry her?” the woman said. “You’ve been together what, three and a half years?” And then the man didn’t say anything, and after a minute he said,
“Neither of us could afford a wedding. If we did, we would just do it at a courthouse, and both of our mothers would kill us.” I looked at the man’s face, which he’d turned toward the woman. It looked like a warning.
BONUS GIRLFRIEND COVERAGE
Today I discovered (don’t ask how) that there’s a Spanish-language version of Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend.” At some point in time, someone believed there was a demand for it, and it’s easy to see why (no it’s not). But don’t just take my word for it. Listen for yourself.
