(no subject)
Is there a class that teaches you how to talk to the opposite sex? If there is, I should probably enroll in it.
I have no real, substantial crushes on anyone, but there are two guys who frequent the bookstore who I'd consider having one on. The first guy is Nate. Nate loves horror, but has been reading a lot of mystery/thriller lately. He's cute, recently sporting a bit of scruff, and has an industrial piercing which is usually how I recognize him as him. He's very easy to talk to, but we always get interrupted because of needy customers. Chronologically I "met" him second and have seen him less.
The second guy is Jason.
He's a regular comic book buyer. In fact, I don't even know if he reads anything other than comic books. He's always in the store. He's in the U.S Coast Guard (I think). He's pretty funny, but because I'm conscious of him I generally have a hard time striking up a conversation with him. I don't read comic books. He doesn't read manga. As there's hardly a middle ground in terms of books between us, coupled by the fact that he's a regular and therefore unlikely requires assistance, it's hard to find excuses to strike up a conversation. Never mind the fact that I'm conscious of him, so my Bridget Jones mode goes into full effect. Sometimes I try to talk to him though. Sometimes I just smile. Other times I pretend to ignore his existence completely, something like a defense mechanism I've developed against guys 'cause I just don't know how to deal with them, I suppose. Today I cycled through all my options.
As it was, I was re-doing pretty much the entirety of the manga section. Behind that section (so on the other side of the shelves) is the comic books. Quite a few customers came over to me looking for D&D (lol) guides or game walkthroughs and I'd usually just say it was on the opposite side. Behind the comic books by like, a foot, is the Young Adult section. I had a customer who needed help with that (I think), so I ended up leaving my project and going over to the other side. Jason was there and I don't know why, but for some reason this startled me and I fumbled whatever it was I was saying to the customers behind me. I smiled at Jason, continued about my business and instead of attempting to make small talk ("Whatcha looking at today?") as it's been serving me no point, I just went back to my business in manga.
At some indeterminable point in time I noticed someone in my periphery. Thinking it was a customer I turned and saw Jason, kinda awkwardly standing there, or maybe in the midst of walking and, having already prepped myself with my sales associate mindset, asked how he was doing today. So we entered in this light, slightly forced, increasingly awkward five minute conversation (give or take). He's just poking around. That's cool. He has to work tonight, so he's trying to take it easy. Understandable. Take advantage of the quiet store. What do you do? (A.k.a my way of asking where do you work, apparently). Something that sounds like being a "lifter" at somewhere in Hyannis.
Here I contribute my practical deafness to the reason why this turned oddly sour. I was trying to work on the display, attempt light, easily escapable conversation, and honestly just did not hear the first part of his description. It sounded like he said he was a lifter, but as I was trying to process that he was telling me where this so-called job was. So I repeated, "Lifter?" and that I was "unfamiliar with that lingo." And I still was not getting whatever it was he was saying, something like he didn't know he was leaking gangsta --- I dunno, some type of quip, I suppose--- and that he was a bouncer. So I was like, Oooooh. So you work at a club. That's cool. Trying to be upbeat-ish and thus cover for my utter daftness. He said it was pretty boring, actually, that he really just stood around for a couple hours, that it was a part-time job. And I just nodded and smiled, tried to joke, like how all I did in the cafe was serve coffee and sit around. But the damage had been done.
He gave what I dub as "the awkward cough." You know, the cough or clearing of the throat that communicates "Well, this is awkward," without actually saying it. So like a shrinking violet, I shrank. I dunno if we said anything else, I'm sure we did, but the next thing I remember is he went over to the coffee shop, right across from manga, and was laughing it up good-naturedly with Shanna and Casey.
I just wanted to bash my head repeatedly on the shelf talkers in front of me.
I blinked and then he was gone. I was a little put out, but also a bit relieved, and once again resigning myself (which I keep doing and then un-doing) to just not talking to him. I went out back to get stuff for my display, where Kat and Janet incidentally were and let out a big sigh. Being the hopeless case I am, I told them that I really should just not talk to guys. Because I probably just shouldn't unless I'm not attracted and/or "aware" of them (which, needless to say, will dampen any chances of me having a romantic relationship, but I digress). Kat followed me out to the book floor and I told her about my stupid encounter. I was pretty sure he had gone, so I didn't mind re-telling it on the floor, and I really think he had left, but after a good chunk of time had gone by and I had reabsorbed myself in my project, he'd come back in, grabbed a comic, and took off to the register. So I went looking for Kat so I could point him out to her (inquiring minds do want to know, after all).
After he left for the second time Kat came over and said he was awkward with everyone and that he would be back, "they always come back."
He'll be back all right. To get his comic books though, not to make awkward chit-chat with me. But the reason why this has stayed with me throughout the day and night (aside from boredom and the obvious need to be distracted by something in my hum-drum life) is this:
Why was he in the manga section to begin with?
I know, its a deceivingly simple little detail that maybe most would gloss over. But not me. Because it was, after all, really odd.
As I stated, he reads comic books. Whether or not he's ever read manga, I'm not sure, but I've never, ever seen him looking at it. So, if he's not looking at manga, what's he doing in that little nook? The obvious go-to reason would be to cross over into another section, and judging by the direction he was heading that would be to the coffee shop. But the graphic novels and manga are essentially the same section and therefore are both like, ten feet away from the cafe register so there'd be no reason to loop over to my side of the border (so to speak). Unless he was looking for something, of course (but we already deduced he wasn't). Also he was just kinda awkwardly standing there or walking reaaaaaally slowly toward the cafe. Actually, he just seemed awkward the whole time he was in my proximity, which he usually isn't. And then there's the fact he bolted. Seriously he had some serious ninja skills because he got his coffee and literally vanished. And then he came back ages later for the comic book and bolted to the register, all in the blink of an eye. (Where had he gone, anyway? No nook or cranny of the store, so why come back in? It's not like he couldn't just have ignored me after our stupid "conversation;" I wasn't going to attempt engaging him again, and as reinforcement the graphic novels are on the other side of the manga, so there's some sense of privacy....).
So yeah. The whole thing was weird. I'm just worried that he acted awkward and did that horrible, awkward cough cover-up because I've somehow made him feel uncomfortable by previously trying to talk to him or something. I don't know! Like, what if I'm the weird girl he tries to avoid when he shops because I'm weird??? Furthermore reinforcing the notion to just not talk to him and let him go about his business in peace.
But I won't lie: It's been kind of fun to antagonize over and pick apart this whole (ten minute) ordeal. It means nothing, but it was still fun.
I have no real, substantial crushes on anyone, but there are two guys who frequent the bookstore who I'd consider having one on. The first guy is Nate. Nate loves horror, but has been reading a lot of mystery/thriller lately. He's cute, recently sporting a bit of scruff, and has an industrial piercing which is usually how I recognize him as him. He's very easy to talk to, but we always get interrupted because of needy customers. Chronologically I "met" him second and have seen him less.
The second guy is Jason.
He's a regular comic book buyer. In fact, I don't even know if he reads anything other than comic books. He's always in the store. He's in the U.S Coast Guard (I think). He's pretty funny, but because I'm conscious of him I generally have a hard time striking up a conversation with him. I don't read comic books. He doesn't read manga. As there's hardly a middle ground in terms of books between us, coupled by the fact that he's a regular and therefore unlikely requires assistance, it's hard to find excuses to strike up a conversation. Never mind the fact that I'm conscious of him, so my Bridget Jones mode goes into full effect. Sometimes I try to talk to him though. Sometimes I just smile. Other times I pretend to ignore his existence completely, something like a defense mechanism I've developed against guys 'cause I just don't know how to deal with them, I suppose. Today I cycled through all my options.
As it was, I was re-doing pretty much the entirety of the manga section. Behind that section (so on the other side of the shelves) is the comic books. Quite a few customers came over to me looking for D&D (lol) guides or game walkthroughs and I'd usually just say it was on the opposite side. Behind the comic books by like, a foot, is the Young Adult section. I had a customer who needed help with that (I think), so I ended up leaving my project and going over to the other side. Jason was there and I don't know why, but for some reason this startled me and I fumbled whatever it was I was saying to the customers behind me. I smiled at Jason, continued about my business and instead of attempting to make small talk ("Whatcha looking at today?") as it's been serving me no point, I just went back to my business in manga.
At some indeterminable point in time I noticed someone in my periphery. Thinking it was a customer I turned and saw Jason, kinda awkwardly standing there, or maybe in the midst of walking and, having already prepped myself with my sales associate mindset, asked how he was doing today. So we entered in this light, slightly forced, increasingly awkward five minute conversation (give or take). He's just poking around. That's cool. He has to work tonight, so he's trying to take it easy. Understandable. Take advantage of the quiet store. What do you do? (A.k.a my way of asking where do you work, apparently). Something that sounds like being a "lifter" at somewhere in Hyannis.
Here I contribute my practical deafness to the reason why this turned oddly sour. I was trying to work on the display, attempt light, easily escapable conversation, and honestly just did not hear the first part of his description. It sounded like he said he was a lifter, but as I was trying to process that he was telling me where this so-called job was. So I repeated, "Lifter?" and that I was "unfamiliar with that lingo." And I still was not getting whatever it was he was saying, something like he didn't know he was leaking gangsta --- I dunno, some type of quip, I suppose--- and that he was a bouncer. So I was like, Oooooh. So you work at a club. That's cool. Trying to be upbeat-ish and thus cover for my utter daftness. He said it was pretty boring, actually, that he really just stood around for a couple hours, that it was a part-time job. And I just nodded and smiled, tried to joke, like how all I did in the cafe was serve coffee and sit around. But the damage had been done.
He gave what I dub as "the awkward cough." You know, the cough or clearing of the throat that communicates "Well, this is awkward," without actually saying it. So like a shrinking violet, I shrank. I dunno if we said anything else, I'm sure we did, but the next thing I remember is he went over to the coffee shop, right across from manga, and was laughing it up good-naturedly with Shanna and Casey.
I just wanted to bash my head repeatedly on the shelf talkers in front of me.
I blinked and then he was gone. I was a little put out, but also a bit relieved, and once again resigning myself (which I keep doing and then un-doing) to just not talking to him. I went out back to get stuff for my display, where Kat and Janet incidentally were and let out a big sigh. Being the hopeless case I am, I told them that I really should just not talk to guys. Because I probably just shouldn't unless I'm not attracted and/or "aware" of them (which, needless to say, will dampen any chances of me having a romantic relationship, but I digress). Kat followed me out to the book floor and I told her about my stupid encounter. I was pretty sure he had gone, so I didn't mind re-telling it on the floor, and I really think he had left, but after a good chunk of time had gone by and I had reabsorbed myself in my project, he'd come back in, grabbed a comic, and took off to the register. So I went looking for Kat so I could point him out to her (inquiring minds do want to know, after all).
After he left for the second time Kat came over and said he was awkward with everyone and that he would be back, "they always come back."
He'll be back all right. To get his comic books though, not to make awkward chit-chat with me. But the reason why this has stayed with me throughout the day and night (aside from boredom and the obvious need to be distracted by something in my hum-drum life) is this:
Why was he in the manga section to begin with?
I know, its a deceivingly simple little detail that maybe most would gloss over. But not me. Because it was, after all, really odd.
As I stated, he reads comic books. Whether or not he's ever read manga, I'm not sure, but I've never, ever seen him looking at it. So, if he's not looking at manga, what's he doing in that little nook? The obvious go-to reason would be to cross over into another section, and judging by the direction he was heading that would be to the coffee shop. But the graphic novels and manga are essentially the same section and therefore are both like, ten feet away from the cafe register so there'd be no reason to loop over to my side of the border (so to speak). Unless he was looking for something, of course (but we already deduced he wasn't). Also he was just kinda awkwardly standing there or walking reaaaaaally slowly toward the cafe. Actually, he just seemed awkward the whole time he was in my proximity, which he usually isn't. And then there's the fact he bolted. Seriously he had some serious ninja skills because he got his coffee and literally vanished. And then he came back ages later for the comic book and bolted to the register, all in the blink of an eye. (Where had he gone, anyway? No nook or cranny of the store, so why come back in? It's not like he couldn't just have ignored me after our stupid "conversation;" I wasn't going to attempt engaging him again, and as reinforcement the graphic novels are on the other side of the manga, so there's some sense of privacy....).
So yeah. The whole thing was weird. I'm just worried that he acted awkward and did that horrible, awkward cough cover-up because I've somehow made him feel uncomfortable by previously trying to talk to him or something. I don't know! Like, what if I'm the weird girl he tries to avoid when he shops because I'm weird??? Furthermore reinforcing the notion to just not talk to him and let him go about his business in peace.
But I won't lie: It's been kind of fun to antagonize over and pick apart this whole (ten minute) ordeal. It means nothing, but it was still fun.