Annaleigh - Chapter Twelve
Joan's Day - Continued
This is modern Gatbsy told in a Rashomon-style; everybody’s perspective varies. I encourage readers to pick their own favorite narrator and continue the story from there!
Erin — One | Two | Three | Six | Seven | Ten | Thirteen
Annaleigh — Four | Eight | Eleven | Fourteen
XII
Joan’s Day - Continued
There were some obvious logistical issues to starting a relationship with Tom. Namely, I did not live in Boston, nor was I planning to move there.
I did, of course, note that Boston had become an epicenter for our friend group. So, if I did want to relocate, I would at least have a strong social network available. This was an important factor for my book release plan.
On the flip side, I was already so far along with my degrees that it would be a processing nightmare, involving multiple wasted hours in the admissions and records office, to transfer schools. Not to mention applying to other schools. I certainly couldn’t spare those hours.
My mind was running through scenarios and potential outcomes — some people call this strategic thinking, but for me, it’s just my all-day, every-day thinking. I suppose if I changed careers I’d make an excellent actuary, though I don’t love statistics, even though I love data modeling. I digress.
Erin knocked on my door when I was midway through the third sub-point of my fifth potential scenario — as well as applying my make-up — and I mentally filed my thinking away for later.
“Yeah?” I said.
Erin opened the door, blinked at me, and threw her hands out, “Really, Joan?”
I assumed she was talking about the outfit I had lent her, since nothing else would have made sense within the context of her statement.
“You look great!” I assured her.
I had given her a skirt, even though I knew she never wore skirts. But she really needed to break out of her bounds. It’s important for people to address their fears and perceived weaknesses head on. And Erin never does that. It’s part of why she’s still pining after that ridiculous pop-tart guy.
“My thighs —“ Erin started, but I cut her off.
“Look normal, and if they are bothering you, I also have pantyhose you can borrow.”
“Hose?” Erin wrinkled her nose. “Are you ninety?”
“They have a smoothing effect,” I said. “And can help with chafing.”
“What do you know about chafing, Joan?”
“It was in a magazine article about why women should own pantyhose.”
Erin rolled her eyes. “And the low-cut top? Which magazine recommended that? Maxim?”
“Cosmo. ‘How to get a raise without asking.’”
“Jeez, Joan.”
“You have nice breasts, Erin. Stop hiding them,” I said matter-of-fact. “And make sure you walk tall.”
“Oh, I’ll walk tall, with my breasts jutted out. And then you’ll really be glad you brought me.” Erin strode into my room impersonating a tall chicken — or at least that’s how it looked — and I burst out laughing.
She dropped her act and stared at me. “Joan. I really don’t want to go.”
This is the one and only social cue that is obvious to me — slumped shoulders, quivering face — it was time to activate my motivational speaker mode and propel Erin toward her future. “Your weaknesses are also your strengths, Erin.”
She scoffed at me. “How is always-putting-my-foot-in-my-mouth a strength? I’d love to hear this one from Dr. Joan.”
“I haven’t started my doctorate yet.”
“Figure of speech, Joan.”
“Right.” I let my mental wheels turn a moment, tossing her statement around in my head.
“Are you solving a Rubik’s cube or something?” Erin asked. “Your eyes are fluttering like Neo learning Jiu Jitzu in The Matrix.”
“No. I was just thinking about what you said.”
My thinking isn’t unlike solving a puzzle, you slide and rotate pieces of information until they come together in just the right way. And the solution to this puzzle didn’t take too long because Erin had given me the same speech for different reasons.
“You’re honest. That’s your strength. People always know where they stand with you. I say the wrong thing all the time.”
“For reals,” Erin said.
“But it’s because I’m not acting or pretending. You don’t either,” I continued. “We just both need to work on our timing, like you were telling me the other day. We haven’t worked out when to say something.”
Erin bit her lip and seemed to think about this herself, but then we were both interrupted by a knock on the dorm room door.
“Tom’s here!” I said cheerily.
“Gimme a sec,” Erin said and disappeared into her bedroom as I went to let Tom in.
I had a few brief moments to turn my thoughts back to Tom — and our potential relationship — as I strode toward our door.
So far, as pros and cons went, long-distance made the most sense, but there were a number of sub-plans that required itemization for me to even consider agreeing to the amount of time and effort involved in a long distance relationship. Not because I was concerned about other people, of course, but because we would need regular, meaningful correspondence and he was a twenty-year-old male nearing his sexual prime, so we would need to navigate his physical needs. These things required thorough consideration and preparation, which would mean additional time out of my schedule.
I’d like to say my thoughts continued to propel in their extremely productive and organized manner once I opened the door and saw Tom again. But the reality is that my stomach suddenly flip-flopped and I felt like a manic schoolgirl. I was definitely not used to these feelings and they were a clear indication to me that Tom was special, and therefore any of the perceived difficulties of a long distance relationship were a requirement I needed to fulfill.
In short, my thoughts came to a dead halt for once.
“There she is,” Tom chuckled, “Thinking a thousand thoughts at once.”
“I was just thinking about how you live in Boston and I live here,” I said.
Tom smiled. “Fortunately, you don’t have to solve the problem alone.”
“Right,” I said.
Right. Tom and I weren’t in a debate against each other — though there were probably some menial, minuscule details we were going to quibble over — we could build a plan together. I didn’t need to solve the entire puzzle by myself because I wasn’t the only qualified person to think it over.
This was going to be new for me. But we should always lean into new experiences because that’s how we grow as humans. That’s in my book too, part of the chapter on embracing fears and weaknesses as strengths.
It was time to move into the future, together.
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Move through the story:
Erin — One | Two | Three | Six | Seven | Ten | Thirteen
Nice slice of life story. I hope you and Tom work out