On Saturday LaGrange had this local country band come and perform out on the res-quad. They served dinner out side, and offered a rock climb and a bungee jump thing and all in all made for a nice Saturday evening. At 5 o'clock when they opened the buffet tables I prepared myself for the typical dinner alone at a table to myself.
I grabbed some food, and took a seat at an empty table and listened to the opening acts as I poked at the craw fish and jambalaya they serve down here when they wish to be fancy. I had on my sunglasses so I know I looked cool and indifferent so I was surprised when this girl came up and said "hi".
So she comes up to my side and kind of stands there looking at me for a moment, then says "hi" and I respond with a friendly "hello, how ya doing?" to which she responded and I expected the exchange to end there. But it didn't. She stood there looking at me for a few moments until I realized I should probably invite her to sit with me, so I did.
It didn't take long to realize she was one of those kind of people and by "one of those kind of people" I am referring to the kind of people I have been doing my best to avoid coming off as. One of those people who are really socially awkward (but also socially uninhibited) that talk to everyone and laugh awkwardly when the conversation pauses and dress like they are from the Midwest. Now I've noticed in my vast experiences with college campuses that there is always at least one at every school and people take them in two ways. One way being very obliging and welcoming; the person will go almost out of their way to ensure the awkward being feels like they have a friend. The other kind of person is the one who is openly bugged out by it and is as short and curt with them as possible to get them to go away as quickly as possible.
I am in no position to turn away friends (unless I think they want to have sexual relations with me like Charlie wanted) but to be honest, this isn't the kind of friend I want. I feel like I am always friends with this kind of person (a.k.a. Mello) and to be quite honest, it's taxing. I don't have the social stamina to entertain these people for long periods of time.
Fortunately, in the end my roommate came out and ate with us and her exchange student friends sat with us as well and my obligation to be the sole socializer was lifted. Eventually my new little social obligation drifted away and I could relax and enjoy the music until, about an hour later, when my guard was down, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It only pressed upon me for but a swift moment and then was gone, but I knew it was her. I didn't want to turn and look because I didn't want to start any sort of conversation so I just sat still and waited for the moment to pass. She stepped into my line of vision and I acted surprised/delighted to see her again.
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