OPENING DOORS Flashcards
First Line
“I still don’t have any furniture – besides my bed and a TV. I don’t really need anything else. Maybe a table and a chair. But that can wait. It’s not like I’m throwing parties or having people over for dinner. I just need a place to sleep and watch TV.
EMILY: I can see him through the peephole. I watch him through the peephole. In the morning and the evening when he leaves and comes back
When I was looking at apartments, I had few requirements. You have to. Or else you end up with a place you don’t want to go home to. The building had to be no more than five blocks from the subway. And not a high rise. No taller than four stories with no more than sixteen units. Only studios or one bedrooms.
EMILY: He’s cute – almost handsome.
Just room for a couple people in each apartment.
EMILY: A powder blue shirt and gray pants…didn’t get a good look. He had his back to me.
No families with kids. If I want kids, I’ll have some of my own and live in a house in New Jersey. Close to a train station. For ease of commute.
EMILY: When he’s locking or unlocking his door, he talks to himself. He has actual conversation. With himself.
When the landlord was showing me around, there was a dead cat in the hall outside one of the apartments on the first floor. It was kind of funny. A dead cat just laying on its back next to #3. Kind of strange. Kind of comforting. And, as walked past it, to get to the stairs, the landlord said “No pets, no exceptions.”
EMILY: He moved in across the hall…When does a boy become a man? Officially…Undeniably. That’s a good question. It’s something to ponder.
The building is quiet. No screaming or anything like that. The other tenants seem nice. When I see them. If I see them. I’m not looking to make friends. I have friends. A lot of em. (Quick pause) Like seven. Seven quality friends.
EMILY: I’m a year older…If he doesn’t have a problem dating an older girl. An older woman.
Seven is a lucky number I live in #7. There are seven guys in my department in my department at work. We do date integration. It’s kind of complicated. Not for me. Math and science stuff – and technology – come easy to me. I started college when I was 16. Graduated in May with a double major. Computer science and engineering. Only took me two years. I don’t believe in wasting time.
EMILY: If we can get past the door that separates us.
I’ll probably go to grad school next fall.
EMILY: And we have to.
Or not. I like working. Having my own apartment. Making my own decisions. Not living with my parents. Not talking to my parents. Ever.
EMILY: We have to get past it.
Except when I moved out of their house…And that was just to say “Goodbye.” (On his way to the building) Somebody moved the cat.
EMILY: He has wide shoulders – at least I think he does.
Or threw it away. Or buried it.
EMILY: The perspective through the peephole is a little skewed.
Makes me kind of sad.
EMILY: My roommate thinks my perspective is skewed. She texted me that from Chicago, where she’s on some kind of business trip. Or vacation.
I think I’m going to miss it.
EMILY: I’m not sure which. I don’t pay attention when she tells me things. She used to call. Three or four times a day. I shut that down pretty quick. A bad habit that needed to be broken.
I’m definitely going to miss it.
EMILY: Text me or be ignored. Officially. Undeniably. Ignored.
That’s odd.
EMILY: I’m going to open the door, today. While he’s unlocking his door and talking to himself, I’m going to open the door and say. “Hello, hi, how are you?”
I know it’s odd.
EMILY: Not “hello” and “hi”, just one or the other, followed immediately by “How are you?” I’m going to smile and open my eyes wide, so I look energetic and friendly, but not so wide that I look insane. Nobody wants a crazy person living across the hall from them.
I willingly acknowledge that it’s odd.
EMILY: And I’ll say, “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you…. to getting acquainted… to dating.” I wouldn’t really say that. Just the first part. And, maybe, the second.
We’re all a little odd.
