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A Moment of Pure Honesty
As she sat on the park bench, minding herself and reading the latest novel to be recommended by her social circle, he got an idea. It was the sort of idea that wraps itself around you and fills you with adrenaline. It's discovering a ladder to the roof of a very tall building on New Years Eve, just before the fireworks begin. Ignoring the imminent threat of injury, arrest, or general trouble, you end up perched on top of ten stories, watching colors explode over the skyline. An idea gripped him so fiercely and definitely that he acted without thinking for a full three minutes. Here are those three minutes.
He sat down opposite her. She removed her eyes from the page up into his.
"Hi." He said.
She looked up, and before she could reply, he held up a hand.. And so began his moment of complete, total, and pure honesty.
"Why can't a guy like me come up to a girl like you and say how he feels? It's so obvious, so palpable that everyone could guess it. Me being a guy, seeing a girl like you, who has every trait of the kind of girl we want, how couldn't I come over? You're beautiful, but in a real, natural sort of way. You're seemingly intelligent, reading... is that Saint Mazie? Good choice. And you're alone, but boasting confidence, you no doubt have plenty of friends, but on this particular afternoon you are a recluse by choice, no doubt not your first lonesome afternoon at your own hand. And why can't I come say these things to you? Because you're out of my league? I would be bothering you? It's creepy? To you and most others, probably all of the above. Don't feel too flattered, I do have a girlfriend who I have no intention of cheating on. But how can you even trust that? And how can I trust myself that if you lunged at me I would fend you off? I couldn't possibly trust myself with that strength, because the truth is I've never felt so strongly towards a complete stranger. Even as I speak words of devotion about the girl I've chosen to be loyal to, I'm imagining staying here, talking to you for hours on this bench. Because you're looking at me like you understand, and you've let me go this far. The plain and simple truth, not weighed down by kind lies, is that I am hopelessly attracted to a woman who I've never even heard speak. It's more than physical, at least I know that. I guess that's more than most men know about the women they're with. I can't leave my girlfriend for you, I might even have to tell her about this one sided conversation. But I don't think you'll ever forget this. These moments in which someone actually said what was on everyone's minds. Not even at the forefront of every thought, but somewhere deep in the subconscious portion of our brain that dictates who we should gravitate towards, people all around us expected you and I to end up together. Like the names of the two lead actors in the trailer of a romantic comedy, everyone knows we'll probably end up together. But not yet, maybe not even in this lifetime. I have to go, but I'll always remember you: the silent girl who let me tell her everything. Goodbye."
He stood up and left. She watched him until he was out of sight, then moving her eyes to the tops of some trees in the distance. She looked back down at her book, and stared blankly at the page. After a few minutes of this, she betrayed the slightest hint of a smile at him: the talkative man who told her everything.
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