42. 5:30 a.m. - 6:00 a.m.

I was at the Riv to see Polmo Polpo [mp3]º and Stars of the Lid. It wasn't packed but there was a nice crowd.

I could see d--- at one of the tables up near the front. He was sitting with some short girl with really curly hair. Someone I'd never met and he probably barely knew. PP was playing movies beneath his sounds--the Creature from the Black Lagoon was on and I couldn't help but think that he was the creature and she the fair maiden. Although he was occasionally a creature, she was probably never fair.

Between bands he went for drinks. I approached him at the bar and he tried to act nonchalant. We played "catchup," "small-talk," and "what's new?" I asked who he was with. "Just someone from school. Long time ago." I believed him.

"You?" He asked.

I pointed to a tall stranger with his back to us. Dobbs nodded. My first thought was that he knew the stranger but a second later I knew he didn't.

We had our first uncomfortable silence, then. Thoughts raced on how to break it.

Coffee?

Think you'll be comin' round [mp3]º sometime?

Gonna start writing again?

We should get together. Catch up.

He nodded again, this time to his "date". An I should get back gesture.

I said "Yeah, sure," and nodded towards my stranger.

I thought about him that night, my hand busy beneath the duvet. It didn't happen, though. It hadn't in a while, and to be honest I wondered if it ever would again.

He used to make me pretty.º

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