People Watch

He is not subtle in his approach though his body language stresses otherwise. He tries too hard to be casual, but she finds it adorable. Everything about him makes him appear unaffected by her presence. Even his eyes are distant. But he has one giveaway, one sign that he is consumed by her. His legs, though she cannot see them, will not stop moving. They bounce. They shake. He does a sort of dance with them out of her view, but he does not give way to his nerves. And now it is awkward. He has said something and she knows not how to respond. So they sit, awkwardly in silence, both striving for something to say. Will he leave? Should she return to her studies? No. They are both far too engulfed in the other, no matter the uncomfortable situation. But their relationship is doomed to fail. He is far too uncertain, no matter how obvious her hints, and he will never make any advance on their relationship, leaving it to her. But she is no help either. Tradition is dug deep into her roots and she will wait forever for the man to make the rocks begin to slide. So what do they do now? They part with loving smiles and awkward glances, wising for more, but knowing they are stuck in this limbo they cannot escape.

And now our eyes wander across the empty chairs to the other guy. He tries to recover the years of wasted time and unattended studies as his sloppy handwriting fills the pages of the assignment that was due yesterday. But it's not his fault. He didn't mean to forget, things just came up so quickly that he didn't have a chance to keep up. And now, no matter what he does, he cannot remember how the equation once went. Could that have been the day he missed? He didn't mean to skip, but he was so tired. And now how does he solve it? He moves on. That's only one problem. He is sure he will get the next one. But he is yet again faced with the dilemma. Why can't he remember this one either? He turns to his notes but they are useless. He never was very good at taking notes. He sighs in frustration. What does he do now? He puts it away, fully aware of the consequences. "I'll do better next time." He swears. "Next time, it'll be different." But he knows he lies, yet he zips his backpack and leaves without looking back.