The incident of the man in the library

So I promised someone to post this and it's probably a good idea cuz this is such a good and weird story but I might forget it, so here it is.

So the sitch was - I'm watching too much Kim Possible! - that I was drifting around the library browsing the shelves while waiting for Principessa Fiora who was late. While I replaced a book that I had flipped through, I suddenly looked across the gap that exists between the tops of books and the tops of bookshelves and met the eyes of a guy.

So this is not so strange you may think but you see, the goosebumps-prickling part of it is that he was smiling at me!

I quickly turned away, sort of shocked but a bit ashamed of myself for being shocked and y'know, generally grumpy and unfriendly. I mean, hey, you accidentally lock eyes with plenty of strangers right? And not everyone is as er...amiable as that guy...

Or so I chided myself, although of course, the unspoken rule is that if you do ever meet the eyes of anyone in the whole wide world, you quickly flick your gaze away, or if it's too late, and you've actually been blatantly staring at someone, just give a small, embarrassed, shy, tentative sort of smile and then quickly flick your gaze away. Nobody gives a wide toothy leery grin. Unless they want to give the goosebumps to the gazed-upon. Like the ones I got - both grin and goosebumps - and trust me, these are not the good, spine-tingling bolts of delight and desire. These are halfway-to-freaking-out goosebumps.

So anyways, I already thought this would be a great story to tell Principessa, when suddenly I felt a soft gentle tap on my shoulder. And lo! beside me stood the guy who grinned. My mind went EEKS! and my heart began thumping, quite irrationally and my goosebumps prickled harder.

As I was wearing the earphones of my mp3 player, I could only see his mouth move. I thought perhaps he had some question to ask of me, directions or something - I know I know, directions in the library! But I was already a bit freaked by the incident above, so wasn't thinking properly...anyways, do you want to hear the rest of the story or not! - so I took out one of the earphones and whispered, "yes?" In answer to that, I could only see his mouth move. I lowered the volume and tried again, "sorry, what is it again?"His mouth moved again.

"Er...I can't hear you." Impatience was starting to ripple through my mind. I mean, hello, this is library time. I wanted to commune with the books and not with a man who didn't know how to use his voice.

A bit of throat-clearing and behold! his voice sounded, raspy as an autumn leaf. "Can we make friends? What's your name? I'm XXX." His name is, of course, not really XXX.

I felt a bit dazed. Astutely I perceived that he did not need directions after all. Embarrassment squirmed through me and I furtively looked around to see if anyone was looking at us. "Er, my name is ShortFormofLongName."

"Are you alone? Where are you headed? Can we exchange phone numbers? Please don't worry, I just want a very platonic friendship and I definitely won't call you if I have your number." He smiled, showing a large number of teeth.

Shock, embarrassment and a general freaking out ensued in my mind, though I politely smiled. I can't be sure if my eyes widened or not, though.

Who on the face of the earth tells people that they just want a very platonic friendship to someone they were trying to pick up?!? It's just plain freaky! Who in the world would not call a chick whose phone number they managed to get?! That just sounds like a total lie! And who the hell picks up chicks in the library?! My place of peace, happiness and joy...sullied! I know, I'm a complete geek AND a nerd.

And where on earth was Principessa Fiora! "Er...er...I'm meeting a friend here, she's a bit late, but she's coming soon...er...sorry but I don't think I can give my number..." I said as apologetically as I could manage, my mind wildly fishing for an excuse, any excuse. "My boyfriend doesn't like me talking to strange men."

"Oh I understand your situation, but we can message each other instead if you exchange numbers!" He said with a triumphant flourish in his whisper.

A what-the-don't-you-get-it expression was trying to roam across my face but I heroically suppressed it. "Er...I still don't think I can give you my number. I don't think it works that way."

He looked startled. "Oh like that also cannot?" Like DUH! He thought for a moment as I searched desperately for a polite way to excuse myself. "How about I give you my number and you can call me sometimes, once in a while, to talk and perhaps we can take coffee?"

"Er...er..." I glanced around again. I felt desperately trapped. "Sure." I took down his number and said, "Er...well, thanks for coming over. Bye." I smiled tentatively and he grinned again and waved goodbye and I slowly backed away into another aisle.

As I was madly messaging Principessa Fiora asking her to hurry up, she appeared, one minute too late.

Of course, later it sounded funny when I was relating the incident to Principessa Fiora and now writing it down, it seems funny but this does make me wonder about a few things:

• Don't guys understand hints anymore? Is it really necessary to bash people over the head with what you mean?
• If you get the phone number of a girl, will you really not call it?
• If yes, then what's the point?
• Why do guys think it's okay to pick up chicks anywhere (when I, as a chick, think that it's okay for guys to try their game only in certain places, one of which is NOT the library)?
• Why did this guy think that my excuse meant we should communicate via SMS or phone conversations instead of face-to-face?
• Why did he insist on my taking his number when the chances of my calling him are practically zero and the chances of my deleting it are practically one-hundred percent?
• Is he brave or just weird?

See, the thing is, life keeps giving you problems to solve and fables to connect, but I don't know the moral of this one.