How Time Distorts Things

So much can change in a single month... for example:

One Month Ago:

Last night at CRU, another social casualty. I find myself talking to a really cute girl, the conversation going well since I’m putting my acerbic wit to good use. My capri pants give me that added confidence, my only concern is that perhaps I'm too good looking.

But the girl, despite her reluctant beauty, looks very pale. A broken record in perpetual loop echoes through my head, Don’t tell her she looks really pale, Don’t tell her she looks really pale, Don’t tell her…

A lull in the conversation, things slow down. Low and behold, I open my mouth and say, “You look really pale.”

WTF MOUTH!!!???

She stares at me, off balance, wondering why I would say that. I stare back, wondering the same thing. Three seconds of silence pass. Crickets.

Finally I offer, “But it’s cool. I’m into sickly girls too.”

One Day Ago:

She's in Cincinnati, watching Phantom of the Opera with me... We're about to climb the tallest building north of the Ohio.