Friday, May 13, 2011

Starbucks Gaze

 I'm really into monologues these days, perhaps a side effect of acting class. Love how a 2 second gaze can be developed into a full monologue. 


"Cute guys hang out at Starbucks. I know, because I've spent enough time lounging around Starbucks with my empty latte cup, pretending that my continued presence by the fireplace was essential cause of the latte that I had yet to consume. Those times, however, I was there, lounging by the fire for the sake of eyeballing some delicious cutie, then frantically blackberry messaging my girl-friends and just being a huge perv about it in general. This time it hit me completely by surprise. Yes, it happened at Starbucks too. Isn't that where all the most romantic of meet-ups happen? Engulfed by the heady aroma of toasted coffee-beans, I made my order at the counter and turned around and then – nothing. That was the best I can describe it, I just, felt completely nothing for a moment. It wasn't like I was bored out of my mind and felt 'nothing' in that sense of the word. It was more like, a beam of high powered light - focused directly on my face - and every one of my five sense were obliterated for a split second. As I clicked back into the real world, I realized that I had been looking at a pair of eyes. 'I know this person! I most absolutely know this person, we go waaaay back,' my mind is telling me. I instinctively pull one of my earpieces out, because that's what you do when you meet someone you know – you detach yourself from your iPod and say hello. It wasn't until our gaze broke, did I come to the weirdest realization. I had never seen this man in my life. But at that moment, that electrifying, soul-shattering, sense-obligating moment, I could swear that I had known this guy all my life. I felt my breath catch in my throat, right before it was going to be released, forming a sound or a word, and I pulled it back. Our gazes flicker to each other's eyes one more time, this time with some caution, as if suspicious about this bewildering sensation of familiarity. Then just as suddenly as it had started, he had gone, and the distorted, saturated glow that my surroundings had taken on ebbed deliberately away."

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