You walk up the stairs carrying your greasy lunch. Starving, you sit down on the duck blue faux suede hard chairs and gorge yourself ravenously. You hold the edge of the brown paper bag with a manic hunger as your other hand guides the burger to your mouth.
Your head starts swimming and you realize you have forgotten to breath. You pull your head up out of the depths of hunger and draw in air. As you do you catch a glimpse of a boy and girl sitting in the back of the room, seemingly unaware of any other presence, though the place is half full.
You pause to watch.
They’re seesawing back and forth on each others bodies. The girl is straddling him, a playful straddle, getting close to his chest, while his head lolls back and forth, a half crazy grin on his face. She laughs and pulls closer while he feigns sleep on her shoulder. She hopes to rouse him by lightly kissing him on the neck and brushing her hand through his hair, but to no avail. Giving up, she places her head on his shoulder, and soon they have both drifted off in a shallow slumber, twisted and mangled in each other arms. You avert your eyes momentarily, ashamed, and instead place your gaze on the chalky white ceiling.
You hear a few screams of laughter, and glance at the once resting couple who now seem to be involved in a feisty tug of war with their hands.
The girl, victorious, sticks out her pink tongue at him, as the boy grabs her tongue with his mouth and attempts to swallow it.
“EWWW!!” the girl shouts in mock disgust, as she playfully slaps him on the cheek. The boy closes his eyes and laughs.
The girl giggles and jumps off, her grey striped dress still slightly pulled up around her bottom. The boy’s dark brow droops down in a mocking sad look while the girl huffs up her chin and walks away, taking her wallet with her. No doubt to get a drink, you reason. The boy winks at her and as she strides down the wooden stairs, he takes a free magazine from the table and aimlessly flicks through it.
He looks up and catches your eye. You feel the familiar hot flush of embarrassment and look down at your now empty hands. The burning heat of his eye sears through your flesh. You pause, your breath still, unsure of what to do. You gather up the scrunched piece of brown paper and gather your bag and keys and wallet and start to walk down the stairs, painfully aware of the boys dark brow following you.
You nearly trip over the landing as you hurry down the stairs, nearly running into the girl you have been so intently watching. She doesn’t recognize you and hurries up the stairs, a bottle of coke in one hand and her wallet in the other. She looks familiar, perhaps you have seen her in one of your first year classes. As you dash out the front door, you wonder what will become of the couple upstairs.
You pause momentarily under the window and listen. Sure enough you hear peels of laughter, and the shifting of bodies on hard chairs. You realize you’re still holding the greasy brown paper bag. You search for a bin and throw it in, it falls to the bottom without a sound and you walk away.
