Small Talk At The Macaroni Grill

R: I would tell you that you haven't changed a bit, but that would be a lie.
C: Am I supposed to be hurt by that...forever young, is that what you want?
That's a romantic notion and total bullshit.
R: I was going to say that you've aged gracefully, but I guess that isn't what you'd expect from me.
C: Nobody expects that from you. Everybody tells me you're...I don't know...stuck.
R: What do you mean... everybody?
C: Our classmates...the old gang. What...does that surprise you? You don't think other people keep in touch? Isn't that why I'm here?
R: You know...I thought I saw you the other day...at the mall in Baton Rouge.
C: Really...you should have said something...we could have had coffee or something then.
R: No, you don't understand. I realized it wasn't you but just wishful thinking on my part.
And now that I see you, I see it was just a figment of my imagination. It was how I
wanted you to be.
C: Oh, I see...and now you're disappointed at the real me. Seriously...I can't imagine what your expectations were.
R: Just bear with me...okay? I'm just like you. I've lived my life...raised a family...worked a job
gotten older. But lately I've been thinking about how it all adds up...or maybe how it doesn't
add up.
C: How what adds up...I don't understand. You're not making sense.
R: Do you remember in high school...you wrote in my yearbook.
C: Dear, I wrote in all of your yearbooks. Which one are you talking about? You can't possibly expect me...
R: It was something about how you hoped I would finally find that island to live on. When I re- read it recently I was confused too. It must have been something I said to you...maybe in a moment of self doubt. I think I must have been dreading the end of high school or something. But you... you were anxious for it to end. I remember.
C: You and me were already over...surely you remember that. I was never that hung up on old relationships.
R: You do know that I was just following you. I only went to LSU to be near you...Christ what a disaster!
C: Yeah, well...lessons learned...bridges burned... what's with all this nostalgia lately. That was a dozen dress sizes and two chins ago.
I haven't looked like that in decades. You know the real issue here isn't you and me. It's just you boo hooing over lost youth. I watched the videos. All those old photos. You just don't want to grow old.
R: Hmmph, very funny. First I treated it like art, you know...I separated myself from the emotions and treated it like a philosophical viewpoint...that true love never dies.
C: Is that what you really believe?
R: It's what I wanted to be true. What do I really believe? I believe it dies often and endlessly. And it turns into something else.
C: Let me guess...a bitter sweet memory?
R: A white-washed sterilized version of itself. A passionless memory devoid of any meaning.
No matter how much I tried, I couldn't make it mean anything. How about you...did it mean anything to you?
C: Of course it did...at the time. It was the same thing for me as it was for everybody we knew.
R: Only infatuation...is that what you're going to say?
C: Hmm, I was going to say practice...practice for the mature relationships we would eventually have.
R: But you did love me then...I didn't make that up, did I? I didn't just imagine it.
C: Let me answer this way. It's 40 years later and I'm sitting here with you now. Make what you will of it.
R: Are we gonna split this check?