Today, Aria arrived early enough to find a place at a table. She planned on keeping to herself, and was fully involved in her relationship with the food alone when she was assaulted by the energy of unattuned enthusiasm belonging to a man who had decided to place himself in the chair directly beside her. There were plenty of tables open, she noticed. She was puzzled by his oblivious nature already. Common social protocol dictated that people would sit as far away from each other as possible, until there were literally no seats left and you had to sit next to one another, whether you liked it or not. The defiance of this social norm made her feel violated and distrust his motives. Though her body language reflected the sentiment, she tried not to overtly react to him so as to give those feelings away.

He was tall and effeminate with cadet-blue eyes, high cheekbones and an overhanging brow. At 19 years old, his lips were full and wide, just hiding a gap in his upper front teeth that was more fashionably quirky than it was unsightly. His hair was buzzed on the back and sides, leaving a quiff of bleached pompadour-style hair on the top of his head, which he had swept to one side as if frustrated with the way it wanted his attention. Aria did not pay attention to his pants. But she noticed that he was wearing a powder-blue shirt with cap sleeves, whose neckline dived almost far enough to expose his sternum. On the front, in white letters, were two words with boxes beside them, the first “Single” and the second “Taken.” The box next to the word single was run through with a check mark.

Not even half a minute passed before, growing uncomfortable in the tension between them, he decided to crack it. He put out his right hand, dissecting the space between Aria’s face and her plate, and said, “I’m Taylor.”

As if on involuntary autopilot, but still keeping turned to a distrustful angle relative to him, Aria put her right hand in his and accepted the handshake. “I’m Aria,” she said.

She had planned to resign herself to an even more awkward silence sitting next to him after that, but he would not let it happen. “What’s your deal?” he asked. “I mean, why are you here? I’ve never seen you here before.”

Aria shrugged her shoulders, partially because she didn’t know how to answer and partially because she did not want to give herself away. Seeing the shrug, Taylor turned away slightly to take the pressure of his focus off of her. “Oh, I see, you’re not a talker. That’s all I need today.”