But that was in the future

We were having dinner at that Chinese place across campus. She looked classy in her coat. It was still light out but you could feel the cold seeping into restaurant. She was speaking when she picked up the tea. She looked classy doing that too.

When she talked she pitched and curled her sentences like no one else I knew. We talked about the movies, about food, about how her first boyfriend changed her life after they broke up. I liked that story. He broke her heart so she wrecked his Audi. She even said that the break up made her into a woman. Or rather, it made her want to start dressing up as a woman.

"I'm still the same person. I just look better now. Don't you think?"

I loved how she played it cool when she said that. I used to think that if I could get a girl to open up it meant that I was doing something right. The more stories she told me the more I wanted to be part of her life.

It was getting colder out but we kept talking. I didn't want to leave. Night comes early a few weeks before it turns to winter. She had to leave. We said our good byes and she walked through the maze of stairs behind the restaurant.

It's a small town, I'll see her again. I imagine then we'll have a great time again. Maybe then I'll tell her that she has the most beautiful fake green eyes I've ever seen. I had a thousand other things I'd like to say to her. I wish I knew then that months later we'd spend hours on the phone. I wish I knew then that I'd only see her again 5 years later in Jakarta. I wished I knew then that I'd miss her.

But that was in the future. When you're young it's easy to think that good things come by so easily. I wanted to thank you for giving me that lesson.