Star Date #35

I won, other me says to me. I know, I reply.

That was one hell of a smackdown, the girl says, looking into my eyes, dabbing my forehead with the cloth.

I know, I was there, I felt it. It was my face hitting the forest floor like a ripe watermelon in a youtube video.

Yeah, too bad it didn’t explode in quite the same exhilarating slomo fashion.

Yeah, that would have been something, right?

You did smash it a little though, that busted lip looks hella awesome.

I’m glad my defeat looks so attractive to you.

You’ve always looked attractive to me.

Damn you’re cool.

I know.

Fuck.

Yeah, well.

Okay, so I guess this is goodbye?

What do you mean?

Well, I guess you’re going to turn around in a minute and walk through a portal hole with an exact replica of me in a space cowboy jacket and fly off to who knows where and have all kinds of crazy adventures and probably super hot animal sex that I just hope to God is in every version of me and not just in the one I lost my dream girl to.

I’m your dream girl?

Was.

Ouch.

Deal with it.

I will, it’s hard for me too you know.

I know.

I mean, here I was on this date with this guy I really liked and then all of a sudden there he is again and for some stupid reason I like the other one more and now I don’t know what to do because you’re basically identical and what does that say about me? I mean, is it just the sexy space uniform? You could wear a space uniform.

I stopped her, with my finger on her lip like a really cool dude in a really cool movie and for once, and maybe for the first time in this book I really felt like the guy I had been trying so hard to be all this time. And she looked into my eyes and I looked into hers and we both understood it was something way more than a leather jacket that attracted her to him and I didn’t really care anymore because I had accepted that she wasn’t it for me or I wasn’t it for her and at least it was still me and that was a compliment in a weird sort of way and maybe, just maybe there was a sexy space traveling version of her somewhere waiting for me but whatever the case our story together was over and she was going to let go of the cloth, stand up, turn round and walk out of there with other me’s arm around her waist and not look back.

But before she did she gave me a kiss on the forehead and it felt really, really good.

And then she was gone.