Creeper

Last night, after a month of electronic silence, Caleb and I instant messaged.

You may have heard of Caleb already. He is the Asian boy who, up until yesterday, I had never actually met. He accidentally friended me on facebook, and we proceeded to talk. A lot.

Here is a transcript of our first conversation:

Tea: Would it be awful for me to say that I don't know who you are?

Caleb (C): SHP. And I don't really know you either. But the impersonality of facebook will compensate.

T:hmmmm.....okay!

what class are you taking?

C:Organic chem

T:oooooh. I haven't got anywhere near the necessary patience/interest for that one.

C:.Aren't you in organic chem?

T:no, i'm in neurobiology. Is there someone named tea in organic chem?

C:Weren't you in the group "Organic Chem @ Columbia"?

T:no. I'm in the Columbia SHP group, but that's it

C:Okay...Maybe i am delusional.Which happens a lot. Alright, if i see you i'll say "hi" And you'll be like "Who the freak is that?"

T:Oh great- now whenever someone says hi to me on saturday, I'll have to say "who the freak is that." I'll offend anyone who isn't you. If you had some recognizable pictures online, at least I'd have a stab at facial recognition (or cognition, since I haven't seen you before)

C:I suppose u can analyze my fifth grade pic. Add glasses, longer hair, 2 feet, and 50 pounds.

T: so, someone with glasses and a very odd expression on their face. Got it. Although I can't get height from the pic. can I get at least an approximation?

C: 6'. But i won't be there is saturday.. PSATs I am so excited!!!!!!

And after not being there on saturday, we had a long chain of not being there at the same time, and we never ACTUALLY saw each other. We'd instant messaged a lot, then we had a month of silence, then, abruptly, last night, he said that he wanted to meet up. So, he said he'd text me tomorrow.

Lo an behold, the next day, he texted me while I was on the train with Mario. I told Mario the story about Caleb, and Mario's immediate response was to tell me not to meet him in private. I responded by telling him that I wasn't a complete imbecile, and Mario told that he should hide nearby and I should devise a codeword, and, in the event that he turned out to be a complete creep, I could say the code word, and Mario would come out, and we would beat Caleb up with a pipe. I have no idea where Mario got an imaginary pipe from, but we eventually decided that he would just stand nearby.

So, after going to Starbucks, Mario's second home, we stood by the visitors' center/library and waited for Caleb, who eventually showed up.

C: Hi.

T: Hi. This is Mario. I brought him along for safety purposes.

M: Hi.

C: Hi.

T: It's nice to know that you actually exist, but it's odd to see you as an actual person.

C: Yeah.

*silence* *Tea giggles into her coffee*

T: We should, um, probably go to class.

C: Yeah, okay. Bye.

T: Bye.

Tea and Mario watch Caleb walk away.

T: Well, that was awkward.

C: Yeah.

Tea and Caleb then parted ways, and Tea called Nyx on the phone and told her the story while laughing madly in the elevator by herself. Good times.