"What Is It? You Seem Stressed..."

A Random Scene

The following is a random scene I wrote for creative release and because I was annoyed at someone who I was building a friendship with.

I suddenly realized they were not the man they wanted people to believe they were.

This person wasn’t really that ‘nice’. He just made it seem like they were. In reality, it became clear fairly quickly he just thought he was superior to others.

This scene is not verbatim. However, I took just a few lines from an interaction I had with this man and turned it into a little random scene.

You may or may not recognize elements of this scene in your own life.

“What is it? You seem stressed,” he says to me.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” But you’re not.

“No really, I’m a great person to talk to when you need to unload.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I just remembered I have to be somewhere.”

No you’re not a great person to talk to. You’re a blabbermouth. You’re one of those people who thinks other people will just listen to what you say and not watch what you do.

“Where you headed?”

“My therapist.” He won’t get that.

“Well hey, I’m headed downtown I can give you a lift.”

“That’s okay. I’d rather take the bus.” Now I’m just being rude.

“If you change your mind you know you can give me a call anytime.”

“Okay.” Yeah, I’m sure your wife would like that.

The next time they invited me over for dinner I not only said no, but stopped answering texts, calls and emails. No one tries to make me feel guilty when I haven’t done anything wrong.

The budding friendship was betrayed by his own self denial. I can not abide.