She was the sort of girl who spoke loudly on the first date. It means she was either full of confidence or else just willing to impress. High on coffee, Coleman's sax buzzing through my ears, I was still trying to figure out which it was. We were separated by three tables crackling under the weight of cups and voices and still I could hear every word she said. The girl was eating something from a tiny bowl of glass brought to her by one of the girls working here.
'Then, later, I got into Arctic Monkeys. Strokes. Libertines.'
I could not concentrate on my writing as this was way too loud to weave my thoughts into anything readable. Never mind good. So I had to listen, as did the possible boyfriend staring at her from the other side of the table. His tea had gone cold from all the listening. His face had gone red from sexual intensity that was not too sexual after all.
'That whole genre. What's its name'.
Which was when her face grew puzzled and she stopped. A momentary blip. She picked another piece out of the glass bowl. She didn't mean 'indie rock', did she?
'Oh my God, I can't remember the genre'.
'It's okay', said the guy, offering some relief. It was also the only thing he would say the whole evening.
'And then I got into the club of 27. Well, you know. Jim. Janis. Jimi.' Intensely, she sipped her latte. 'Amy. That film was truly amazing, in fact. No, God, I can't go on. I have to remember the genre'.
She picked up her phone and began to browse through those endless playlists she had compiled two or three years back. A little later, she gave up.
'Then lots of things in my life changed. I left a boyfriend of two years. I got into post-punk. Joy Division. I remember watching Control late in a lonesome cinema and thinking I wanted to commit suicide. No, give me a few more minutes'.
He was willing to give her a year. He wanted her to be silent for a while so as to maybe kiss her later that evening. At which point she screamed 'indie rock!' and I knew it was all over.
In the meantime, she took a date out of the glass bowl, chewed it, swallowed it, and went on talking.
