-^-for posterity-^-

i sat at a table with two vietnamese friends tonight and fell in love with a girl.

one of my friends used to go to school with this girl. he said he used to sell papers and candy with her in the streets to make enough money to get by. he talked about how smart she was. they graduated from the same class, ranked one and two. it was a class of 210 students. they were both clearly headed somewhere.

the other man was in love with this girl more than anyone else. we sat and talked about her. his mind wandered as he recounted how wonderful she was slowly, methodically. she knew six languages. she sent him emails in spanish and i translated them into vietnamese. she was studying for her doctorate in canada after finishing a masters program in only 8 months.

he talked about her and didn’t look into anyone’s eyes. he looked straight up at the sky. he talked about her emails and he talked about how much he loved her and i was spellbound. these two men bantered back and forth about how wonderful she was and i ended up falling for her.

i was trapped. one man would ask me whether or not he thought the other man was in love with her. the other man would ask me would ask me the same question. this woman was evidently so attractive that i couldn’t help but fall for her. she was so smart and so successful that anyone would have fallen for her as quickly as all of us had around a meager table with such meager things to eat as rice and iced tea.

i was in love with a girl from vietnam who studied in florida and who knew six languages. i don't think it'll work out long term, though.