Monday, April 13, 2009

I'll Change for You

I met a girl on a bet.

I told her my name was Theodore, and that I had eleven cats and all of them were named Oliver. I said I played ukulele. I said I once accidentally killed another kid in my karate class with nunchucks because that's just how good I am.

She was getting off the bus and suddenly I didn't want to leave, so I told her I lived around here and asked if she wanted to get something to eat. She suggested sushi; I said I was allergic. We got tacos instead.

When I told my friends about it I pretended I thought it was funny.

She sat on my floor and ate Reese's Pieces while I painted the apartment I had bought in the area I got off the bus on that first day - I said I was redecorating. She told me she wished she was closer with her sister. She told me she liked the way my sweatshirts smelled. I told her all of my cats had mysteriously been killed by the same disease.

We were snuggled up on her couch, watching what she thought was my favorite movie and eating what she thought was my favorite food, and she asked me why I had never played ukulele for her. My heart sped up. I told her my ukulele was broken, and then I rushed to the store and bought one.

Four days later I played her the song I had pieced together from instructional youtube videos, and when I was done she told me she loved me. Staring her in the eye, my mouth cracked into a tiny smile, I told her I loved her too.

It was the first thing I said to her that wasn't a lie.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sam, this is your best one yet!
10 stars (I'm lying! NOT)

this isn't an accurate reference said...

Captain, we've lost another one.

Beam me up.

Ello Shertzer said...

This is very good. It's funny. Sometimes I try to imagine what would happen in situations if I made up information or lied the whole time (or most of the time). This is kind of like that.

Anonymous said...

sam, this is good,from start to finish.

Conset said...

You could definitely say all of those things when on omegle.

Frances said...

aww this was so beautiful! i really really liked it. it was especially amazing!

Related to Anonymouses said...

That picture is wonderful. What a handsome older gent! Your story made me laugh. Isn't that one of the best things about falling in love: that we get to reinvent ourselves into the person we've pretended to be?

Anonymous said...

Concession?

Anonymous said...

^^ilold

Carissa said...

I liked it a lot

Ali said...

This was very good, but I'm going to rant for about five seconds here. Humor me:

The one commenter above me said, "Isn't that one of the best things about falling in love: that we get to reinvent ourselves into the person we've pretended to be?" I don't agree with that so much. This is where all relationships are flawed: you pretend to be someone who you aren't so that you can be what a person needs, or maybe just what they think they need, and they start to like this person who was never real, because no matter how much they bring out the best in you, you are still you in the end and you are still afraid of commitment or a smoker or unhealthily addicted to the musical stylings of Thom Yorke underneath it all. So eventually all you're doing is being their fake counterpart and lying to the other person until you have the strength to build up a real relationship. Then once you're in the real relationship, they get really pissed at you for every tiny little flaw you've been conceiving and lie you tell because you're supposed to be honest because that's what they say on Dr. Phil. But what no one considers is that maybe lying and telling people you have cats when you don't is a better idea; maybe it's protecting them from stuff they can't handle. I mean, if you'd come up to them and been like "Hi, I can't play the ukelele and sometimes I have miniature psychotic breaks that last a weekend or two," you never would have met them, right? So what the hell is anyone supposed to do?



...uh. So. Yeah. Good story.

C.S. said...

Love the story Sam
Id like to add onto to Ali's comment -the thing about relationships... (I cant really tell you from personal experience)...but it seems to me that in a relationship, you should feel comfortable being yourself with the other person... otherwise there doesn't seem to be much point in having a relationship in the first place

Jeff said...

This was amazing, I always look forward to reading new posts/ seeing new pics. I happen to have one of your pics as my desktop background.


repanthe

Related to (some) anonymouses said...

Re: relationship comments: I see the premise of the story, as demonstrated by the title, "I'll change for You" is that in the end he tells the truth about the most important thing and becomes the honest person he has pretended to be. At the same time, I agree with Ali's comments and C.S.'s comments, that there's no point in being who you aren't, ever. But love has transformative power, though like Ali says, it can weaken over time! The challenge is to always want to be that person that your loved one inspires you to be.

Anonymous said...

Did you mean to say "I met a girl on a bus" not a bet?