Mei Grows Tall

I’ve always had a problem with situations where people meet each other once and then never see each other again. Trips to fairs or tournaments, vacations or theme parks – each time it happens, there are people that we want to know so badly or people we wish we had never met. It’s so hard to get a geniune picture of who a person is, especially when all that scrutiny is spaced over hours. I have family that I’ve known my whole life, but they still feel like strangers. How possible is it to get the true essance of a person when they have no incentive to lay themselves out truthful?

I remember when I was around 14, maka would take me to the Wayne county fair for at least a few days of rides, running around minus her parents, and greasy french fries. Us two and her sister were a little crazy those days that stretched out, and went through the inevitable phase of flirting a little bit with strangers. I only admit this because I know that most 14-year-old girls have gone through it, and there were plenty 14-something-boys who did the same. We’d share a car on the zipper, let the cute ones buy us cotton candy, and sometimes hope we’d meet later in the week. Kid stuff.

 The guys usually had more eyes for maka or her sister than me, but one time someone decided he liked me. He seemed okay at first - taller, told me I was pretty, nice. I noticed the faint smell of cigarettes, but he let me know real quick that it was his parents. He explained that he used to do bad stuff, but he went to church now, didnt believe in sex before marriage, and all sorts of personal things way too quick. He wanted me to hold his hand and said he’d like to call sometime. I went along with it – believed every word he said.  An hour later, a mutual friend pulled me aside and warned me he did drugs. Not the best sort. Thinking about him today makes my stomach turn. I couldn’t have known he was lying. It makes me nervous meeting smooth-talkers who’ve got no reason to be who they are. I suppose he could’ve been telling the truth and changed his life that day, but I wasn’t old enough for that to have mattered. 

Not everyone can be like that boy was, because we weren’t like that. Sure, I tried to be a more attractive, fun version of myself, but I never told lies or decieved anyone. Who hasn’t tried to feel that way? The lines blur between presenting yourself as-is, and accidentally fooling someone into seeing you differently. I think about the impression I must make in a few hours, sometimes. I have no doubt that it takes longer than a day to really understand what I’m like. My personalitly shifts depending on the company, and I’m very guarded around strangers. It makes me realize that those first impressions can’t always be true, becasue there are way too many aspects of a person to measure just once. I think it might be impossible. Does the snapshot have to be true? I’d like it to be, but I guess if you’re never meeting again, it doesn’t matter anyway.