I Want Israel to Be a Guy from Oklahoma |
In the first few months of 2020, I dated a Regular Guy from Oklahoma. Or Wisconsin. He may have actually been from Nebraska. He was definitely American and had a Regular Guy name, a Regular Guy beard, and a Regular Guy job. I was in grad school at the time because I needed a mid-twenties side quest and because I, unlike Regular Guy, was full of ambitions.
I had won lottery tickets for What the Constitution Means to Me and took him as my plus one for our first date. We talked about film and he listened intently as I described all of the different scripts I was working on for school. I didn’t have much free time back then, but he didn’t mind and would even drive me to class if it meant spending time together. Regular Guy was thoughtful and we had a great “we’re not seeing each other seriously although you know all of my friends” dynamic.
As Regular Guy drove me to campus one day, I joked about Americans who put Ketchup on their scrambled eggs. I laughed at my wit and culture but sensed an awkward silence coming from the driver’s seat. Regular Guy liked ketchup on his scrambled eggs.
I don’t think I would have dated Regular Guy if I had actually wanted to be dating. He was good company. I think of him fondly as someone who sent me decent music and never added any conflict to my life. We always knew we had a short-term expiration date. Neither of us expected that to be brought on by COVID.
Regular Guy and I kept in touch for a bit while the........