I was at this party down at the punch table swallowing punch. Then suddenly this guy walked up to me and said, “I want to introduce you to someone.” I looked up, startled and noticed another person behind him. God, that was strange to see you again, introduced by a friend of a friend. Our gazes met and there was a flash of recognition in both our heads.
People called it dejà-vu, but this was different. I had seen this woman before. And she knew it too. Our mutual acquaintance broke the silence, first facing me: “Scott, this is Lyra. Lyra,” he spoke now directly to her, “this is Scott.” Still neither of us said a word. Our eyes looked at each other. I swallowed hard like I understood, and cleared my throat. “I, uhm, uhumhm, pleased to meet you”, extending my hand towards her. She was swift in responding the gesture and laid her palm inside mine, shaking it. Then she threw out the magic words: “We’ve met before, haven’t we?” I was taken aback by how sinister this sounded. It wasn’t her voice by which I was surprised, she sounded lovely and just the way I remembered. But those words she said, I knew I heard them somewhere. I had seen a lot of movies but couldn’t come up with the title where this quote came from. Then it dawned upon me, like a shooting star from the heavens. “Lost Highway!” I wasn’t aware I said it out loud, but noticed it immediately when I saw both Lyra and the other guy with quizzical faces. I explained myself. “Sorry what you just said reminded me of a scene in the movie Lost Highway.” She laughed and said: “Oh Scott, you haven’t changed a bit in all these years we haven’t seen each other!”
Meanwhile the guy who’d introduced us, who went by the name of Jonny, had disappeared into the crowd. We were alone, standing at the punch table not swallowing punch this time. I saw she wasn’t drinking anything, so inquired if she needed some punch. She said she’d love to have some, so I grabbed the ladle and put some in a cup. She took it gratefully and then we faced each other again. “Wow you really can stare someone to death with those eyes,” I said to break the ice. She smiled again. Next we went straight to business.
Me: “What are you doing here?”
She: “What am I doing here? Well I’m invited of course. You’re not the only one with cool friends who organize the best parties in town.”
Me: “I see, just surprised to see you. After all this time. I thought I’d never see you again. It’s like you disappeared from the side of the earth.”
She: “Well as a matter of fact I did.”
Me: “You didn’t go into space, did you.”
She: “No Scott, ‘course not. You were always so easily fooled.” She took my nose between her fingers to prove her point.
Me: “Well what do you mean then?”
She: “After our break-up I avoided all possible places where I could encounter you. I needed to feel freedom again. Needed to feel we weren’t dependent on each other.”
Me: “You broke my heart by doing that.” My tone suddenly became less joyous and more fierce. I felt anger welling up inside me. All the emotions I had buried inside were coming to the surface. In a moment I’d be crying and yelling, I had to find a way out. “Go the fuck away Lyra, it’s enough that you come here, you have the right to be here, I acknowledge that. But how do you dare to speak to me again, introducing yourself by a friend of a friend? You have some nerve to think I could be still interested.”
She answered my anger with calmness, but very firmly she said: “Scott, you’re so wrong about everything. You never understood anything. Saying hi doesn’t mean you want to fuck someone. If you still aren’t over me, then that’s your problem. Don’t burden me with your pain.”
I said nothing and walked away.
She yelled: “Yes walk away already, that was always your solution to everything. You can never face problems, that was the primary reason I left you. Go fuck yourself Scott.”
