Clash of the Crushes

Here's the character list.
Me - Has a crush on Will. Knows Lindsay has a crush on Eric.
Lindsay - Has a crush on Eric. Knows I have a crush on Will
Eric - Has tonsillitis right now . . . LOVES to make people laugh.
Will - Sweet, funny, wonderful.
Irene - Knows I have a crush on Will, doesn't know Lindsay has a crush on Eric.

I get my lunch & sit at the table. Lindsay & Eric join me after a while. While I was sitting, they were up & about gathering food from the buffet style of the dining hall. Eric is rude, but only to be funny. In fact, if he were being kind to someone, I'd be worried about him. It's all in the name of laughter. He has called Lindsay fat in some way or another & she has taken it personally.

Eric sits with his tray, a banana, a bowl of apple jacks, tea, & cranberry juice. After a while, he stops eating & has only the banana peel, minimal apple jacks left, & all of his tea & apple juice. He complains about his tonsillitis & takes his tea bag & starts dipping it in his bowl of milk & apple jacks. Lindsay scolds him, insisting that he makes it so damn hard for her to be mad. I look up at the stairs for no reason & Will happens to be heading into the dining hall. He sees me looking at him & joins our table. He & I become dissolved in conversation & Eric is amusing Lindsay with more antics I didn't bother to notice.

Irene calls Will & has him meet her at the entrance of the dining hall because she's lost her One Card. He goes & pays for her to come in & they go get food. Eric begins an opera involving the tea bag & the banana peel who are having some sort of dispute. Hilarity ensues. Lindsay is laughing, frustrated that she cannot display her anger with Eric, I give myself a headache laughing so hard, & Will & Irene return wondering what's going on & soon join the laughter. Eric goes back & forth with a high pitch for the tea bag & a low bellow for the banana peel, eventually dunking the tea bag into the cranberry juice - the vat of blood - & proclaims the end of Act 1.

After about a minute of conversation, Eric, recuperated & ready for Act 2 starts up again. Less funny now, there is the occasional burst of laughter, but the concept is now stale. By the end, everything - including the wrapper the tea bag came in - is in the bowl & Eric's tray is coated in milk. We all take a moment to breath & let the stitches in our sides heal & Eric starts singing with the music being piped into the dining hall. He doesn't know the words, so he's being random & gets one final burst of uncontrolled laughter when he sings, "And then you eat a cup" & sinks his teeth into the Styrofoam cup that held his tea which is now milling about with the apple jacks, milk, tea bag, tea bag wrapper, & the banana peel in Eric's bowl.

So for twenty minutes, Eric has not interacted with any of the people around him. He didn't break that fourth wall of his little opera. Real conversations started to take place & Lindsay was given the opportunity to sulk. Eric & Will chat, Irene has gone off somewhere to get food or ice cream or something. Will notices that Lindsay is sulking & I am kind of staring off, bored.

Will: I think the ladies are bored.
Eric: (Turning to us) Okay, ladies, why don't you go get busy & kill yourselves.
Will: You're an asshole.
Eric: (Finally noticing Lindsay's irritation) Wait, are you okay?
Lindsay: (As unconvincingly as possible) I'm fine. (Looking at me) I'm ready when you are.
Me: Okay . . .

(I had to go with Lindsay to her room & print out a paper)

Lindsay: (Getting up angrily) I'm gonna go now & make a phone call, you can meet me.
Me: (Not wanting to leave Will with whom I get little time, but not wanting to separate with Lindsay) Well . . . I'll go with you now . . . if you're leaving now.
Will: Stay here.
Me: (Grinning) I have to go print a paper
Will: Stay. Stay, stay, stay. Stay. STAY.
Me: (REALLY wanting to) I have to go!
Will: Stay
Me: Stop
Will: Stay
Me: (Pointedly) I'll see you tomorrow.

Crushes get irritating, but when you get to just hang out with the guy they get fun. Poor Lindsay was experiencing the side effect where he said something & she took it harder than she would have taken it from anyone else. She didn't want to be around him, & wanted to leave. Even if I didn't need to print out a paper, I probably would have left with her to talk & make sure she was okay. And so I dragged myself away from my crush who was being incredibly sweet & actually asking me not to go - something I fight not to do every time he leaves ME.

Of course, I told him that today I didn't have anything until 3:00, but I'd get dropped off in the morning & to come meet me in the CFA. He said he would & that's why this post is so damned detailed. Cause I'm killing time til he GETS HERE. I emphasized that I'd be here at 7am, not because I thought he'd show at 7, but maybe he'll show at 11:30 instead of 2. You know? Cause I've got nothing to do but sit here. And type. So yeah.