awkward caressing

Human contact. It can break the ice, freak us out, make us happy, tell someone they are awesome [high-five!], and in general, human contact helps us communicate how we feel. People write songs about human contact, people crave human contact, people use it inappropriately at times. I am the latter. 

Freshmen year of college. If you think I'm awkward now, 3-4 years post college, you should have seen me freshmen year. Trying to make new friends, learning to live on my own, doing laundry by myself, learning that suggesting "Jersey Girl" for movie night is not well received, drinking wine through a Twizzler straw.... oh, just some of the mine fields I had to navigate through my freshmen year.

So, early in the semester, I was sitting in a meeting. I zoned out from whatever we were talking about and starting people watching around the room. I noticed the guy in front of me had really pretty hair. This isn't one of those, 'he was so handsome, I couldn't take my eyes off him....'. I just legitimately thought he had really pretty hair. It was about shoulder length, chestnut-auburn colored, and really shiny. Not 'hasn't showered in a month', but 'I use nice shampoo and probably conditioner'. Sitting in the meeting, I was just thinking about how soft his hair must be, wondering what shampoo he used, noticing that the lights made his hair sparkle a little. 

Gentle viewers, you may think that I'm being a bit creepy but two things: 1) yeah, I am a bit creepy and 2) this meeting was really boring and I tend to zone out a lot during meetings like this. So, cut me some slack and don't judge. 

Finally the meeting ending. I stood up at the same time as shiny hair boy in front of me. He semi turned around the grab his things and his hair look so bouncy and shiny...

And that's when it happened. My hand became a separate entity from my body, reached out in front of me and ran it's fingers through a strangers hair. Time stopped, he looked up, I stared at my hand and then at him.  

Side note: What the heck do you say when something that awkward happens? How do you respond? Are there any words that can help one recover?

No. But here's what I said:

"Hi, you have really nice hair... I'm Katie, nice to meet you?"

Is it? Is it nice to meet me? Probably not...