An Unexpected Meeting

The blonde of the pair sat closer to Professor Smith-Smythe and the Professor did his very best to sit very close to her indeed. On my side of the booth was the brunette. Both were pleasant looking young ladies. Politely but hopefully in not too friendly a manner, I smiled at the brunette. “Hello.”

She smiled bashfully at me. “Hello Mr. Thompson.”

The fact that she recognized me confused me. I focused through the dim lighting and my tiredness and the beer to actually look at her. It took a moment or two for me to recognize her and then a bit more for the faulty filing system in my brain to pull up her name. “Jen, right?” She nodded. Jen had worked as one of my interns for a few months before she found a job more in line with her major. Now that it wasn't a random person sitting next to me, I felt better and worse at the same time: better because it was someone I had something I could to talk about to and worse because this activity must seem that much more awkward to her. “Nice to see you again. How have things been going?”

It was a vague question and she gave me a vague answer. She shrugged her shoulders and stated “Okay I guess.” Jen took a moment to sip her drink and glance at her friend, who looked comfortable despite sitting far too close to the Professor for my taste. “Do you come here often?” As soon as she said the words, she groaned and rolled her eyes. “I'm sorry, I can't believe I just said that. I didn't mean it like that.”

I chuckled. “I understand all too well. Putting my foot in my mouth is one of my primary skills.” I paused to allow for a change in thought. “Are you taking any summer classes? You're from up north originally if I remember correctly.”

Jen smiled. “Yep! Just north of Green Bay. I got to visit home for a couple of long weekends but I've mostly stayed here and taken a couple classes.” In response to my politely inquisitive look, she explained “Keeps my internship going.” This made sense and I nodded my understanding. “How is everybody in the IT Intern pool?”

“Mostly gone home. Hours are pretty limited in summer but I get to have a few of the fellas around as we get things done.”

“Like Billy?”

I chuckled at the way she said the name. It was as if she managed to say 'Billy' and 'durr' at the same time. It wasn't really right to laugh but it caught me off-guard. And it was funny. “Billy might be back in the fall. We'll see.”

“You need the laughs that bad, huh?”

“He got better,” I reassured. “Better enough anyway.”

“I was shocked you didn't fire him after the reimage.”

I sighed. “Maybe I should have.” That was a mess.