The guy doesn't seem very convinced.

"Oh, sorry, I thought... well, after you were at the business party with Yara...," he gives her, then me, a strange look, "that you're single."

Valerie seems nervous. "Oh, that... Um, no. I'm in a relationship." Again she gives me an uncertain look. Slowly the guy gets on my nerves. Why is she so nervous in his presence?

"Oh really? A SERIOUS relationship?" He says, emphasizing the word serious and grins strangely at me. I feel fooled. Valerie gets a little smaller in her seat.

Sighing, I drop my hand a little too hard onto the tabletop.

"Yes, very serious. So then, could you leave me and my GIRLFRIEND alone again? We need to discuss something." I ask and look at the guy provocatively. Valerie turns red in the face.

"Uh... Yes, of course." Says the guy. "Well, see you on campus." He waves and turns to leave. But not without winking at Valerie with one eye, which she acknowledges with a tired sigh.

As soon as he sits down at his table with his back to us, Valerie drops his face in his hands.

"Oh. My. God. I am so sorry."

"Pfffft" Laughing, I throw a clean napkin at her. " Who the hell was that idiot?!"

Valerie shakes her head and avoids my gaze. Something in particular seems to be tremendously embarrassing to her.

"Seriously, where did you catch that burdock?" I ask with amusement.

Valerie is still covering her face. Have white spots been added to the red colour?

"What happened at this business party?" 

"Yara wanted to introduce him to me..." Tells Valerie in a painfully embarrassed undertone. "She thought he was smart and funny."

In disbelief, I take another look at the guy in his white shirt, white sneakers and cap with a symbol of the Patriots.

"Smart and funny?" I repeat incredulously. Now I can make sense of how this story came about with Yara and the strange bad chess-playing Fuzzi.

"She really doesn't have any taste in men at all." Valerie sums up my thoughts very well.

"You don't say." I reply sarcastically and shake my head in shock bevore taking another sip of coffee.

"All this guy can do is post pictures of his jaw line." Valerie adds murmuring softly, which makes me laugh again.

"You should tutor her in men's taste." I recommend it to her and swirl my cup. "I bet she could learn a lot from you!" Grinning, I look at her, but her expression makes my grin quickly disappear.

"I don't think so." Valerie admits. "I don't think any taste in men at all doesn't necessarily fit as a role model for someone like Yara."

Instantly, my jaw drops and the cup falls out of my hand.
She's into women? 
For a brief moment, my entire past passes by my inner eye. All my life I have thought of just one person and imagined what it would be like to be with them and not once have I considered the possibility that they could not be into men... Oh. God, how incredibly shitty of me.

"O-oh." I bring out and my prospect of the future, rekindled only yesterday, breaks into a thousand shards.

Valerie looks at me in a weird way.

"I feel like you've just misunderstood something..." She leans forward and seems to be thinking.

"No, it's all good. I'm totally open to that. Everyone should do what makes them happy," I clarify. "Who needs men in their lives? I mean, most of them are idiots. And those who aren't are weird in a different way." Right now, I wish I could stop the verbal diarrhea coming out of my mouth, but it's too late. "I mean, women are much better than men! They are nicer and... and prettier and... Smarter and soft..."

"Stop." Says Valerie with her hand raised before I can say more bullshit. "It's not what you think."

"Oh, it is not?" Admittedly relieved, I lean back and rub my hand over my face in frustration. Aren't all my hopes one hundred percent impossible?

"It's not." She clarifies with a grin.

"I just meant that I'm not really into a certain type of man."

Curious, I watch her fiddle with her teacup.

"I've never had a boyfriend, so I don't know anything about it. It's not because of a certain type or anything, I've just never really thought I wanted to be with one of the guys I've met."

Surprised, I tilt my head. I had expected the opposite. But, if I think about it longer, I can imagine that there are quite a lot of strange guys who swarm around Valerie. The weird guys always come first. With pretty women like her, I'm not surprised that there wasn't a decent guy around. If one has even the slightest bit of knowledge of human nature, you would rather ignore fuckboys like the guy from just now. And Valerie has knowledge of human nature!

"It's okay to stay away from weird guys." I encourage her. She seems to have become a little more shy after the guy showed up. "Let me just ask a question, I'm super curious."

Valerie leans forward and nods slowly.

"But you don't have to if you don't want to." I add, "I felt like he was looking at me like he was the guy my girlfriend cheated on me with. Why exactly do I have this feeling? Was there something going on between you?" My question should sound nice and casual, but instead I feel more like a helicopter mom. Am I too curious? But this feeling makes me really restless and I would like to know how much I am wrong, just for my peace of mind.

Valerie shakes her head. - "Too embarrassing." She says giggling.

Laughing, I shake my head and decide to let Valerie off the hook for now. "Oh well. Your boyfriend forgives you. Do we want to go back to the frat-house soon?"

Valerie squints her eyes again. Is she embarrassed that she called me her boyfriend?

"I'm so sorry. I didn't want to drag you into it, I'll go, clear up the misunderstanding."

She nervously rises from her chair, but I quickly reach for her hand. "No."

"But..." She looks at me uncertainly. "Now I'm sure he'll tell everyone else that we're together."

I shrug my shoulders. "What do I care about the rumors on the Gucci-campus?"

"But... what if..."

"Listen." I interrupt her. "If he wants to tell it around, he can do whatever he wants. I'm only interested in how YOU are doing. If you want to keep the guy off your neck, I'm happy to pretend to be your boyfriend."

She gives me such a grateful look that I almost feel like a hero, immediately followed by a miserable, pathetic feeling that reminds me that I am only PRETENDING to be her boyfriend...