Getting Hit On

"Have you ever been hit on at the train station?"
"What's that?" I said, finally pulling my ear bud out of my ear.
"I said, have you ever been hit on at the train station?"

It'd been a long day. I was really excited about the day, waking up. It was Monday, which meant one more day until Fun-Time-Adventures-With-Joe. And that Monday, several of my classes were canceled. This made plenty of time for me to go meet with my group to work on a project at the city library, and then go nap on a chair. I was still sick, getting better...

That whole "plenty of time" thing was taken up by my group project. Five long hours of sitting in the library. I don't do well with group projects. I don't think this is a bad thing, because, as a teacher, a lot of what I'll be doing will be individual. But I suppose it's good to know how to work in teams, right? So I do that. Besides the fact that I have two other major projects going on, and being able to split this one should make the others easy. Wrong. This particular project was being dragged out for unnecessary things and I had other frustrations with the group that aren't worth discussing.

At 3pm, I trudged out of the library, head hung, eyes tired, tummy empty. Empty tummy? I had lunch in my bookbag, of course! So I pulled it out and made the executive decision to skip class that night. I sincerely hope the syllabus is right in saying we're not graded on attendance. I ate my sandwich waiting for the North bound train, and a kid walked past me.

"You look like you're starving."
"Eh."

Silence.

"I'm sorry, but you look like a high schooler."
Face palm. If only people knew how much this statement bothers me. You people probably know. But the vast majority of people don't.
"Hah."

"What's your name?"
"Lara."
"I'm blerghblergh." I wasn't paying attention.

Honestly? I was grumpy. I didn't want to talk to people. Let alone strangers at the bus stop.

"I really can't get over how much you look like a high schooler. How old are you?"
I don't know what led me to say this, but I said "22." Not far from the truth? And maybe this kid was a high schooler! Maybe my old age would scare him off. The ancient age of 22.
"Woah, you're like... one year older than me!" Dang it. Not high schooler.

He talked some more about the weather. About his job. I gave one word answers. I wasn't particularly interested in talking to people at the train stop. I was trying to give off that harsh vibe of "I'm cool and old and important. Don't talk to me." It didn't very much work. But I'm used to people talking to me at the train, so while it was like a fly buzzing around me, I dealt with it, and it was fine. Until.

"Have you ever been hit on at the train station?"
"What's that?" I said, finally pulling my ear bud out of my ear.
"I said, have you ever been hit on at the train station?"
What kind of question is that! I didn't know what to say! "No" seemed like... a flirt back or something??? "Noooo I haven't been hit on, you're my first! Wink wink! WINKY WINK!"

"Yes" seemed arrogant, like "Oh man. All the time. I'm super hot and friendly. Hit on me all the time."
So I said "Probably." Hoping it was the right answer.

"Probably? What does that mean?"
"I don't know..."
"You probably get hit on all the time. But you probably have a boyfriend, don't you."
"No, I have a husband."
"Oh you're married? I guess I can't hit on you."

First, I'm frustrated with the term "hit on you". I get that it's a flirt or something, but I thought it meant an unwelcome flirt? Even if it's come to mean flirting in general, it sounds so harsh and violent. Flirt is a cute little word. More frustrations followed.

"I might as well stop talking to you."

Did I want to talk to him? No. But it did bother me that this boy was only interested in talking to women if he could "hit on" them. If they were taken, oops. Look the other way. They're cursed people or something. I didn't want to talk to him, but I do enjoy talking to people at times. Not because I want to flirt with them, just because I like talking and banter with strangers can be interesting. But this soul was under the impression that you can't talk to married women. It also bothered me for all the lovely single girls out there that he may run into. Because then he CAN hit on them. And that's all he wants to do is hit on women. Not have nice polite conversations with them. Just hit on them.

This is just my fierce woman side coming out, I think. I don't know why this all bothers me, but it does. I think just because friendship isn't a thing anymore, people don't really treat it like a thing, or at least, people don't set out to make friends.

At least, people at the train don't.