A Really Good Date

"So you've been here for--"
"Four years."
"Four years, really?"
"Economics major at Brown."
"I'm a Philosophy major."
"Oh yeah?  Where?"
"Nowhere really.  I just philosophize in lots of different parks."
"I always go to parks!"
"No way!"
"Well, I mean, I walk by them.  Like, on my way to class and stuff."
"Oh."
"But I mean, we can't have both lived in Providence for four years without seeing each other, right?"
"Yeah, no way.  There's only, like, ten people in this entire city."
"Where are you from originally?"
"Toronto, you?"
"Nevada."
"People are, like, from Nevada?  Like, for real?"
"No, actually, I'm from Narnia.  I just people Nevada because it stops them from asking questions, but apparently, you're too smart for me."
"Now you have to kill me?"
"No, first I turn into a centaur, then I kill you."
"My God, you're sexy."
"This has been a good date."
"It has."
"A really, really, good date."
"I know."
"And you're leaving in--"
"Two days.  You?"
"Tomorrow at five."
"Pm?"
"Am?"
"Of course.  The Universe couldn't even give us Pm."
"Four years in the same city.  We meet two days before one of us leaves--"
"And go on an amazing date one day before one of us leaves to go to--"
"London for a year."
"And I'm going to be in Alaska for two."
"What are you going to do for two years in Alaska?"
"Philosophizing."
"Think, you could, you know, philosophize in London?"
"Ohhh..."
"They have nice parks."
"Are we really going there?  Like on the first date?"
"Well?"
"Some people don't even go there after a year together."
"Yeah, but, some people also spend their entire lives thinking about one great night they had right before they took off for somewhere else."
"I get the impression you're always taking off for somewhere else."
"I move a lot, yes.  Four years is, actually--well...it's been the most time I've spent in any one place.  And even then, I did a semester in Paris--"
"You like cliched European cities, huh?"
"I go to Brown.  They let you do anything.  My roommate freshman year was majoring in Theatrical Writing for Solo Performance."
"What does that mean?"
"Monologues."
"Just monologues?"
"I know, right?  How would you not kill yourself after a year of that?"
"It's amazing what people love."
"Yeah."
"I kinda love it here."
"I...it's been okay.  I've liked other places less, I guess."
"Hey, you don't have to agree with me on everything."
"No, I mean, it's great.  I just...There's never been A place, you know?  Never just one place that I felt...?"
"Home?"
"Like, what does that word even mean?  You know, it's like when people say 'soulmate.'  It's a nice idea, but...I don't know.  I don't know if I believe in it."
"Soulmates or home?"
"Aren't they supposed to be, like, the same thing?"
"Well, if I had to philosophize about that--"
"Oh God, you've been so good up to now!"
"Then let me shut up.  Most men ruin dates by talking."
"Did somebody say that?"
"I think I did just now."
"I mean, like, is that a quote?"
"It can be.  I can write it down on a piece of paper for you."
"You could come to London with me."
"And you could come to Alaska with me."
"I think one of those offers is much more appealing than the other."
"And where are you headed after London?"
"I don't know.  I never know.  That's the, you know, the fun of it."
"But where do you want to end up?  I mean, is there a goal in mind?  Eventually, you have to end up somewhere."
"I want to end up where I'm happy.  At happy.  I want to be happy.  When I'm happy I'll...stop."
"What about now?  Are you happy now?"
"Now?"
"Yeah.  With me.  Right now.  Are you happy?"
"Yes."
"So stop here."
"Here?"
"Yeah."
"In Providence?"
"Here with me.  Stop with me."
"Yeah, and then in two weeks, you don't work out, and then what?"
"You buy another ticket to London."
"They're expecting me at my internship by Friday."
"There'll be other internships."
"That's easy for the philosopher to say."
"Do you think you'll ever get tired of it?"
"Tired of what?  The internship?"
"The moving."
"I think by that point it'll hard to tell what it is I'm tired of.  Actually, I think I may already be at that point."
"This has been a really good date."
"Yes, it has."
"You going to miss me?"
"I don't even know you."
"So you'll miss me more?"
"I'll miss you...there's no word to say in what way or how much or...because it's...Yes.  I'll miss you."
"It's cruel, you know?  Four years.  We probably ran into each other, or close to each other, like, a million times.  And then when it's...now...we meet, and...man, it sucks."
"But at least we met, you know?  We might not have."
"Yeah, and there's Facebook and e-mail and shit, but still, four years?  We could have had four years.  Or two years or--something.  We could have had something."
"I think we just did, right?"
"Yeah.  Maybe we did."