A boy's white night (Part 1)...

Of course, we can't kick off any fun evening without a ton of awkward.

Laura and I went to pick up her friend while on our way to Nuit Blanche, the 'massive free contemporary art thing' that takes over the city from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. with free art exhibitions. Having missed out on it last year, I resolved to go this year. Of course, the group of people supposedly going was whittled down by the time we actually hit the street, but it was still fun.

We stopped to pick up Katie, Laura's friend and classmate. Katie is the type that doesn't hold back, honest to the point of blunt rudeness...but she also has a sweet heart, and if you get on her good side, she'll do anything for you. I realized as we walked into her building, with growing dread, that my ex-roommate lives at the very same address.

I told myself nothing could possibly happen while we rode the elevator to Katie's. It's not like I'm going to magically run into her...

The doors opened, and knocked. No answer. Laura called, and Katie was downstairs with another friend, and would be up in a minute.

Time stood still as the elevator doors opened. Out stepped Katie, some other girl, and my ex-roommate. They all walked towards us. My face went like stone, and Laura's eyes darted between me and the Ex. The pressure in the room changed, with so much negative energy flowing between the two of us. It caught everyone off guard.

We went inside, me reluctantly, and sat around Katie's apartment. At an apropriate moment, Katie looked over at Laura. "Do they know each other?" she said softly.

"They used to be roommates..." Laura answered.

Katie looked at me. "Is this awkward for you?"

"Incrediably."

We sat in a circle, with vague attemts at chatting, but the Ex and I never even made eye contact. She seemed uncomfortable, which I relished, as she spun her can of Diet Pepsi in her hands. Gleefully I observed she's gained weight and looks like crap. Why this matters, I don't know, but considering she's one of the very, very few people I despise (and for very legitimate reasons) I enjoyed the observation. Of course, I never said anything like that to anyone, because I'm slightly better than that.

She played the part of 'nice-girl' in the situation, chatting with Laura about this and that, seemingly interested. I've seen this mask she puts on, it's the one that wins people over, because it seems genuine. She's not coming down of E or worried about slutting it up for the clubs tonight, she's just the friendly girl who happened to drop by.

Finally, by the grace of God, after 45 mintues the random girl and the Ex got up and left. I breathed a sigh of relief.

As soon as the door was closed, Katie looked at me. This was the first time we met, but I felt comfortable enough to talk with her.

"What the hell was that!?" she asked. I told her in very loose terms that we had been roommates, and things went badly...and we aren't really on speaking terms. I also said, since she seems to know her, I didn't want to bring too much up. She's allowed to make her own judgments.

"Oh, I don't even know her, I just met her. That other girl I met yesterday, they seemed to be hanging out..." Katie said. What are the chances?

She seemed sympathetic, and I appologized. "I'm sorry for all that tension shit," I said, "really, that was just awkward."

"No, it's ok," Katie said. "But wow, I mean, I could feel it between you two. There was just this thing hanging between us..."

Good to know it's visible to the entire population.