28 July 2006

Culture at the Counter

Yesterday I had lunch at Counter Culture, home of the Humphrey Yogart. My mom took us there regularly for snacks on Tuesdays when I had group violin lessons; I had a medium plain with strawberries and chocolate chips so frequently that years later when the owner happened upon my mom somewhere else, he remembered.

But yesterday was just a turkey sandwich and small plain yogurt, with hormonal teenagers on the side. I'm talking with my lunchmate over the last crumbs of our lunches and the couple arrives. He is tall and blonde, wearing a Captain Shreve High School t-shirt. She is a petite and dark-skinned summer beauty. They look like Kelso and Jackie. They are clearly cool.

They barely let a sliver of light between them as they walk in the door. He walks to the far side of the counter, she keeps sidling up next to him and gives him several reaching pecks while they await their yogurt order. Then they select a table and sit on the same side together.

She licks a spoonful of the yogurt, feeds the boy a spoonful, kisses him. They repeat this pattern until I leave. The whole time, he looks out in the distance, paying no attention to the girl but not overtly annoyed by the public affection either. She seems to think this is the height of romantic activities; he looks like he only enjoys the display as a means to some other end.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see this stuff with teenagers all the time, too... Disinterested PDA! If you've got someone licking you AND frozen yogurt, at least look like you are having a good time at it! Jeez!!!

Jen said...

I think he was just trying to look cool--like he was paying much more attention to what other people in Counter Culture might think about him than what his girlfriend thought of him. Of course, he didn't need to look like he was enjoying himself--he was getting the dual benefit of looking cool and having this girl fawn over him, and he didn't even have to do anything!

But come on, now :) Are you saying you and Kat aren't forever sharing yogurt like this?

Micah said...

kids these days