The barista who works at Cielito Querido was chatting with me in a bar/café hybrid. I wanted to speak with her, but I was struggling to find a topic. To my eyes she seemed too young and naive to conduct any sort of meaningful conversation, but she was very into me. Outwardly I appeared indifferent.
She told me she was 21 years old. She showed me a large tattoo on her back that she had herself done recently, it was a taijitu, and on top of it was a Buddha, not drawn in ink, but in lighter skin, as if it had been drawn in sunscreen and then she had baked in the sun. "Oh, I thought you were dark skinned, yet you are only tanned". When I uttered out these words they seemed weird, almost stupid.
Her back was muscular, broad, and toned by the gym.
"So all you do is go to the gym and work at Starbucks part-time?" I asked. She said yes, seemingly unaware that my statement was judgemental. I this to be that she was too stupid to understand that I was questioning her lifestyle choice. Eventually she said something which I didn't quite understand, but I understood that she was fed up with my attitude, so I was disdainful and left.
After some time wandering around the bar I realized that I actually wanted to keep chatting with her. I tried to go back but stumbled on some stairs and made a mess on a cork board. I greatly regretted my attitude and felt deep loss.