“Wait – Inez?”
She turns to you and blinks. “Yes?”
“I thought I recognized you. How have you been?”
She joins you against the wall, but her face is wary. “Do we know each other?”
“I used to date a girl who lives down the hall from you.”
“Who?”
“Oh, let’s not talk about her,” you say, putting a little swagger into your voice. “She wasn’t right for me anyway. I'd much rather spend time with you.”
Inez rolls her eyes, lingers just long enough to mutter "Oh dear Lord," and then walks away.
Well that was discouraging, you think. You thought you had better game than this. But The fact of the matter is that it's been so long since you've asked anyone out that you have no idea how to do it anymore. But you've got all the time in the world, of course – literally – so there's no reason to stop trying. You jump back sixty seconds into the hallway full of people, half of them already texting someone on their phones.
Inez appears. You decide to
Or you can think better of it, deciding instead to