The initial plan was to just meet up with her and another colleague, a small gathering where only those who were comfortable with each other were invited, that meant my sous chef wasn't invited because every meet up that includes him always just ends up being uncomfortably awkward, us struggling to find topics to get rid of the awkward silences, it's really quite torturous and in the past I never really said anything to my friend because they are friends and I always thought maybe I'm the one overthinking things, but after the last encounter with my Sous Chef in Phoon Huat, with him avoiding me after he has obviously seen me, I realize the feelings I had towards him were mutual, and that is that even though we don't dislike each other, if given a choice, we would rather not hang out with each other.
About 2 days before the meet up, I was quite happy with the arrangements, I thought, finally, this might be the meet up that won't end up with everyone sitting awkwardly, my friend won't have to constantly struggle to find new topics to talk about and I won't be constantly dreaming of this meet up to be over and done with so I can go home and tell myself I'm never meeting them as a group again. But all that happy thoughts changed when my friend decided to ask me if it was alright to invite some other colleagues of hers over, they worked at the bakery too but they were the service crew, so I've never met them before.
Seeing how she was struggling to meet up with all her friends before going for her almost year long trip overseas, I begrudgingly agreed with her arrangements, she was grateful to my agreement but I was not really excited about the meet up anymore.
For the past 2 days after the change of plans, I was seriously contemplating whether to go for the meet up or not, because the four of them are quite close and I would be the odd one out, if the 3 weeks working in the Interior Design firm has taught me anything, it's that trying to fit into a clique of close female friends always almost never works, there would always be inside jokes and topics only they can understand and discuss in explicit boring details, so naturally, being turned off by that potential prospect of feeling like the odd one out, it's like most of the meet ups I have ever had with my Secondary School clique, oh the memories, so I was cooking up excuses in my head that would allow me to not show up, excuses that would probably work like...
"Oh my Dad is overseas so I might not be able to join you guys, I have to stay in the office to make sure everything is alright." - Bullshit, except the part about my Dad being overseas, everything else is lies. I'm really not that important that my absence would cause the company to suddenly lose traction and fall off the rails of success.
"Sorry, I'm think I might be falling sick." - Because I had constipation for 2 days. It's fine now but I did spend the last few days just squeezing nothing out in the toilet.
On the day itself, I finally decided, fuck it, I'm just going to go for the meet up, she's going to be overseas for almost a year, the least I could do as a friend is to show up for her farewell get together. I know her and she's not someone who would just let someone she invited on a gathering she planned to feel left out, so even if her friends don't talk to me, I knew she would make an effort to try and make me feel involve.
We met in Bugis Station and I was finally able to take the new Downtown Line. It's awesome how now it just takes me 20 minutes to reach Bugis when in the past, it would take almost an hour. I managed to reach the place 15 minutes early, so I went to Kinokuniya to looks at some books and see if there are any interesting reads I can get for my kindle, that and also because Kinokuniya is nice and empty, better than waiting at the control station, especially crowded because it's peak hour.
After about 15 to 20 minutes of looking at the same bunch of books, I finally got a call from my friend who informed me to meet her at the control station. I made my way over, not feeling very excited about the potential awkwardness that would ensue between me and her friends. We exchanged awkward hellos with each other when I saw them and really for the next 10 minutes, I was just talking to my friends while hers were talking to each other, all four of us headed to the bus stop and met up with another one and then made our way to the cafe for our dinner.
I really wanted to try and start a conversation with one of them initially and I was very close to going up to her and asking...
"So are you studying now? Which school?"
I didn't know how old she was, all I heard from my friend was that she was slightly older than her, so I assumed she might probably be my age. 25 to 26 years old, an age where being a university student is still plausible. In the end, I didn't initiate conversation with her and just continued conversations with my friend while the 3 other girls catch up with each other. At one point, one of the 3 girls came up to my friend and started talking to her, I planted myself in the middle of them, so even though I wasn't technically part of the conversation, I still felt like I was, it's a lot better than trailing behind, my permanent position when I go for meet ups with my Secondary School friends and that is why I no longer meet up with them.
When we finally reached the place, it was packed, my friends had made reservations but that didn't really mean anything, because no seats were available except for the ones outside, and we weren't interested, my back was already drenched in sweat and probably in the midst of emitting my signature body odor, the last thing I wanted to do was sit outside and sweat even more, so we told the waitress we would rather dine inside, we had to wait, but the waitress assured us that it wouldn't be long because the diners who were occupying the 5 seated table were about to leave soon.
We looked at the menu for a few minutes and scanned at the different items they offered, deciding what would be best, 5 minutes later, I was the only one left scanning the menu while the 4 girls started talking amongst themselves. 10 minutes later, the waitress comes over and asks us...
"Would you all like to dine outside instead because the diners inside just ordered desserts so they will take a while."
And we were ushered to the outside table, the table wasn't stable and the chairs felt like they would give in and collapse at any moment. I had to put my bag on my lap because it was a stool without a back rest, my bag probably reeked, so I didn't want to put in on the spare chair that was at the other end and put the girls through the unpleasant smell of my back(bag) sweat.
I ordered a salad and all the girls ordered a burger, its like reversal of roles but not really because this is Singapore, and very rarely does anyone in Singapore eat like a basic white girl, except me I guess, with my salad for dinner and my Starbucks literally right next to me as I am typing out this post.
Iced Chestnut White Chocolate Truffle. Not bad, very sweet so it completely overpowers the coffee taste, which is always great because the last thing this bitter individual needs is bitter coffee. The barista actually asked me if I wanted whipped cream and I said yes, only to realize it's actually fucking gross to have whipped cream on a Iced Coffee drink, luckily he forgot to add the whipped cream in the end. His very mild incompetence worked in my favor.
I digress...
The girls were all surprised when they realized I ordered a plate of salad, and really, that became the ice breaker because I started to take part in their conversations and actually had a good time, they laughed at my jokes (comments really that was meant to be humorous because I don't just start a conversation by telling a Knock! Knock! joke) and really, anyone who laughs at my jokes, I instantly like them, that probably explains why I really disliked my Interior Design firm colleagues, it's like they don't understand sarcasm, it just flies right past their heads, that's how you know someone is really fucking stupid. When I jokingly said I wanted to give up on building a chair that I was having some difficulty with, one of em cunts actually took that literally and saw me as "someone who gives up easily" when she was preaching to me a few days later, her fucking words, even though I did complete building the chair prior to her giving me her take on my personality and characteristics.
They talked about their time at the bakery, about the head chef, talked about my friends trip and everyone there was able to keep the conversation flowing, which meant there wasn't too much awkward silences to make it uncomfortable. At one point, one of the girls started asking us how old we were, she was the girl I was actually planning to start a conversation with earlier, and thank gawd I didn't because I find out during dinner that she wasn't in her mid 20s, she was already in her early 30s, when my friend said she was a little older, I wasn't expecting a 6 to 7 year age difference, so that was quite a shock.
After dinner, we made our way through Haji Lane, they talked while I listen, barely able to really hear much because of all the loud music going on at the stretch of bars, and when we finally made our way out of Haji Lane, we headed back to Bugis for Boost. I got the drink called Mint Condition, which I'm never ordering again because I ended up having more salads from the greens that weren't completely pulverized into juice during the blending process, it was unpleasant sucking up chunks of greens with every sip and the taste of celery was so strong it just made the whole "oh I ordered this green stuff cos it's good for bowel movement" excuse not worth it at all.
When we were finally done, it was time to head home. The goodbye I have to admit was awkward, 2 of the girls were still trying to finish their boost, so they ended up furiously drinking their drink next to a bin at the escalator while my friend, her friend and I waited at the control station, we chatted a bit and my friend turns to me and ask if this meeting was awkward, I replied honestly and told her it wasn't, because it honestly when better than I thought it would, the 2 girls joined us once they were done with their boost and then for some reason, everyone just stopped talking, it was probably like 5 seconds but it felt like 30 seconds, seeing how awkward the silence was getting, with everyone just looking at each other and hoping someone would start talking soon, I just pointed at the direction I was going and told everyone I was leaving, we exchanged goodbyes and I went back home via the Downtown Line.
It was a pleasant meet up, a lot better than the meet ups I had that included my sous chef that was always marred by awkward silences.
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