urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:mystic_savage Or Subtitle mystic_savage 2038-01-19T03:14:07Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:mystic_savage:335435 2038-01-19T03:14:07Z 2038-01-19T03:14:07Z <a name="cutid1"></a>D. noticed her on a Wednesday.&nbsp; He knew specifically that it was Wednesday, because Wednesday was the day that Josh, his metrosexual roommate, reserved for manicures and nose hair trimming.&nbsp; She came in the door with Josh, and at first she'd seemed like nothing special.&nbsp; Another tool in a corporate box, that's what he'd thought initially.&nbsp; When she'd been in the same room, he'd been unable to think of anything to say.&nbsp; He was known for his dry sense of humor, but had been unable to suck up to her.&nbsp; That was before he'd seen her plugged in of course, without all the protective packaging .&nbsp; It was then he'd fallen in love with her.<br /><br /><a name="cutid2"></a>She was the kind of appliance his manufacturer had written warnings about.&nbsp; Oh, he'd known other humidifiers before, the cheap, forced air types that expelled noisy bubbling steam all night and used all the energy in the house.&nbsp; But she was different.&nbsp; The cool fog around her seemed to come from nowhere but the quiet space within her.&nbsp; If he watched her long enough he could almost imagine that she vibrated at another frequency, some ultrasonic level that no one else could hear. &nbsp;<br /><br />But from the beginning, he'd known it was doomed to fail.&nbsp; They never seemed to be plugged in at the same time.&nbsp; She was nice enough, but Josh always ran the show and he seemed to want more from her than D. could ever hope to get.&nbsp; The roommate relationship suffered.&nbsp; Josh had no time for D. anymore, they never just hung out in the living room and watched football and sucked down pints together.&nbsp; Now, when football was on, D. felt shoved into a corner and ignored.&nbsp; Of course, if he'd never met the Airhead, it might have worked out eventually (he sometimes thought, in his more morose moods).<br /><br />Truth be told, the Airhead had a lot more in common with D.&nbsp; They had a lot of similar interests, cleaning up the environment, for example, and fighting mold.&nbsp; Where the humidifier had subtlety, the Airhead had, well, noise, but she was very friendly and always up for whatever he was up for.&nbsp; And if their relationship was occasionally competitive, if she was totally predictable and nothing special, well, at least she was there, he told himself.&nbsp; At least he wasn't lonely.<br /><br />And for now, that had to be enough.&nbsp; <br /><br /><br /><br />