Entering / Leaving Conversation

Every Sunday, the two of my friends and I have brunch together. We sit and discuss what happened the past week and the plans we have for the upcoming week. We usually don’t invite outside people to sit with us let alone join into our conversation. The routine is: get breakfast, sit at the fourth booth to the right, and talk until our food gets cold. I forgot to mention because it was Sunday morning brunch, many of us wore our pajamas and lounge attire. Anyway, we say our hellos when we see our mutual friends and return to the routine. But last Sunday, I could say different.

So we are sitting there chit chatting, gossiping, and laughing away until two of our guy friends came over to have brunch with us. The first thing we looked at before initiating them to our table was their attire. T-shirt, sweatpants, socks and sandals is what they wore and it fit our dress code. Even though we are all friends, they know our dress requirement for Sunday brunch. After giving them the big “Join Us!” They start rambling about boy stuff. Well at this point the three of us stop girl talk and joined into the conversation of sports. Even though we have little knowledge let alone experience in sports we try to engage in it. The boys were very energetic and persistent that the Patriots are going to win the Super bowl. So my girls and I mentioned that Beyonce performed in the Superbowl last year; the boys looked at us with a stale face and continue talking about the Patriots. That was not the reaction we expected from them. In result of that, we closed off our communication with the boys and went back talking among ourselves. One of the guy friends then tapped me on the shoulder and asked if one his friends can sit with us. I wanted to pull a Gretchen Wieners and say, “He can’t sit with us!” but, a friend of theirs is a friend of mine. “Go for it.” I said. We sat waiting for the friend for thirty minutes.

Finally the boy comes over with his food and sat directly on the outside end of the table. We notice that he was not wearing Sunday morning brunch attire so this totally offset the tone of the table. To make matters worse, everyone else is sitting in the inside of the booth. This made everything so awkward. Like if someone walked past, they would know who just joined the table. The boy then began to eat his food without introducing himself. I looked at my guy friends and questioned them why they are not engage with talking to him. I found it rude for him to come to a table full of people and not introduce himself. I really didn’t expect my girl friends to say anything to him and they didn’t. The table became a thinking table and not really a table talking. So I felt like I had to break the ice and introduced myself and get to know him a little. After a while, the table divided into three groups: me and my girls, the boys, and the new boy. None of us were interacting. Later, one guy friend leaves the table. “I’ll come back!” he said. I’m like okay he’s coming back. Twenty minutes later the next boy said, “Shoot, y’all I have this Chem quiz to take I see y’all later.” I thought that was the worst excuse ever because if he has a chem quiz, then I have a chem quiz… and I didn’t have a chem quiz. I accept the lie and he leaves the table. So it is just my friends, the boy, and I at the table. The boy only spoke when spoken to so it made it very hard for us to engage a conversation with him. It was so awkward til it was just him and I sitting there and I was hoping my friend was coming back from wherever he said he was going. The boy soon left table without saying anything and ended the awkwardness.