On Tuesday, as soon as the lectures were over, I hurried to Spens1 to “buy something for myself.” Elena, Ian, and Maxim went down Stražilovska Street toward the city center. Before entering Spens, I saw Xenia in a car that was just leaving the parking lot. I think her boyfriend was the driver. She glanced at me briefly and turned away without the slightest change in her expression.
For a moment, I thought back to the night I met her, but now I had to look for a hoodie, and I couldn’t stay focused on that. After that, I was heading to Marta’s Pub for the team meeting. Elena and I had moved all our team meetings to cafes. After two-three hours of talking, we can get up and go back to working. After two hours of discussing the project, I start feeling enthusiastic and want to do something right away, and Elena feels the same. On the other hand, Maxim and Ian could talk all afternoon. They like to talk about possibilities and make predictions, going far into the future.
At the meeting, we decided to start making lists of tasks we need to complete and deadlines by which they must be finished. We tried to speed up the process. Until now, we had been working slowly due to other obligations. No one wanted to take the role of a leader who would speak using the imperative, and this slowed us down.
I looked for a hoodie around Spens, but all of them were too colorful. I spotted a t-shirt with a penguin on it. I bought one for Elena and one for myself because of her interest in Linux.
On Wednesday, I had an interesting Italian class. As I was entering the classroom, a girl who had been attending classes in our group since October came up to me.
“Interesting penguin, colleague.”
“Thanks.”
“You must have bought it at Spens.”
“Yes, how do you know?”
“Well, I passed by you while you were picking out a t-shirt, and you didn’t greet me.”
“I would have greeted you, I didn’t see you.”
“I’m not sure, you tend to pass by without greeting.”
“I definitely would have greeted you, I probably wasn’t looking in your direction.”
It must be me again. I probably should have memorized everyone’s names in the group by now and recognized them when I see them.
“Sorry, colleague. I promise I’ll always greet you in the classroom and outside.”
It seemed she was satisfied with the guarantees. The class was about to start, and we had to sit down.
I couldn’t concentrate immediately on the lecture. I kept looking in the direction of the colleague. I asked Ian what her name was. Her name is Boyana.
When we were leaving, I said, “Goodbye, colleague,” to Boyana, somewhat theatrically, showing that I had already started greeting her, both when arriving and leaving. She went somewhere with a friend, and I went to the board to see her last name. On the list of our group, there was only one Boyana, Boyana Dosen. Her last name is Dosen. I hadn’t noticed her until now. This isn’t the first time my brain hasn’t registered something it should have. Lately, I’ve been involved in various stories, scattered and distracted. I lied that I would greet her, but half the people in the course I wouldn’t recognize in the city. I hadn’t paid attention to who was in the group.
Last night, I dreamed of Boyana Dosen. Her face was right in front of me, in close-up. Nothing happened, but the dream was somehow intense, pleasant, strange. I woke up and thought about her. Now, I can’t understand how I could have not noticed her for over two months. We talked a little on Friday. I have one more week to get into some story with her. After that, there will be holidays, and we won’t see each other until February. Milica is online.
David: Hey, Milica…
Milica: Hey…
David: What’s new and interesting with you?
Milica: Nothing with me. Something with Anna, though. She didn’t work today, just briefly.
David: Finally found a way to fire her?
Milica: No. The fire alarm went off. The nurse was burning incense in the clinics.
David: Did she burn around Anna? Her position?
Milica: No. Everywhere around.
David: Oh, wow…
Milica: And with you, anything interesting and new?
David: I’d like to meet a colleague from Italian class. I dream about her. What’s the last name Dosen? Is it Serbian?
Milica: First time I’ve heard of it.
David: Me too. If she celebrates Catholic Christmas, then she might go home this week before the holidays, and I won’t see her until February. That would be so bad.
Milica: I’ll call you in a minute…
While I was waiting for the call, I googled if Dosen was a Serbian surname.
1 Local Mall in Novi Sad.
