random town in Michigan

The girl in front of me is reading a study book and trying hard to concentrate. She compulsively takes a wisp of her long auburn hair between her fingers and slides them until the ends, smoothing them out. The Indian-looking girl at the table next to hers is reading her lecture notes. She too is playing with her hair, laying her head on her arm, giving herself a hug with the other. This is seriously advanced pose, I estimate, she must have been here for quite a while. Her long fingers slowly dip in her black pony tail. Looks like it must feel good, to have one's fingers in such lush black hair, shiny and smooth.

I'm in the Cafe Royale at the main campus of the Michigan University and everybody around me is studying. People with laptops, Greek dictionaries, big piles of loose papers, and concentration problems.

The Indian girl is now swirling a wisp of hair around her index finger. The redhead succeeded at extracting a hair and is now examining it in detail with the help of her long fingernails, still looking at the notes. Her nails are painted pink.

I touch my own hair - it's seriously smooth; yesterday I bought this great shampoo, made for blond hair especially. I feel sorry for people with short hair, like the guy next to me. How can he concentrate on his reading?

Oh oh, there is some action! Some fat guy sits at the table of the redhead. She says OK but is obviously not so happy to be disturbed. She probably thinks that the guy wants to flirt with her (it's obvious: he's fat and she has beautiful auburn hair). And soon enough he gives it a try, followed by her embarrassed reaction. They exchange a few uneasy smiles and ten minutes later he packs up and leaves and she returns to sliding her fingers through her hair, all the way until the ends.

I notice in the corner of my eye that the Indian girl got out her driver's license and is giving it a thorough examination. Now is the moment, I tell myself and say out loud: you cannot concentrate anymore, huh? She's visibly relieved that someone has chatted her up and we start talking. I ask her about the trip I plan to make to Chicago. Not long after the redhead joins in. They turn out to be medical doctors, studying for their level 2 exams (whatever that is). When they find that out they start exchanging tips and I leave them alone, happy to have connected two people who probably wouldn't have talked to each other otherwise. I get back to my own reading.