prepositions

in grammar, a preposition is a part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. it is any member of a class of words found in many languages that are used before nouns, pronouns, or other substantives to form phrases functioning as modifiers of verbs, nouns, or adjectives, and that typically express a spatial, temporal, or other relationship. we use them all the time. "the cat is on the sofa." "the chipmunk ran around the tree." "i have the gift for her in my car." "i made a fool of myself on the phone with him."

last may i went to in-n-out burger on my way to my sister eden's house. as i was waiting in the drive-thru line, i was talking to my other sister inge on the phone. as they do when there is a long line at the drive-thru, an in-n-out employee was standing outside with a headset, taking orders and relaying them to the kitchen. i guess it's their way of committing you to wait in the long line: after all, you've already ordered your double-double, animal style, and chocolate shake. (what do you mean, "is that what you always order, christianna?"?)

so i was on the phone with inge, just chatting about the betterment of society as a whole and the real impact of nuclear testing facilities on our nation's rising generation (probably), minding my own business as i slowly crept forward in a line that seemed to be getting longer rather than shorter. at this particular in-n-out, there is an outdoor eating area right by the drive-thru line and it was a nice evening, so there were a few people enjoying their ground beef outside. as i pulled closer to the picnic-table area, inge and i were coming quite close to the singular root of the world's problems as a whole, but i noticed two guys sitting at one of the picnic tables and looking in my direction.

my window was open because i had just ordered my double-double, animal style, and chocolate shake (probably).

"so, what did you order?" the blond called out.
"a double-double, animal style. what about you guys?"
"4 x 4's for us: that's four meats, four cheeses."
"wow, i haven't tried that."

when the next line from the brunet guy started with a "so, do you live around here?" i knew that this conversation might get a little more involved, so i told inge i would talk to her later and pulled the earbud out of my ear. i can't remember much of the rest of the exchange (it was 7 months ago, after all), but it did end in me leaning out my window with a post-it with my number on it.

(an aside: as i pulled forward, eager to get my beef fix, i picked up my phone to call inge back only to realize that she had been on the phone the whole time and thought the whole getting-hit-on-in-the-drive-thru-at-in-n-out was hilarious.)

the brunet called me before i even got out of the in-n-out parking lot, but i was already on the phone with cute guy and this was back in the early days of that, so i didn't answer and in-n-out boy left a message. the next week, i met up with both of the in-n-out boys at a mexican place near where we originally met.

over the last 7 months, communication has been sparse. blond in-n-out boy moved up to seattle (*why* does everyone i know move up there!?), and brunet in-n-out boy moved to azusa, ca.

last week i was back at the in-n-out near my sister eden's, which made me think of the in-n-out boys, so i sent a quick text to both of them. we all caught up, shared news, etc., then brunet in-n-out boy suggested going to see a movie out in pasadena, and since i am *dying* to see beowulf ... we made plans to do so on thursday last week.

which introduces a whole new preposition to this story: up ... he stood me up. yup. i texted him thursday afternoon to find out the details of the show and stuff, which he didn't respond to. then i called him when i left work to see if he just hadn't received my text (which is happening *a lot* lately: so aggravating), and he didn't call back. and i haven't heard from him at all since then. yeah.

so, i guess the most appropriate response to him is also the most simple: i'm out!

(there you go, matti: that's the story of the in-n-out boys.)