F is for Fake

I haven't seen them since college. And even then, we scarcely made effort to become chums. So I wondered if they also felt it was awkward or forced. I found myself saying things I didn't intend, revealing more than was appropriate, and behaving in a manner unlike myself. It was inexplicable this desire, even now, for approval. And if I never saw or spoke to them again, I needed them to leave the evening with the belief that Chiik is worth knowing. Perhaps the reason why I skipped out on reunion this week was the inability to face this pressure on a large scale--becoming a puffed-up caricature, a constructed version of oneself.