Jordane

We all know a lot can be said without any words. The trick is always knowing what you’re saying. While taking summer classes, I met a girl named Jordane. Her hair matched the color of chocolate milk and her eyes gleamed with the color of September leaves. Every day she wore bright red lipstick and skinny blue jeans. No skirts, no shorts, always just skinny blue jeans. We often ate lunch together while swapping music playlists. She took photography classes, so we often stopped walking mid step for a photo opportunity. What we did not do quite as often was talk. Jordane came from Geneva, a city in Switzerland.  (She later informed me this is not the same place as in Princess Diaries, Genovia, which is in fact a made up monarch state.) French was her first language and English was trying to catch up for second. I tried to help her as often as I could with the things she simply could not understand, such as: 

1. How do you use the word “fuck”?

2. What does “freaking out” mean? Is it a literal term?

3. Why do “angry” and “hungry” sound so similar? 

4. What is Shark Week? 

Tears would form in her eyes from laughing at my attempts of French. (The first thing I said to her was the French verse in Beyonce’s Partition, which starts with the question: Do you like sex?) The fact that we both struggled to tell each other anything was actually sort of a relief, and perhaps even drew us even closer together. People can say whatever the hell they want to portray a certain persona. It seems we spend more time pretending to be something we are not than actually working to become that person. However, little gestures are things we can not rehearse in our heads. They just happen. All Jordane and I had were these gestures. No faking, no pretending. Since we both could see completely through each other, it felt raw. Sure, sometimes we probably just laughed at the other one’s joke out of pure kindness, but we both just wanted one thing: A friend. Jordane and I have since parted ways, but still send eachother the occational funny music video. But eventually I will forget those skinny jeans and chocolate milk hair. However, I will not forget all she said without talking. 


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