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Miles Away
There's hopeless smiles brighter than mine
And I need for you to come and go
Without the truth falling out

Silverchair, Without You

mortified: v. to experience humiliation, shame or wounded pride

If she were a word of the day calendar, mortified (and a full list of its synonyms) would be stamped on her forehead.

And if the dictionary was a movie, then videos of this day would be used to fully explain the concept of mortification.

It was humiliating.

There was the horrible - god awful - flirting.

Not even flirting.

More like verbal constipation.

What the hell had she been talking about?

REM cycles?

Oh my god.

Yeah... God wasn't going to help her feel less stupid at the moment.

Or erase the memory of her conversation with Karen.

That would be virtual dictionary video, number two.

A swift dose of shame - over what she wasn't sure.

"Oh, no! I- I was confused by your phrasing. You should definitely go out with Jim. I mean, you're going out with Jim. I‘m not going out with Jim. (insert mortified laughter) You're dating him. Which is awesome because you guys are great together."

From verbal constipation to verbal diarrhea.

To her credit, she was taken off guard.

And too distracted by the fact that Jim had apparently watered last May down to, "just a kiss," to really focus on Karen.

So when the day reached its end, she let him know she knew.

Ryan's friends didn't interest her, but if it was "just a kiss," then he wouldn't care.

Ah.

There it was.

Wounded pride.