The two men were speaking in a language no one else in the room could understand. Otherwise, it was a silent room. Laughter in an indecipherable language competed with the hum of the airconditioner. From the computer, she spoke to me. In txtspk. From her new Sony Ericsson Satio. And I wish I were on the other side of the world.

*****

The pop-up seemed completely random - a virus-generated anomaly at the lower right hand corner of my screen. Bold black letters (font size 10, Arial Narrow) on white background (#FFFFFF). I wondered if the text was part of a conversation between two chatting people that got misfired to me. But there was no username. No profile picture. Nothing. Just a 5-line grouping of words that somehow made better sense from a stranger than from a buddy.

I minimized my open windows and double-clicked my antivirus icon. No sense risking any more malware attacks.

*****

She got a part on a series for a cable channel. They're going to be shooting in Romania. I'll miss her.

*****

The pop-up disappeared but was quickly replaced by another one. This message seemed to be a continuation of the previous one. I debated whether I should click it. Was it a missent message? Or was it a virus that would hijack my computer and make it a drone? My hand on the mouse wavered. The hand icon on screen hovered over the text box.

*****

I told myself, you know you want to. Why not just pack everything up and follow her? Why not just throw some clothes in a suitcase and follow her? Well, I follow her, but not in real life.

*****

The third message appeared with an alacrity that stilled my hand. I paused to read it, then frowned.

*****

I know she doesn't really speak to me. Not to me, directly. At least not so that I could answer her, directly.

*****

The fourth message had me scowling in confusion. It wasn't exactly "All your base belong to us!" but it was inscrutable just the same. The antivirus scan pinged and announced that my system was clear. Hm. Really.

*****

Well, it was nice chatting with you. Talk to you again soon.

*****

I shut down and got up. I'll never spend my break in the computer rental place again. Too many freaks and weirdos.