The Pause

I was telling them about the customer,

something weird he said, something small.

I watched their faces do it—

that collective shift where they decide

you're either lying or making it bigger than it was.

The pause. It was only a second.

Someone reached for their drink

like they needed something to hold,

something to look at that wasn't me.

I kept talking anyway,

made it smaller, softer,

tried to smooth out the parts that made them uncomfortable.

But the thing was already decided.

I could feel it sitting there between us

like a third person no one was introducing.

I finished the story anyway.

They laughed when they were supposed to.

No one remembered it by the time we left.