Thought Bubble

Bloop!

That was the sound it made when the bubble appeared over Jessica’s head. It read, “I’m bored.” Aaron choked on his hot coffee and scalded his throat.

“Oh-my-God-are-you-okay?”

He felt like his tongue and throat had both blistered. And there’s really not much of a way to fan one’s throat, Aaron figured.

“What…” he coughed. “What was that?” he shouted, pointing at where the bubble had been.

“What was what?” Jessica frowned, looking over her shoulder and straightening her hair.

“You just had… I don’t know. This is gonna sound crazy, but I thought I saw words over your head.” Aaron tried to laugh so that he didn’t seem too crazy, though the laughter did end up sounded a bit crazed, Aaron thought.

“Oh that.”

Aaron wasn’t quite sure if the words registered correctly in his head, so he just repeated them out loud: “Oh that?”

“Yeah,” she giggled, sipping at her coffee before diving into the story. “Sometimes when I’m spacing out, I get thought bubbles. You know, like in comic books?”

“…why?”

Jessica shrugged. “They’re usually not anything too deep, like memories of my childhood or anything like that. Just stuff I happen to be thinking about at the time. What did it say?”

“You don’t know?”

“My mind was wandering. You can’t expect me to keep track of everything.”

“I’m bored.”

Jessica raised an eyebrow. “You’re bored?”

“No. That’s what the bubble said.”

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry! That’s so embarrassing! Please don’t think I’m not enjoying myself! I just need to be doing something all the time. Not that coffee is bad. I mean, it’s a first date, and…” she sighed.

Bloop!

A bubble above her head showed a picture of her inserting her foot into her mouth.

“You’re eating your foot,” Aaron mumbled, wide-eyed in terror.

“Beg your pardon?”

“It’s a picture now. You’re eating your foot.”

“Oh, bother. Sometimes they’re pictures when my brain gets really excited about something.” Jessica takes a quick slurp of her beverage. “Like sometimes when I’m, um… doing stuff with a guy, it gets awkward when other people join in. It’s just, you know… my mind just wanders sometimes. Call me a space case, I guess.” She smiles and knocks on her head. “Anyway, there I go again, talking about me. You were telling me about your job, I think?”

Aaron scooted his chair out from under the table. “I, um… I… it’snotyouit’sme!” he cried and scuttled away.

“Hey!” Jessica shouted. “Where are you going?”

Jessica crossed her arms in a huff.

Bloop!

Jessica’s bubble contained a series of dollar signs, ampersands, and exclamation points.