Observing teens at a local Starbucks in Kenosha, Wisconsin is like watching the most primal aspects of mating. There was a small group of boys, scruffy white mid-Western kids in their mid to late teens, clustered around a couple of laptops at a table in front. A gothic styled girl sits with them, possibly they’re working on a project together. I would guess they’re in their late teens, but when I realize one of them works there I adjust my thinking to early twenties maybe. They are happily talking back and forth until the girl is called away and the boys continue working.
Two younger girls come in and their dad(or older brother??) introduces them and leaves them there to talk. The youngest of the two is quite pretty, the way girls often are before they become too influenced by cultural standards of beauty and sits herself down in one of the leather easy chairs adjacent to the boys. The boys leave their computer and go sit with the girls.
“I have a boyfriend” she says in an almost bragging tone. They boys haven’t asked or said anything to this youngest girl about it at all. An observer might wonder why she would volunteer this type of information.
“I’ve had boyfriends since I was little, and this boy kissed me” she continues. The boys don’t seem impressed and don’t seem to mock her either. Is she flirting? Or making a gesture that she is open to dating these particular boys? They are much too old for her but they seem to welcome her and her sister (?) to the conversation. In fact one of the boys pulls out a little ukele and strums a few notes. It almost felt like once they allowed her to sit in their circle, she sent her gesture back of being open to the boys and even though they weren’t interested in her romantically they certainly seemed to enjoy her admiring company. It was as if her appreciation of them kept them interested in her.
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