Required (fun!) reading for first day of COM 100

Dear students,

Welcome to COM 100. I wanted to start the semester off with something “fun” and hopefully relevant. My son, who goes to school out of state, had a very interesting text conversation with some friends last year, which he thought would be interesting for my class. The names of these friends have been changed to “protect the innocent” as they say (really to prevent embarrassment, more than anything).

In the attached document, you’ll see a text conversation between my son “Joe” and his friend “Ethan”, interspersed with a conversation between Ethan’s best friend, “Gemma” and her friend “Cleo”.

Take a look at the conversations, and put yourself in each person’s “shoes”. We’ll be talking a lot about expectations and how they affect communication, and this will be an interesting gateway into that class discussion.

Background information for the attached document:

All four “characters” know each other from college. Ethan went to spend Thanksgiving break with Gemma’s family, as his parents were out of the country on an ill-timed anniversary trip. Ethan and Gemma were not dating. The intention was that Ethan would meet some of Gemma’s high school friends as well, as he shared many common interests with them.

Unfortunately, it was discovered that a nasty outbreak of the Isosceles Virus was present in the town, and Ethan had to be quarantined along with Gemma and her family in their home… for several weeks. It was on only the third evening of that quarantine that the attached conversations took place.

They have been color-coded by name for your convenience.

Ethan = Green

Gemma = Orange

Joe = Red

Cleo = Blue

I look forward to discussing with you all in class.

Sincerely,

Dr. Oppenhaur

Open Attachment - "Text Convo Transcript"

You talked to her yet?

No, I’ve been silent for the last three days. Of course I’ve talked to her.

So… how’d it go?

I haven’t talked to her about… that.

Duh.

Trying to find the right time.

You have no-one else to talk to! Now IS the right time.

What if she’s not interested? It’s gonna be super awkward if I’m stuck in quarantine with her for weeks after she rejects me.

IF she rejects you.

Yeah. If.

No more putting this off. You promised.

But I didn’t pinky promise.

Bros don’t pinky promise.

Whatever. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but things have changed a little bit since “the plan”.

Don’t care. Shoot your shot, my dude.

Maaaayyybe.

Alright, I’m asking her out when you get back then.

Shut up.

lol then shoooooooot yuuuurrrrr shot.

Well, are u gonna?

Hello?

??

Silent treatment.

Boooooo.

Hey

What’s up

Um… awkwardness.

With Ethan?

…maybe…

I told you he had a crush on you.

Yeah. You did.

What happened.

He told me he’s liked me for a while…

How long?

Like since we all went skating last year. He was really sweet and really nervous, but he told me all this stuff about how the moment he knew he liked me was when we were all sitting around the table afterwards and I was doing Batman villain impressions.

I sense a “but” coming?

Yeah. You know. I just don’t see it working.

And you’re sure?

No I’m not sure. When am I ever sure?

Touché.

I just… I don’t know.

I think he’s really nice and really fun to hang with, and we’re always there for each other, but like I’m not really attracted to him. More like a sibling thing.

No that’s weird.

But like almost.

Haha I get it. I’m just saying… maybe it could be something else?

Mayyyyybe.

So go for it! Just go on a date. See what it’s like.

Yeah but then I’m gonna get his hopes up. And then I’m gonna feel guilty when he asks me on a second or third date and I say no.

How do you know you’re gonna say no?

I don’t, but I probably will. Or if I don’t, it will be worse cuz I’ll break his heart later, cuz I won’t fall for him. And he REALLY likes me.

Okay, so sounds like you know what you’re doing. Lol what did you tell him?

I told him I needed to think about it

Yikes.

What? Is that bad?

I mean… maybe not.

Can you call me? I have to walk the dog.

At 9pm??

I need to get out of the house and breathe.

????

Bruh I she came into the room and was like “who ya texting” and I was like “joe” and she was like “give me the phone I’m gonna freak him out” and tried to take my phone to prank text you er something but I had to hide it cuz you were texting really obivious stuff.

And that took 3 hrs??

Well… I ended up telling her why I was hiding the phone.

…

It seemed like the best time to tell her.

So I told her.

That I like her.

…and???

I don’t know.

How can u not know

She said she needs to think about it.

That’s a “no” isn’t it?

Sorry bro. Yeah I think that’s a no.

Then why didn’t she just say no

I don’t know man. Cop out, I guess.

I really thought she liked you too

Sorry

Not your fault lol

Well… I made you tell her.

I guess I had to find out eventually anyway

True. This way you can move on with your life.

Yeah.

So now he’s avoiding me.

Like how?

Like he hasn’t come out of the guest room.

Maybe he’s just sleeping in.

Well now he came out, mumbled something about catching up on reading, and took a couple granola bars back in there with him.

Maybe he’s just waiting for your answer or whatever

I mean… I guess. You think I should talk to him more about it?

I don’t know. He probably knows. But maybe he’s in denial. Or convinced himself that you really haven’t decided.

I just don’t want to make him feel bad.

Yeah it’s hard

She still hasn’t told me yet.

Hasn’t told you wut

If she wants to go out or not

I thought we said it was a no?

Well not really. I was thinking about it and maybe she really does just need time to decide. Like to figure it out

Yeah. I guess that could be possible…

Okay he still hasn’t come out of there, I guess I gotta talk to him

How’d it go?

Bad

I’m sorry. You okay?

Not really

What happened?

He basically said we can’t be friends

That’s stupid.

This is what I was afraid of

I’m calling him

NO!

DON’T CALL HIM

Fine

But somebody’s gotta yell at him

He just said he feels like it’s going to hurt too much to be around me.

Which I guess I get

But like how can he just throw away our friendship like that ?

He’s a garbage friend

He wasn’t. He was my best friend

Except you. Lol

Yeah I’m better for sure.

It’s gonna be okay

It’s just so frustrating. Same thing happened with my best friend in high school.

Except that guy said “guys and girls can’t be just friends”.

Maybe he was right.

Call me.

So how’d today go?

Bad.

Sorry man

I tried to avoid her but she insisted on talking, and yeah, she’s not into me

I’m sorry bro. Wish I could get you out of there.

I guess I’m just gonna have to hang in the guest room til this blows over. Whatever, it’s almost as big as my dorm room anyway

You’re not gonna talk to her at all?

How? She’s just gonna be thinking the whole time about how she doesn’t like that I like her.

It’ll be so awkward

Like I’m groveling or something

Yeah I get that.

…but not coming out of the guest room for two weeks is also gonna be awkward

Not as bad.

If I don’t forget about her, it’s just gonna keep hurting.

And I can’t forget about her if I’m talking to her.

Sorry man, I didn’t realize you liked her that much. I knew you liked her, but that’s tough.

Well, there’s nothing either of us can do.

Hey man

Hey

You gotta talk to her.

She’s feeling like really betrayed.

How do you know?

Cloe texted me. She’s been talking to her. But don’t tell Gemma I told you that. Or that Cloe told me that.

How is she feeling betrayed? I basically told her she’s the best

And then you stopped talking to her.

Even though you’re in the same house.

I don’t know what do to.

I talked to her a tiny bit this morning.

Like I said “hey” when I grabbed breakfast.

She just said “hey” too. So doesn’t seem like she wants to talk.

Maybe she just doesn’t know what to say

I don’t either

Maybe if I got some distance for like… months, then I could talk to her again. Maybe. But even then I’d probably just catch feelings again.

You might be right.

But Cloe made me promise to text you this, so…

“You’re in her family’s house, Ethan. You have to talk to her.”

Maybe just play Mario Cart with her for like 20 minutes.

Duh

It’s gonna be awkward, but just muscle through it. It might help. Might be worth it.

Like learning to like coffee.

Lol

Maybe

I’ll think about it

Okay.

Thanks man

For sure

So we played Mario Cart.

Really?

Yeah it was kinda awkward but it was nice. We actually talked a little too.

About everything?

No about memes. Lol

Haha nice

Hey students! Dr. Oppenhaur here again. Try to extrapolate how the rest of quarantine went (don’t worry, no quiz). Just curious to hear your theories, based on what you’ve read. Did Gemma and Ethan continue to repair their friendship while in quarantine? What about afterward, back at school? What effect do you think the quarantine had on their communication: did it make them less or more likely to remain friends? Are they friends now, almost a year later? I have the answers!