Experiential Paper - Delphine

            For the premiere of “The Paperboy,” I was definitely the hottest looking guy begging for a ticket. That was probably the reason why this Parisian lady came up to me, and motioned to follow her. She pulled out the golden tickets and I was in heaven. “Yes!” I say to myself, “I struck gold!” Little did I know that this gold was balcony tickets, but tickets nonetheless to the premiere.

            We pass through the first part of security, and that is when we actually start to talk. She tells me her name is Delphine. Oh what a name. Delphine… I am still in awe with her red sequenced dress and her high heels that resembled Dorothy’s shoes. Delphine proceeded to tell me she is an aspiring director and has submitted a film to the festival in years past. I nod my head and smile, still happy that I am going as someone’s date.

            Like any conversation when you first meet someone, the follow up question from the responding person is “and you?” So I told her that I am a producer with Grady College Productions. Delphine took great interest in this, and asked for specifics. I pulled out the B.S. machine and acted like a pro. It couldn’t have gone smoother.

            We eventually arrived at the red carpet. Now this 24-year-old French woman turns into a preteen MySpace girl by taking an insane amount of photos. We took pictures of ourselves from every angle possible, at every location on the carpet. Zac Efron couldn’t compete that night with the amount of pictures we took. 

            Now we walked into the Lumiere, and had to find our seats. It was Delphine, her friend, and I. Once we sat down, the girls pretty much kept to them and talked. I am pretty sure it was about me. She then took a break from her long chat and asked for my email and cell phone number. This is not an uncommon occurrence for me to give my number out, seeing as I have received many phone calls in class. Delphine says that she will send me some of those pictures we took to my email. Now the lights went down, and the movie started.

            The movie experience was very normal. We didn’t make out, or take off our clothes. We just had our eyes glued to the screen. However, I did every now and then look over to see if she was laughing at any comedic moment.

            The movie ended, and I asked how she felt. She didn’t like it at all. I thought so since her face was that of a stone-figure through the duration of the film. I walked with her back to the lobby, and we waited for her friends. She said goodbye to them, and now it was just she and I. Yes, this was my time to act! Nope, it was time to part ways. It’s okay; I don’t put out on the first date either. She tells me that she has tickets to “Mud” on Saturday night and would love to take me again. I immediately accept. Then awkward pats on the shoulder from both parties occur, and we smile, then depart.

            The next morning, I wake up to texts and phone calls. Who is calling me this early? Oh, who would’ve guessed; it was Delphine! She wanted to see a few movies today with me. I was flattered. Unfortunately, our class had to meet with Paul Cox and I wanted to see another movie at the time she wanted to go, so I told her that a fellow friend would meet up with her in front of the Palais to watch. The selected student was Austin.

            At this point in time, I had no doubt that Austin would deliver and be a good date toward my Delphine. However, when Saturday rolled around, and I waited for Delphine to call me so I could be her date to the premiere, I knew this wasn’t the case. I talked to Austin the day of the premiere and wanted to know how his date went. From what I gathered, he did a few things wrong. He:

-       Admitted that he was a student; giving reason that I could be too, and not a producer

-       Decided to sit with her guy friend rather than her. This could be interpreted in several ways. Either she thought he was rude for not sitting with her (even though she invited him) or that Austin is gay.

-       Didn’t speak French very well. Considering Delphine didn’t have the best English, some miscommunication could have been present.

I’ll let this one occurrence slide, considering I’ve had to stick with Austin for the extra week after the festival, and that I’ll see him in Athens often. All I know is, if I don’t ever receive the email from Delphine that contains our love, or pictures, then Austin was the kryptonite for this relationship.