Today noon I went to the swimming pool and I found a girl talking to a boy. They were in their mid-twenties; the girl had a nice curvy body and the boy had an athletic tanned skin type. I will call the boy David and the girl Irina. David had a Canadian accent and Irina a Russian one.
"Is your boyfriend here?" asked David to Irina.
I went to the water without paying attention to them and I swam 500 meters. Then I stopped to rest in the corner of the pool.
"Hi, you have a nice crawl style," said David.
"Oh, thanks," I answered with a terrible Spanish accent.
"Where are you from?" asked David.
"I'm from Barcelona, Spain," I said.
"Do you speak English?" he asked.
I always feel embarrassed when someone asks me this question; I feel so unsure while talking in English.
"Yes, a little bit. Where are you from?" I said.
"Canada...", he replied, "Spain... I have a good friend in Málaga," he said.
I didn't know what to answer. Then he swims near Irina.
"He is from Spain," he says. "I told you, I like to know where are the people from."
They start to talk again. He is a master in small talk. I pay attention to what he says, he is nice, the girl smiles, I think she likes him. He is not a funny guy but he can talk non-stop for hours. His smile is charming. He asks questions to her, he is also a good listener.
In less than 20 minutes, he gets her phone number.
I'm still in the corner looking at that guy. How many times had he approached girls like that before that occasion?
I'm thinking I could never do like him.
As an introverted guy, I'm analyzing in the corner. I'm waiting for something external to happen to have an excuse to say 'hi'. If by any random circumstances, conversation arises, I know that after two o three questions I won't know what to say anymore. End of conversation. Bye, bye. Adiós.
Sometimes I fantasize to be the type of guy who can go alone to a bar and go back well accompanied.
How would it be? How many people I haven't know because of my introvert character? Would my life be any different if I could do small talk? How many potential Russian telephone numbers would I have in my agenda?
Hi, I'm Erik, an engineer from Barcelona. If you like the post or have any comments, say hi.