Then, it happened. I ran into the convenience store outside the front gate of my school. Turning from the cash register to the door I came face to face with a big smile. "Jesse!", said the young man standing in front of me. "How are you! It's been a long time." There was a momentary blank stare. I have to confess that I have a rule in studying Chinese: Fake it til you make it. If I don't understand, I just pretend and usually I can get the jist and move on without admitting defeat. Whether right or wrong my fake-it-til-you-make-it conditioning kicked in. "Hey you! How are you?", came out before I could even think. We exchanged a few pleasantries about being busy and classes and then I excused myself. Keeping with local custom I added an obligatory, "If you have free time, give me a call", thinking that would be the end of it. People often invite you to come by or call without always meaning it. Alas. He grabbed his phone and said, "Jesse, I don't have your number." I told him my number and he immediately called my phone. What could I do? I saved him in my contact list as 'That Guy'. He probably won't call anyway, I thought.
Just now my phone rang. 'That Guy' came up on the caller id. "Hey! You! Hello!", I said. By the end of the call we had a plan to have lunch. I'm debating whether I should just confess I don't know his name or play it cool and see how it goes. It seems there is an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry forgets the name of some woman he keeps running into. Maybe I should watch that for some ideas. Or maybe you have a better idea...?