Entanglement

Same random Tuesday. Time: still unknown"

Tell me," Sally asks after a pause, "Why are you still here, Peter?"

Why, indeed, am I still here?

"Because I like you, Sally!" I tease her.

"I like you too, Peter."

Oh, oh. She seems serious. That was unexpected!

"Really?"

"Hard to believe, huh?" Her question blindsides me.

"Yeah, you can't like anyone that easily, can you?" I challenge her, "You don't know anything about me, nor do I about you."

"Hmm... but why is it so hard to take a chance? Isn’t that the best way to get to know someone?"

She's got me: Chance. Probability. Bet. Wager. Fuzziness. All the things I'm obsessed with.

"You know what?" I am not giving up, "Reality is not that fuzzy. Quantum fuzziness is deterministic, no matter how ironic that sounds."

"Yeah, but it's still a chance. The Universe and universes exist on pure chance. It makes people invent supreme deities to understand something that appears from nothing for no reason. Effect without cause."

I stare at her.

"Do you ever take chances, Peter?"

All the time, I want to say. My ego reins me somewhat.

"Yes, I do. Quite a bit, actually."

"How about love?"

"Huh?"

"Have you ever taken a chance on love?"

"No..."

"Why?"

Why actually!

"I don't know. I guess I don't feel the need. I have lived by myself so far, and I don't see the need to change that..." I smile at her, "one bit!"

"Cowardice?"

"Nah, just practical." I ignore the jibe.

"Coward, alright." She emphasises the latter: " It seems you can take chances on most things but not love or... commitment, right?"

Who's she now? Kahlil Gibran? I pause to think nevertheless.

"It's not that simple, Sally," I prepare to enlighten her. “I have everything going, just peachy, so why would I involve another person and ruin that? Right now, I can Netflix and chill by myself–and I get all the popcorn and ice cream, too!"

She is quiet, so I take that as a cue to continue. "Living by myself gives me all the freedom I need without the hassle of remembering stuff about a partner, keeping track of their likes and dislikes, or if I perform as well as they expect me to..." I grin foolishly for a moment and then add, "and so forth."

She is quiet, but I feel like I'm on a roll. "In contrast to what you said, I feel people who fall in love too easily are not strong enough. If you fall so easily, your backbone must be weak, right?" I laugh at my joke. She doesn't.

Is she upset?

"Look", I throw up my hands, "the uncertainty of not knowing the future of a relationship makes me play safe. Don't rock the boat. Don't fix it if it's not broken. That kind of thing."

"The Uncertainty principle, eh?" she winks at me.

"No, not really.” I am sick of Quantum Physics analogies, “For me, love's just too uncertain to take a chance on!"

Shut up, you idiot!

"I understand if that's how you feel." She smiles at me with the i-hear-you-but-i-don't-agree-with-you smile. I sense disappointment, so I feel the need to ask her her point of view.

"How about you? Do you fall in love easily?"

"I never said I did..."

So why am I being grilled? I had always imagined this sci-fi stuff to be fun.

"... but I'll say this:" She is serious. “I wonder why we ended up at this intersection. Don’t you?"

"Because I was foolish enough to follow that magical X here?"

It made her smile, at least.

"Have you thought it could've been..." she is searching for words. I jump in: "Predestined?"

"Umm, yeah, but not in the sense of fate. It's more like overlapping probabilities. In fact, it's a bit like entanglement. Separated particles with opposite spins. You see the X, I see the circle ..."

"The O..." I interject.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing, but I was wondering if you came here expecting to meet me?"

"No, I just followed the circle–or the O, as you said."

So, she had heard me. It's a magical thing about women.

"What if I were not a guy?"

"Well, entanglement can be, how shall I say, just platonic."

"Great. So why can't we be…" No, don't say it, "... just friends? I mean I’m not sure if we’ll ever meet again given these… intersections… can be unstable and all!"

She appears to ponder my question even though I’ve regretted asking it.

"We could, of course! Just friends, right?”

I think she can read my mind.

"I'm not sure." I avoid lying, yet I don't tell her the truth.

“As for this intersection? I just wondered why it’s been so stable–” She looks straight at me, and it’s my turn to shrug: “You tell me.” I smile at her.

"But you're right too, although" she smiles, "Predestiny can be a thing, y'know!"

I avoid her gaze and look around the food court, and the tiny circle of focus moves with me. I need a few moments to think this over.

Moments! I've forgotten how long I've been here. More important: why hasn't any of my mates, or my boss, called me yet?

"To be honest, Sally, predestiny seems far-fetched to me.” I continue, “If I considered meeting every girl as a predestined event, I could be in real trouble." I tap the table with my open palm.

"Exactly my point!" she clicks her fingers, "Not every meeting is predestined."

"But what makes you think this one is?" My exasperation shows.

"Just a hunch, a guess, a chance?" She winks.

I draw circles around my right temple to tease her. People from her Universe–whatever its shape or anomalies–are bizarre, if she is a typical sample. Here I am, talking to an alien on a routine lunch break and arguing about love and commitment!

Meanwhile, Sally is smiling at my mockery, and I’m wishing I could commit suicide with the fiery burrito. An awkward silence has inundated the tiny intersection.

"Okay then!" Sally leaps to her feet and offers her hand, "It's been nice meeting you, Earthling!"

I’m sure she can read my mind.

I stare at her outstretched arm. I know she will soon be gone, and there's a rising heartbeat that I can't decelerate. I am losing a chance, perhaps the only chance, to make a connection across Universes! My ego races ahead, though.

"Of course!" I stand up, as cheerfully as possible, "It's been a pleasure, Sally!"

I shake her hand–which feels way warmer than usual–with an enthusiasm I don't feel. I can tell she has sensed my dilemma because she has a wry smile across her face.

Damn It! I scream in my head.

Then, Sally backs away from the table and walks into the fuzziness. My sphere of vision grows in clarity but leaves my mind in confusion. I can still see a faint impression of her through the vanishing haze. I want to lean forward to see what the other Universe looks like, but for some reason, I don’t.

With the intersection gone, the food court engulfs me once again, and the chatter drowns my thoughts and feelings. My burrito is left half-eaten, and I scoop it up to bin it. Then, I walk into the harsh sun as if in a daze. My phone buzzes. Gosh, I bet at least two hours have passed as I unlock the phone: 12:30 p.m.

You have got to be kidding me!

There are other messages. One more from Becky. She didn't have company for lunch after all. Maybe I should've introduced her to Sally. The thought of Sally accelerates my heartbeat. I hurry with my retreat to work–and to reality in my present Universe.

Same Random Tuesday. Time 2:00 p.m.

All afternoon, I replay the weirdest lunch hour again and again. Did it really happen? If yes, it’s the most incredible find nobody will believe—an alien from another Universe who looks shockingly like a woman from our Universe–from Earth. Moreover, the probability of meeting her, or anyone else from that Universe, is almost zero. Yet, it happened.

I have checked the phone several times, but the X and the O are no longer there. I scroll around the maps app, almost tracing the entire city outskirts and beyond. Nothing. A bit disappointed, I decide to switch off the flights of fancy for good, and concentrate on the urgent tasks of the day.

Prabhu ambles over to chat.

“What happened, dude? Didn’t see you at the lunch tournament. Quite unlike you to miss the noughts-and-crosses contest!”

I look at him with an amused look. If only he knew the game I played instead–and lost. Somehow, relating the fantastic tale wouldn’t help either. I wouldn’t believe it myself if I had heard it!

“Nah, I just wanted to step out alone and enjoy a quiet lunch,” I reply, not taking my eyes off the computer screen.

“Good for you: the R&R.” He jokes, and I laugh at the irony.

“Anyway,” he concludes as he walks away, “so you know, there was no clear winner today!”

Prabhu is halfway to his desk when I call out to him: “Hey Prabhu, about that multiverse theory we discussed earlier-”

“No, that's cool, dude! It’s just that: a theory!”

I laugh. “Sure, but do you think we’ll ever be able to locate… er… an overlap of our Universe with another?”

“Realistically speaking, never. Also, I suggest you return to our Universe and check your Slack messages. Vlad has been looking for you all afternoon.”

“Shit!” I retort, “I’ll go see him.”

Vlad is my boss and doesn’t look too pleased to see me as I approach his desk.