During the season of Valentine’s, Cupid isn’t the only mythical creature to float into my vocabulary. The ‘unicorn’ is also a new addition; a phenomenon new to me but may be familiar to some of you, although the definition tends to fluctuate. It describes a magical connection between two not-so-strange strangers. Your unicorn, like the legend itself, is an illusive being. This person is someone you see everywhere. They are behind you in the queue for your morning latte, they are two seats in front on the bus, they come strolling out of the library as you are going in. But that’s all it ever is: a fleeting moment of recognition and then they disappear like stardust.
Your unicorn seems to manifest itself from thin air out of the blue one day, all unexpected and unpredictable. They won’t be in your classes and they definitely won’t be in your friendship group, it’s their unattainability that makes them so unique. Who are they, where did they come from? There’s something about them, something alluring that you just can’t put your finger on. They have that little silver horn.
Last year such a mythical entity sprung into existence and has been galloping about my life ever since. Upon sharing the tale with my friend she exclaimed excitedly “he’s your unicorn”! There I was, throwing down some squat thrusts, making the most of my free Edge membership when I see this boy. Nothing out of the ordinary but yet I was drawn to him. Perhaps it was the yellow sweatpants, who knows but then poof, he was gone.
Weeks pass without a second thought until there he is walking towards me in the corridor, but no sooner had I done a double take then poof, gone. Walking through Hyde Park, trhere he is: unicorn. Coming out of One-stop with his groceries: unicorn. Sitting at lunch in The Terrace and who do I see out of the corner of my eye? You guessed it, my shiny horn-headed creature back sporting his yellow sweatpants. “I see that boy everywhere,” I said, “ooh, that means you are about to meet,” but we didn’t.
Second year began and just as sudden as ever my unicorn emerged walking past my house. History began to repeat itself and with each meet I had to stifle a smile at the utter randomness of this strangers presence in my life.
One day I saw him with a girl and it struck a cord, I really knew nothing about this boy. Did he have a girlfriend, could he be gay? I assumed he was a student at my university but what did he study, what year was he in? Just who the hell was this guy, I felt like I knew him yet knew nothing about him.
Running late to lectures as ever I met my friend on the corner of the park, now you know who we are about to run into don’t you? But before I had the chance to giggle to myself she yells out ‘hey’. What? They are talking, they know each other, this boy is real and not just a figment of my imagination. Another day there he is stopping to talk to another of my friends. Suddenly my illusive unicorn doesn’t seem so illusive.
Night out, BANG! Nope, I wasn’t hit by a car but I did take a packet of Haribo to the head, several people did actually. In my drunken haze I think I loudly slurred about this confusing sweetie shower and to my surprise who should elucidate the situation none other than yellow sweatpants guy “sorry I just threw Haribo everywhere and I think I hit you,” must find words to reply, must close mouth and not gawk. Poof, gone.
This new turn of events found me (okay, still drunk) a bit of a stalker trawling the Facebook friend lists of the friends I’d seen him talk to. There he was before my eyes, my unicorn. Dare I request his friendship? One little click and it was done. The next morning I woke up a little embarrassed of my rash, late night cyber antics and the fact that his profile still read ‘friend request sent’ and not ‘friend’ didn’t exactly fill me with confidence. I decided to forget about the whole thing. After all I was just some mouthy girl who he happened to hit with Haribo whilst enjoying his night out and who for some reason located him on the Internet and decided that they should be friends.
Keeping me on my toes as those unicorn types tend to, eventually he responded. I stalked his profile, half expected a message, a ping on Facebook chat but nada, zilch, niente. For so long he could have been anything, my man of mystery, free for my fantasies to run wild with and now I knew he was just a typical boy. No astronaut, no spy for MI5.
It’s safe to say I wasn’t crying in bed with a tub of Ben and Jerry’,s but the magic had died somewhat. Until I went to a house party and yes he was there. I found myself bringing up the rear down to the basement and I see him sitting with some girls I know in the ‘chill’ room. Chicks before… nah I dropped back and when they’d escaped my vision I went and sat down next to him. One of the girls introduced us, I went for a cool head nod and he went for “we’ve already met”. The boy knows how to reel me back in.
The girls wanted to dance, I wanted to bask in the presence of a mythical creature but what could I say? So poof, gone. The games continued for the rest of the night, the constant eye contact, the almost conversation but the pulling of our friends at every turn. I knew I could say something, it was the perfect setting to get away with saying anything but I liked the fact neither of us would. It was pretty exciting.
I discovered that one of my friend’s boyfriends is my unicorn’s housemate. I probed her about him subtly as it could easily be so one-sided, who is to say he has considered anything about me even once? The only reason he might even know of my existence is because of a stupid friend request he received on Facebook. She made him out to be a catch, I said “I think I met him the other night” and left it at that.
So now you know almost as much as I do, there exists a boy that I see everywhere. I know one person he lives with, I know his name and I know that he knows that I exist too. I could meet him and I could meet him soon. Anywhere, anytime and anything could happen. That’s the beauty of it, that uncertainty. That’s also why I half hope we never meet because I quite like him as a unicorn and I’m not sure I’m ready for him to be just another horse.
Now I realise this is no fairytale, more single girl wishful thinking than a Cinderella story. Regardless, this slight infatuation is zero hassle, just undeniable, enigmatic potential. The good before the bad, the calm before the storm, chemistry, butterflies…the unicorn.
By Eleanor Gomes
Image source: http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/unicorn-of-the-rainbow-carol-cavalaris.jpg