Hair Today 1 - Cutting Ties

"You're...you're breaking up with me?"

Ginger looked across the table at the obviously stricken Gabe.  He was so cute, especially with that look of shock on his face, that for just a moment she regretted what she was doing, but then sighed and nodded.

"But...why?"

Ginger opened, then closed her mouth again.  After a moments reflection she decided to be brutally honest.  At least it would forestall any further argument.

"Well Gabe, I just...I just don't think you can keep up with me."

Gabe blinked.

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Well, I mean...you're...well..."

Gabe's face had reddened in humiliation and anger.

"Just a bartender with aspirations of being a writer.  Not good enough for miss PhD in physics, huh?"  

Ginger started to respond, but Gabe shot to his feet.

"Don't bother.  I get the picture.  Dumb Gabe, good for a good time, but nothing else.  Have a great life...Ginnie."

Ginger scowled at his back.  She hated that nickname, which he clearly knew.  She hadn't meant it quite like that, but...it was true after all.  She was starting her physics PhD, after having been pursued by numerous schools - she was considered something of a prodigy.  At nineteen, she was by far the youngest PhD student the school had ever taken.

Leaving money for the lunch that Gabe had stalked out of, she stood, shaking her long reddish-brown hair.  It hung nearly to to her waist, and she knew it was one of the things that drew men's attention to her.  She actually needed to get it trimmed, though - maybe an inch or two.

She stretched, and as she walked out of the restaurant, she stopped and inspected herself in the mirror.  Blessed with striking hazel eyes, a model's face, small but firm breasts, and a slender body, she still knew that her greatest asset was her mind.  She knew she was gorgeous, but it usually just annoyed her - it always took so long for people to believe that she was as smart as she was, a fact which annoyed her to no end.

She didn't know why she'd started dating Gabe.  He was so good-looking, she guessed, and was so charming when they'd first met.  She was surprised that she wasn't tearful, although she'd seen this coming a long way off.  She needed a man that was at least in her league, intellectually.

There certainly weren't many.