[Fiction] Lonely Morning Haze part 3

"Mark?"

"Hmm...?" Mark looked up from his Principles of Financial Management book, "What is it Anna?" They sat on the bench, whittling away some time before class, a wrinkly, brown paper bag of donut holes in between them.

Anna looked at him with narrowed eyes behind her glasses, "Do you think I'm fat?"

"Huh?" What the hell!?

"Am... I... Fat?" Anna spaced out the words, as if to try and help him understand.

"Uh..." how the hell do I get into these situations? Mark looked down at his book, "Why do you ask?"

"Are you avoiding my question?"

"No..." Mark said, rather defensively, "You're not fat."

"You don't mean it." She accused, pouting. "You're just saying that to make me feel better! Look!" She stood then, squeezing her belly, "Fat! Jiggle-jiggle!" she tried to make her rather non-existent belly fat jiggle.

Mark let out a long sigh. It's going to be one of those days. He closed the book. "Look, Anna, you are not fat! You look great! Besides, that's not fat you're jiggling, that's intestine! Keep that up and you'll suffer indigestion."

"I don't believe you." She remained resolute as she sat down, "You're just saying that to have this discussion over and done with."

"Hey! Don't put thoughts in my head!" Mark replied, "Listen to yourself! 'Am I fat?' is a loaded question! It's the relationship equivalent of holding a gun to my head and asking me to pull the trigger or you will!"

Anna raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

"Simple." Mark said, putting the book away into his backpack, "Think about it... you ask me if you're fat, right?"

"Okay..."

"Now I've got three possible answers. Yes, no or a cop out."

"And is this a cop out?" Anna gave a feral smile.

"No!" Mark waved her off, "Let me finish... so you've got those three choices, right?"

"Mm-hmm..."

"If I say 'yes', then you'd be depressed and you'd get angry at me. Not that I'm saying that you're fat or anything, mind you. Anyway, if I say 'no' you'd accuse me of lying, the same way that you're doing now."

Anna shrugged, "Well, how can I be sure that you're saying I'm not fat just to make me feel better?"

Mark smiled, "Now there's the rub, see? You have to trust me, like friends do." Aha! Appeal to her sense of friendship and trust! It's your only chance!

Anna thought about that, "But what if you are lying? And that you're using this argument as a clever ruse to throw me off?" She pushed up her glasses.

"Well, there's no guarantee that I'm not doing that." Mark smiled. "Like I said, it's all a matter of trust."

"Mark?"

"Yeah?" he smiled smugly.

"I hate it when you do that."