Waiting till 4:15

Bracelets, necklaces, embraces.

Neck braces. I don't take them seriously. They look like someone didn't take all of their Michelin Man costume off. They look like an extreme way to cover up a hickey. Leg braces allow you to move your hip, sometimes your foot. People in neck braces have to rotate their entire body to acknowledge anything. They look like a ballerina figurine on a platform, rotating around.

A girl in my freshman year seminar wore a neck brace for a few weeks, which disturbed my participation in that class, needless to say. The worst part was she still dressed up really nice, wearing heels, skirts, full makeup. What got me was she would wrap a scarf around the brace or put a long necklace on as if it wasn't there. I would be just as distracted staring at the scarf reaching 4 inches further from her face, like a Saturn ring.

One day after class I approached her. I stared at her heels and dangly earrings resting on the top of the brace.

"Take a break, you deserve it," I said, failing to realize something in her neck had already taken a break.