A Bit My Opposite

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #24:

Opposites Attract

Scotty and I aren’t incredibly dissimilar, but every now and then we discover something about each other that we find quite shocking. I recently had to inform Scotty that I don’t really care for key lime pie, and he was startled by this. Not long after I made that known, I had to inform him that I don’t really care for jalapeño poppers, either. 

Scotty doesn’t dream a lot, and he’s always weirded out when he does dream. I dream all the time and have multiple dreams in a night. 

Scotty wants to sleep with the blinds open every night because he wants to keep his eye on the neighborhood (he thinks he’s the neighborhood gatekeeper). I want the blinds closed.

Scotty loves driving with the windows down, and I can’t stand it.

Scotty loves Mexican food, and I don’t (except for street tacos). 

Christopher McCandless is Scotty’s hero. I think he was an idiot. 

Scotty wants the cheapest food possible no matter how low quality it is, and I’d rather pay more and have better quality food or something I really like. 

We navigate stores in completely different ways and park in different places. 

A few years ago, I learned that Scotty won’t eat cookie dough because he’s worried about raw eggs (yet he’ll eat the most raw steak known to man). Meanwhile, I have no qualms over raw eggs and could eat cookie dough by the handful. 

One thing I was surprised to learn about Scotty a few weeks ago is that, unlike me, he does not envision his death every time he goes on an amusement park ride. I love rides, and it doesn’t keep me from riding them, but I always, always, always imagine every way I can die while I’m on them. I do the same thing anytime I’m in a large crowd, stadium, or movie theater. Or if I’m on a high floor of a building, on a cruise ship, or in an airplane. It’s not necessarily a fear. It’s more of an awareness. I find comfort in knowing that statistically, I am safe, but I acknowledge the many ways I could die. Scotty doesn’t do that. What the heck? But he doesn’t choreograph dances in his head to every piece of music that he hears or narrate his entire day as if he's recording a podcast or writing a book, either. So frankly, he’s just an oddball and a bit my opposite.