Hat Flip

My relationships with my friends can seem a little odd at first glance. Sometimes we act more like enemies than friends. We pick on each other quite a bit actually. But it’s all in good fun. There was one time in particular when our fun and games ended up being not so fun, but still pretty funny. I have a friend who used to have a habit of trying to hit the hat off of my head. Whenever he’s walk by me, he would try it. Sometimes he could come out of nowhere and I wouldn’t even see him before my hat was flying off of my head. It annoyed me a little, but I did stupid stuff that annoyed him sometimes too, so I didn’t take it to heart. I love him to death but sometimes he doesn’t make the smartest decisions. A few months into our sophomore year he did what he always did before the starting bell and attempted to slap my hat off my head. Now, he had been successful a few times, completely missing others, but today was different.

We were chatting it up about our classes when he tried to knock the hat off my head like he always did. I didn’t think much of it because he was just messing around and it was a good inside joke. That was until, like an idiot, he missed and punched me in the face.

As I felt a trickle of blood flow from my nose his face changed from one of tomfoolery to a look of immediate regret. He began to apologize profusely as I started to laugh uncontrollably. Something about the situation was just hilarious to me. He ushered me towards the restroom in a futile attempt to not stain the floor of the school, all while dragging me along in a fit of laughter. The hit he accidentally gave me must have knocked some screws loose. I had two cupped hands full of blood and yet I could not stop laughing. I must have looked a mess, covered in blood and bursting out in hysterics.

I think part of what was so funny about it was the fact that I should have reacted badly. I should have been mad at my buddy for punching me in the face. Sure it was an accident, but who punches a dude in the face at 7:30 in the morning?! He’s been a good friend to me though ,and it didn’t even hurt that bad, so it was more funny than anything. My friend went through more pain because of this incident than I did anyway. I think he deserved it a bit for not paying attention to what he was swinging at. He looked a little scared that I would pay him back for knocking me a good one.

It was also funny that it looked a lot worse than it felt. I couldn’t have planned it any better myself. My friend and some others gathered round were doting on me because they were sure I must be in a lot of pain because of all the blood. The truth is that my nose bleeds pretty easily even without getting punched, so the waterfalls of red weren’t anything to worry about. I did enjoy the attention and the fact that my friend was extra careful to be nice to me for the rest of that day. He wasn’t walking on eggshells or anything, because I assured him that we were still good, but the event scared him pretty good.

Another thing that was funny about this situation is that my friend didn’t stop flipping my hat after accidentally punching me in the face. Sure he stopped for maybe a few days, but great inside jokes never die. And after all, what’s a little spilt blood between friends? We still have a great time hanging out together, and ultimately there was no harm done.

I still do not know why it was so funny to me. It might have been the look of terror on his face, or quite possibly blood loss. What kind of an idiot laughs when they get punched in the face? Regardless, it gave me a good laugh and put me in a better mood for the rest of the day. I had tests to take that day and was a bit stressed about them. Surprisingly, I was more relaxed after getting punched. Being able to just laugh about a ridiculous situation made me relax and helped me get through them.

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