The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Yesterday, the password was "jealousy."

I originally planned to head out to Fiesta with some co-workers last night, but those plans ended up falling through. I then texted a friend of mine who works in another department to see if she was up for hanging out. Her response?

"I'll give you a buzz later. I was out with my boyfriend last night, so I didn't get a chance to call you back."

True to form, I moped about it for the next few hours. Now, I've not been out with her on a date, but with other people from work. She's a Nice Christian Girl (who can move her hips surprisingly well), and I took a little bit of a liking to her. But it turned out that the message wouldn't be the only stomach punch I would receive yesterday.

That evening, I headed over to a friend of mine's place for some barbecue. I figured I can get some cheap beer (and avoid some of the hassles and dangers of downtown) there. I hung out with my friend, his pregnant girlfriend, and her five-year-old son. During the night, other friends came and went, including two other toddlers. Towards the end of the night, a guy named Tate was expected to arrive.

"Hey, can you open the door when he gets here?" my friend asked of me. I figured that was the least I could do in exchange for drinking his last Red Stripe. A knock came from the front door a few minutes later, and I went to fulfill my duty, only to get a shock.

I didn't notice the guy much when I opened the door, but I sure did notice his +1. Her name was L, an old friend from back in the day. She worked in my area when I had my first summer job. We kept in touch a bit during college, but fell out of touch soon after graduation. She's an engineer living out of town, and apparently going out with the man named Tate. (Even though the man was taller than me, he seemed doughy enough to make me think that I just might be able to take him in a fight if need be.)

I actually underwent two stomach punches in the minutes that followed. The first while seeing her and and her man hold hands on my friend's couch. The second was reliving an incident that happened back in Austin...

(insert wind chime/flashback sfx here)

L came into town one weekend to check out a Toga Party held by my fraternity. I had a bit of a crush on her (she's cute, smart and brown, what wasn't to like?), but couldn't get myself to make any sort of obvious move. (This was during the period of time that I thought one should be "friends first." What I didn't know is that that strategy usually ends up as "friends only." ) I did end up kissing her in my dorm room the night before the party. The next day, while meeting up with friends, I introduced her as "my friend L." That night, at the party, she ended up making out with a Swiss international student who was pledging that semester. She saw how bummed I was toward the end of the party, and tried to give me a charity grind to cheer me up. (Don't I have wonderful friends?) I don't remember much after that, except for giving the two of them a ride home (with them in the back seat.) I dropped him off at his place, and took her back to mine.

(insert flashback return sfx here)

I ended up leaving my friend's place during halftime, so as to not have to witness Tate and L's cuteness. I came home, witnessed the Spurs' domination of the Suns, and went to sleep. I'd like to say I'm over the events of yesterday, but seeing how an incident seven or eight years ago sent me into a mental tailspin, I'm not sure I believe it.

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