We actually met in real-life, not through match or any of those other online "dating" sites. I was with a guy friend and I spotted this gorgeous guy. And not only was he gorgeous... he had an accent! I was going to make something happen. So I started making small talk (he was just at the table next to me) and I made sure to introduce my male friend as a friend. By the end of the exchange, what do you know? He's jotting down his number in sexy European handwriting on a napkin (and yes, there is such thing as European handwriting, just like there is such thing as Japanese lettering when the Japanese write using the Roman alphabet).
So months passed and months passed, and we kept trying to make plans but one of us always had a conflict. So last Friday, he invited me to have a drink. I was totally in my PJ's at that point and not planning on going out, but I so could not let this opportunity pass me by. He is gorgeous. And foreign. So he gave me 20 minutes to get ready and I made it just in time. In the meantime, since he had been there by himself, he had befriended a married couple seated next to him at the bar.
They were nice people, but... I sensed trouble when he continued paying more attention to them than to me (someone who he had met last fall and had been trying to make plans with ever since). He bought me a beer, refused to tell me his last name (said there were accomplishments in his past that he doesn't want people to know about... hmm.) While still paying very little attention to me, he bought me another beer and continued the banter with the married couple. One thing he doesn't know though: He had given the husband his number AND his last name. And the hubby shared it with me. I'll let you on what I found out later.
So he goes on and on about how he's against dating and when you meet someone you just know. And my response was "don't you have to date to meet these people?" It was a losing battle. We never really got anywhere. At this point, at hot as he was, I had pretty much counted him out. He asked me few, if any, questions about myself, and basically just made small talk about dating the whole time.
When the married couple finally left, I was surprised he invited me out for another drink. I thought this whole thing was an clear no-go. So we went next door (very creative), he bought me a beer, and we pretty much sat there awkwardly. The moments our beverages were through, he paid and we left. I asked him if he'd drive me to my car, since I was parked much further than he. He did. When we hugged to say goodnight, I went in for the traditional European kiss on each cheek. And then our lips met. And next thing I know we're full on making out leaning against my car. The kissing was good, but it didn't give me butterflies. I think it was a litmus test for both of us.
Of course, the moment I got home I googled him and discovered: 1) He barely missed being on the Olympic running team due to an injury, 2) he's acted in several films, and 3) he's a model.
So even though I wasn't completely convinced, this new yet hidden part of him intrigued me. So I sent him a text the following week inviting him to Happy Hour. I even said "Happy Hour? I am intrigued by you." His response (a few days later... WTF?) was "T: It was lovely to finally meet you. You are a very nice (I guess he doesn't know that here in the States "nice" is like the antithesis to "pretty/hot) and charismatic woman. But I don't think it would be a good idea. I appreciate the invite though." Wow... what a way to start my day: rejection. Why couldn't he have sent that the night before so I could sleep on it and be over it? My response: "I appreciate your honesty. It was nice meeting you." And his: "The pleasure was all mine."
Now I know some of you may say that not all people are compatible and he let me down as politely as he possibly could. But my question remains: Why the kiss, then? Was he searching for some spark? I didn't feel it either, and I'm not usually one to say that in time it can be created, but god he was gorgeous. End of story.
2. The Neighbor
So this is the neighbor who helped me when I had a dead battery. He drove me to the battery store and all. The more we chatted, the more I realized I was really enjoying his company. Problem? He literally lives across the hall from me.
I was secretly hoping to spend more time with him later, so when he knocked on my door on a subsequent Saturday morning and invited me to go watch a basketball game with his friends, I was more than game. Needless to say, we all drank a bit. Then, as is often the case, we went back to his place, drank more, and decided it would be a good idea to hit the town. So out we went. The two of us were pretty much in our own little world the entire evening, chatting and taking pictures. When we got back to our complex, it seemed only logical that he would invite me in. Invite me in he did, and that's when the making out began. We slept in the same bed that night, kissing and cuddling. Nothing happened. But when I say nothing happened, I mean that only in the sexual sense. See, I have this little issue that happens when I go to bed really wasted and don't use the restroom before I fall asleep. Yup, you guessed it. I wet my new neighbor friend's bed in the middle of the night. When I realized what had happened, I drukenly thought out my possibilities: 1) Do I tell him what happened? 2) Do I flee across the hall? 3) Do I blame it on him?
Being too honest for option 2 or 3, I woke him up and embarrassingly confessed. He was surprisingly cool about the whole ordeal, and didn't even kick me out. He just gave me a change of clothes and we relocated to the sofa. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. And he continued to hold me and love on me, even after all of that. So the next morning I took his sheets and washed them and dried them. The delivery was a bit awkward, but what should I have expected?
That wasn't the rejection. The rejection came when I went over to his place to watch a movie. We had always cuddled when we watched movies together, so I thought nothing of it. I did, however, notice that whenever I tried to hold his hand he always shied away. When I was leaving, I leaned in for a kiss and he literally responded with "I'm not going to kiss you." Ouch.
Oh well. He was a Republican anyway. It never would've worked out.
3. The Teen Crush
So this guy and I worked together at a summer camp for two summers, when I was 17 and 18. I had the biggest crush on him, even though he was such an asshole to me. You'd think I would've learned my lesson then, but when I was that young I had no clue (and now have only a few).
Anyway, he was in town for business and wanted to meet up. It was Cinco de Mayo, so I invited him and his coworkers to a street festival. When his coworkers asked me how we knew each other, I told them the truth. I told them we had worked at a summer camp together and had had a love/ hate relationship and he was quite the ladies' man and quite the jackass. No one seemed to care. When we decided to leave the street party and walk to another venue, I got caught at a "No Walk" sign and everyone else went on ahead. I had figured that he'd wait for me, but then he started sending me hateful texts about how I had "come on too strong" and "shared too much" with his coworkers. He and his friends had literally abandoned me and there I was, all dressed up with no place to go. A familiar feeling, unfortunately.
We eventually "made up" via text the next morning, when he was (hopefully) sober. Needless to say though, I'm no longer a fan.
You just don't leave a pretty girl on a street corner by herself, whether she's somehow offended you or not. Next...
4. The Frenchman
