Ironic

I have a pretty bad track record with men. Not that I’ve had bad relationships. Honestly, haven’t had many relationships at all. It seems that I never quite get to the relationship phase. Take this week for instance. There is a relatively attractive man I have recently become acquainted with. (We’ll call him Bob) Bob doesn’t have any glaring red flags. He has direction in his life. And most importantly, he doesn’t inch toward the door when I start to talk to him. On impulse I asked Bob if he wanted to accompany me (and my parents) to a play. He was busy that evening, but expressed sincere regret at not being able to join us. I figured if an evening with my parents hadn’t scared him off, I might have found a winner.

Since then I have been trying unsuccessfully to have a conversation with Bob. I invited him to join a few of my friends and I for dinner, but he had a prior commitment. Though we hadn’t been able to connect I was pleased to note that he seemed happy to talk with me over the phone and genuinely wanted to spend time with me.

A few days later I was pleased to see Bob at an FHE activity. When I arrived at the activity I spotted him. Not wanting to appear to eager I took my time circling the room and chatting with others on my way to him. Upon arrival I tried to start a conversation just as the person in charge decided to get started. We split up into groups and headed off to different locations for the rest of the evening. I thought I had struck gold when we ended up heading for the same house. Upon arrival I noticed Bob sitting on a comfy loves-eat all alone. I quickly made a comment about stealing the last comfy seat from my little sister and bounded over to the half-inhabited loveseat. I tried again to start a conversation only to be interrupted by the girl in charge who was ready to start the lesson.

After the short lesson we began a group game. This game required one person to be in the middle. Having played the game before, Bob offered to go first. While he was still taking his turn, two latecomers arrived and one promptly plopped himself down next to me on the love seat. When the round ended, Bob had to take a seat across the room. When the game ended I tried to move his direction, but we both got caught up in conversations with other people. Finally, after talking to nearly every other person present we managed to find each other at the far end of the room and have a real conversation. (This was facilitated by my very patient sister who had been ready to leave for at least 20 minutes, but was kind enough to allow me a few minutes to chat.) Upon leaving I felt very positive about the overall experience and looked forward to our next meeting.

My sister and I hurried off to join some friends at their apartment complex for a quick dip in their hot tub. I normally don’t go to these gatherings. I’m not a huge fan of donning a swimsuit and I will often stay home. For whatever reason that night, I felt the need to enjoy the hot water. We changed quickly and hurried over to meet our friends. Considering the late hour and the early month of the year it was a bit chilly running across the parking lot in my swimsuit. We arrived and spoke to our friends through the gate. They told us to go around to the front and enter through the clubhouse. We dashed around the clubhouse. As we rounded the corner we almost literally ran into Bob. He asked if we lived at these apartments (a strange question considering he’s been at our house on several occasions) and he and I stared awkwardly while my sister tried to open the locked front door. I quickly answered no and turned my attention to the locked door. My sister exclaimed excitedly that one of the girls from the hot tub was coming to let us in. As she opened the door it dawned on me that girl was not connected to our group. She also lives at the complex and had invited Bob to come and join her for a late-night dip. I mumbled thank you and dashed off the blessedly large hot tub. I quickly sank into the steaming water in a corner near the friends we had come to meet. Bob and the girl who let us in chose a corner away from my group.

What ensued was possibly the longest 30 minutes of my life. I got to sit in a hot tub with rambunctious girls trying to ignore that Bob was sitting a few feet away next to a different girl. I had plenty of time to contemplate how ironic the situation really was. Thankfully, the hot tub closed promptly at 10pm and my sister and I dashed back to our car as quickly as possible.