So, there's this woman who I see on the bus, every morning. . . I always thought that she was really pretty, but I never gave her much thought beyond that. I'd just see her, have a seat, and try to enjoy the semi-crowded twenty minute ride to the office. I never saw her on the way home, though. Only on the way in.
One evening after work, I stopped off at Borders to browse for something new to read. I picked up this book, Blink, and fretted over it for about forty-five minutes. I carried it around the store, and kept flipping through it. I'd read little excerpts and just try to get my brain around the content. I didn't end up buying it, that night. I guess I just didn't want to part with the sixteen bucks, at the time. I have tons of stuff in the stack to read, after all.
The next morning, I board the bus at the normal stop, and there is the woman. . . reading the very book that I was so curious about. I'm not a believer in signs or fate or anything, but I definitely took that as an indicator that we have similar interests. She became a lot more interesting to me, that morning, that's for sure.
It took me a couple of weeks, but I finally found a good opportunity to chat with her. We talked about books, mostly. She was obviously very bright, and curious about the way the universe works. It was refreshing to meet someone who was willing to talk about that sort of thing outside of the classroom. I asked her out on Friday. Just an invitation to have a drink, after work. Nothing fancy. She had a failsafe, of course. Previous dinner plans at 8:00, but she agreed to meet me for a little while.
Well. . . It was a good time. We talked a lot. Laughed. Some flirtatious touching, but nothing too forward by either of us. It turned out that she is only twenty-four years old, which is probably a little too young for me, but it seemed to be going okay. She notified her "dinner date" that she wouldn't be making it and we ended up staying and having dinner together. We finally left at around 11:30, after about 6 hours or so of enjoying each other's company. And not for nothin', but I paid the bill. 45 bucks, including the tip. Not extraordinary, but still. . . I'm just sayin'. We both took the bus to the restaurant. We rode it home, and went our separate ways. There was no goodnight kiss, and maybe I messed that up by seeming to end the night so abruptly. I'm not the sharpest pencil in the box, sometimes.
Anyway, I called her the next afternoon and got a really strange reception. It was kind of cold and not at all welcoming. We talked for about five minutes, and that was that. Later that night, I got a text message that said, "Hey. I did have a nice time last night but I think we should just be friends." Fair enough. I didn't reply to that text, which may have been a mistake, I guess. It just didn't seem to require a response, and I didn't want to seem like a pest.
So, this morning. . . I sent a short text message to her. It just said good morning, basically. I let her know that I wouldn't be on the bus today, and just have a good day. Then she took the time to reply: "Did you get this text I sent on Sat - Hey. I did have a nice time last night but I think we should just be friends." I will not sugarcoat my opinion that I found this to be a rather bitchy way for her to reply. It wasn't very friendly, at all. I deleted her number from my phone. Doesn't seem to be any reason to keep it, after all.
I can't help but wonder what happened. . . She had the opportunity to leave and spare me any embarrassment or hard feelings, but she chose not to. And I think I'm perceptive enough to recognize that we did genuinely have a good time. Maybe, I'm just too old for her. I imagine that is the case. And the way she handled it really shows that she is way too young for me. I didn't presume that we had done anything except have dinner. I wasn't going to ask her to marry me or anything, but I thought that I might invite her out, again. I'm not too dense to get the hint if she would choose not to accept. Maybe, it was a mistake to send her a text after she said "we should just be friends." I don't think it was out of line, nor was it creepy or stalkerish. I guess I didn't realize that, for twentysomethings, "we should just be friends" is a euphamism for "don't use my phone number, anymore."
This is yet another example of the things that have made me stay single. I just don't get it, sometimes. . .
