Since this Tuesday's run was in Holland Park, I actually had a chance to go home, change, drop off my things and just walk over to the pub. I of course got there quite early, but it was great when I was there when both Christina and Lavan arrived! How great that they came. Just such a pity that it was raining!!
I was annoyed when standing around at the start of the run, Shirtlifter (who had already pestered me with his usual overly-friendly hug) gave me a huge raspberry on my cheek. "Eeeewww! Gross!!" I think he was somewhat surprised by the vehemence of my negative reaction, but I think that boy needs to learn his limits. I'm NOT a fan of his behaviour sometimes...
I went back to chatting with Christina and Lavan, when I was delighted by the arrival of yet another familiar face, DM! Goodness, I hadn't seen him in ages (okay, a month), but enjoyed talking and catching up with him a bit. It's funny, as recently he seems to relax more in my presence, which is nice. I guess all of our joking around the last time I saw him loosened him up!
And then Roofie's brother arrived. But I was still deep in conversation with DM. What a conundrum! We caught each other's eye and exchanged winks, but alas that was it before the run was due to start.
It was a pretty fast run at the start, although luckily when they got to Hyde Park I had a chance to catch up with the group (thank goodness for parks that way!) Found Lavan and Christina a bit confused by all of the stopping and starting, but bemused by the fact that we were practically going to run by their houses.
As we started running down High Street Kensington, DM started slowing down and limping, as his knees were giving him trouble. So I slowed and ran with him, which he seemed to appreciate, even as he assured me I could run on. Although I probably had the energy for it, I assured him that I was okay with taking any excuse for a walk break!
The run then took us up through Holland Park, where I was surprised when we took a turn into a wooded section of the park I'd never been in before. How embarassing, that this is "my park", yet I hadn't even known about this part of it?
We then stopped at a clearing in the woods, where interestingly the hares had set up a limbo contest. It was kind of funny, as nobody seemed sure of how to go about it at first, but eventually got into the spirit of it... I even went back for a second round with a lowered bar, and was one of the very few to make it under!
Yet before the contest could really get going, the skies just opened up, and we all made a mad dash back to the pub. Of course, pretty much as soon as we got there, the rain stopped, but it was too late, we were all soaked through!!
Still, it was nice to be back in the pub, warming up and talking to everyone. I chatted with Lavan and made my rounds, and then mostly ended up talking with DM. He decided to head home somewhat early however, although with an admonishment to text him on Saturday to see if we were both going to go to an event a mutual friend was organizing. Nice.
I then kept talking to others, hoping for a chance to talk to Roofie's brother, but I didn't really get that opportunity. Perhaps I seemed like I'd made too much of a choice by spending so much time with DM? Hard to know...
I was able to stay late, given that I only had to walk home, which eventually meant that I was one of the last people in the pub, with one of my oldest friends in London, and a woman who I had not realised was almost blind (apparently only has peripheral vision). This made for quite an embarassing situation when she asked for someone to help her to the Tube, and I just kept pointing to it about 50 yards away. Finally My Old Friend indicated to me with some subtle gestures that we needed to actually go walk her to the Tube, and explained to me later my error. How embarassing!
I was then surprised when My Old Friend asked if he could crash at mine for the night, but he did seem pretty drunk, so although he could have caught the last Tube home quite readily, I didn't protest much, as strange as I found it. Seemed petty to refuse him when he'd asked.
When we got back to mine, it turned out that my flatmate was still up, so we had a most amusing introduction. I kind of wonder what my flatmate must have thought, because My Old Friend was as high as a kite, reacting with such enthusiasm at her offer of brownies, she must have wondered if beer was the only thing we'd been having that night! Finally though, after brownies and cookies, it was time for bed.
In truth, I SHOULD have made the effort to get out the air-mattress or put him on the couch, but it seemed so much simpler just to put him in bed with me. After all, we are good friends, and had even hooked up once three years ago (although that was a mistake not to be repeated, we just didn't "click" at all in bed), it didn't seem like such a big deal. And in truth, I was cold and wet and tired, and I just wanted to go to SLEEP. So I stuck him on his side of the bed, and just flopped into my own, ready to sleep.
So you can imagine my surprise when I was already drifting off, to find that he'd crawled over on top of me, and was kissing me. Ummm....what?
(Yes, yes, I now realise my error, that when a drunken boy asks to go home with me, one should assume he has one thing on his mind. But truly, My Old Friend and I are such good FRIENDS, that this eventuality had NEVER crossed my mind).
Hence, I had to put him straight. "I have no interest in having sex with you. None at all. That is not going to happen." He seemed truly surprised, which of course was puzzling to me, as the last time had been such a disaster, who on earth would want to repeat that? Seriously, three years ago that hook-up had very nearly destroyed our friendship, and it took at least a year before we recovered. A mistake from beginning to end, I can't believe he was even contemplating repeating it.
Give me some credit, at least I did not outright tell him that he was the absolute worst lay of my entire life, but just left it at the fact that it wasn't going to happen. Boys are strange though, in that he kept asking why, so I really was tempted to tell him why! Still, I realise such a thing is a blow that the male ego might never recover, and if the last time hadn't ended our friendship, my comment this time definitely would. So I pressed him to just leave it, that I wasn't interested. I just wanted to sleep.
Finally he asked, "Well, can we cuddle then?" Fine. Sure. I like cuddling, cuddling is fine.
Unfortunately, in my world, "cuddling" implies loosely putting one arm around a person, and generally getting into a comfortable position for sleep. I didn't realise that "cuddling" to him meant, "Nearly suffocate me while not allowing me to have more than 2mm of personal space anywhere". Although in his drunken state he would quickly drift off to sleep (snoring, of course), he would also unconsciously hug me in tight to him, and every time he relaxed and seemed to let go, any shifting I did to try and give myself a bit of breathing room made him sleepily draw me back into him. You know when you see little kids clutching their teddy bears to their chests really tightly? Squeezing the life out of them? Yeah, that was him with me. All night long.
By his own admission he's a very physical person (and understandable for someone who is such an athlete), but his incredible need for physical contact was just comically ridiculous. And I like cuddling! I'm a very huggable person! But I also like to breathe!
Stuck there, in this vice-like embrace with my nose pressed up against his chest, I noted that at least he smelled way better than JG, given that he's not a smoker. That faint combination of cologne, sweat, and just masculine smell I had to admit was a lot more pleasing to my nose than the acrid stale smoke smell of JG. Although when I sleepily mumbled to him, "You smell nice," he did seem to get quite a kick out of that. Definitely, non-smokers are the only way to go.
Finally at 5:30 AM, he was in a deep enough sleep that when I slipped away, he didn't fight me on it, but let me go. And yes, I know it was 5:30 AM, because I checked my watch, I was so curious about how much I'd been kept up all night long! Finally, grabbed the opportunity to have my own corner of the bed, and finally managed to curl up to get some actual sleep.
Lesson learned: Be very careful about which boys you invite into your bed, particularly if you want to get any sleep!!
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