It was a frustrating morning where I didn't get much done at work, as I got side-tracked by some "bummer" news. (You know the kind that isn't really "bad news", but gets you into a funk nonetheless). First was when I learned that after I'd carefully scheduled my flights back to the US to be in town for the AGPU, Princess had screwed up his scheduling, and so moved the whole thing back a week. Given that I would have otherwise flown out several days earlier, this was definitely not news I wanted to hear.
I called American Airlines to find out about switching my flights, but even to go only a day earlier would cost me $180. Two days earlier cost more than the original ticket. Obviously, I would have to stick with my original plan.
At least I'd been hoping to see my cousins whilst I was back in the US, but was then hit with another "bummer news flash" when my cousin wrote that they already had a wedding to go to the weekend I would be near where they live, so a meet-up wasn't going to happen.
Hence I was in a pretty down mood and not keen to go to the hash, but I figured getting out of the house would be good for me.
I skipped out early to get away from my cleaning woman (she's lovely, but I always feel like I'm getting in her way as she cleans), as I had to return the video I'd borrowed from my gym last night to the gym. (The rental is only free for 24 hours, and you know me, there was no way I was going to pay to keep it when I'd already watched it). When I got to the gym, I realised that the "Core" class was starting (20 minutes of sit-ups, basically), and since I didn't really have to go anywhere until 6 PM, why not sit myself down for a brief torture session?
Survived the class, and then got on my way to the run. It was taking place at one of my favourite pubs in London, so I was eager to make it there. Arrived and found a few people sitting around (I was still early), and was then delighted when Lavan and Christina showed up again, the second week in a row! How fantastic!!
Added to the excitement when Matt showed up! One of my favourite people ever! As the crowds kept pouring in, I was really enjoying just chatting with everyone, remembering that the quickest way to get me out of a funk is to start socializing with a ton of people.
Then Roofie and his brother showed up too, so I was really getting to see all of my favourite people. Funny though when Roofie was standing with me, and then started giving me a backrub as we were standing around waiting for the run to begin. Glad that I get on so well with Roofie, but sometimes I think I must be doing something wrong when Roofie himself is so much more at ease with me than his brother is.
Soon enough we set off on the run, which was pretty fast-paced, although I managed to keep up relatively well. As usual, kept running into Roofie's brother repeatedly on the run, teasing him about how I always seemed to be able to cut ahead of him as we ran. At one point Christina also decided she was up for the shortcuts, so we short-cut together through the rest of the run.
Eventually got back to the pub, where everyone was SOAKED with sweat. I mean, it was stinging my eyes, and you could see a lot of people rubbing their eyes as well. I don't know what it was about that run, but we were all just dying of the heat in the end!
As I was just standing around with people outside cooling off, this new guy Adam told me that Matthew and Jane, two solicitors he works with, said to say hello to me. I was so shocked, but yet instantly remembered them from a random night out at the club ages ago. How funny, as I totally remembered those two, and it was amazing to realise that they'd made the connection to some guy talking about running to a girl they'd met at the club some time ago. Amazing!
I stood outside with Lavan, Christina, and Lyes (new guy, rather nice) for a while, chatting about this and that, before going in to see if the crowd at the bar had diminished at all. It was taking ages to get to the bar, and Sally nicely offered to get me a drink, while I finally acknowledged that it was time for me to start doing hash cash.
So I went downstairs, collected a bit from people, and then came back upstairs, where as I was going through a doorway, I ran into this guy.
We didn't actually collide, but stopped short the instant we saw each other. And I can't quite describe the visceral reaction, but it was definite and immediate. Slightly taller than I am, with curly brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a dress shirt and slacks, the absolute British business casual-after-work look.
He started talking to me about a friend he was looking for, who was in town from New York and staying with him. As soon as he started talking about him, I knew who he was speaking of, and assured him that his friend was nearby. And he should have then left to go look for his friend. But he didn't. We just stayed put, right where we were, and kept talking.
I think we were there for about an hour straight before we finally conceded that we might need to look for his friend and I needed to collect money from other people. Yet luckily I ran into him again soon enough downstairs for the circle, and so we just stayed together chatting through that. Then afterwards it was upstairs together again, where we talked all the rest of the evening.
It was the one time in my life where everything really seemed to go right. I mean, everything that came out of this boy's mouth was one more fact that made me like him more (California boy who had lived in New York, NYU grad, loved the O&C when he went for the Murder Mystery Dinner, and was even the right age for once, being almost 30), and we spent four hours talking non-stop as he bought me drinks and kept getting closer to me. Of course, I was playing my tricks too, casually touching his arm, until at one point he stood back at the bar and then said, “Come closer to me. I can’t hear you.” And so I was totally invading his personal space, enjoying HIS casual touches back to me, just looking into those brown eyes and loving every moment of it. We seemed to be clicking in a BIG way. So when the bar finally closed at 11:30 PM, he asked me if I'd like to join him for another drink elsewhere, but I thought to play it well. So I said, "I'd love to, but it's late, everywhere is closing, and you've got a houseguest to take home. Can I take a rain check?" At which he smiled, said sure, and asked for my number.
A group of us then walked to the Tube (me and him, along with his houseguest and two other girls), but the others fell back and let just the two of us walk together, I think because they could see the connection going on. And at the Tube he kissed me on each cheek and said he was looking forward to our raincheck drink. I think I must have smiled like an idiot all of the way home, now I just hope he calls!
No comments:
Post a Comment