The weather continues to be freakishly warm, so I was looking forward to an evening of drinks with Joel out on the terrace, as he'd called me randomly last week to schedule drinks with me. However, I was surprised when he texted me whilst I was out for a run to ask, "Do you mind if we push it off until 8 PM?" Okay, sounds fine, although I was kind of disappointed when he said he wouldn't be drinking due to a big night out the night before.
I returned home from my run, and got a message from him just after I finished my next conference call, saying, "Change of plan - calling u now. Free to talk?" So I called him at his work number, surprised that he seemed sort of evasive and said he had a favour to ask of me later. Now this was getting strange.
He called me back on his mobile phone about an hour later, having obviously gone outside to talk, as he didn't want anybody in the office to hear what he was about to say. At this point he explained, "There's a girl I've been seeing, and she's grown quite concerned about the fact that there's a girl in my life who I obviously love very dearly who is not her. So she wants to meet you."
I have to be honest, of all the requests I had imagined Joel might make of me, I had not seen this one coming. In fact, last night he had even called me at midnight asking if my friend Doro were single, and moaning about the mess he had gotten himself into by sleeping with his boss' assistant. And apparently she feels very threatened by me because he talks about me to her all the time...but I didn't even know what her name was. (And also, while Joel is a dear friend of mine, I don't think I speak of him frequently to other people. Which sort of implies that I'm a better friend of Joel's than he is of mine perhaps? All sorts of interesting implications there).
But, as amusing as I found the whole thing, I promised Joel that of course he could bring this girl along for drinks, and of course I would charm the pants off of her. Joel at least now promised to show up at our originally designated time and be drinking, because apparently he was going to be so nervous about the whole thing. Which made me wonder, why would he be nervous? I mean, I AM just a girl he's friends with, right? What is there to be concerned about?
I had a late conference call scheduled, so I went to the club early to take the call, where frustratingly I had to do it all on the phone because the club wi-fi was down. Very annoying, but luckily I survived the call, went and grabbed a bottle of wine, and then retired to the terrace.
Unfortunately, it was such a warm night that everyone else had obviously had the same idea I did, and the terrace was packed. So, I found a spot over by the wall to the terrace, and just stood there, enjoying the night air, even though it meant standing by myself like a dork for 20 minutes, with nothing to read and nobody to talk to. Of course Joel would be late, I should have anticipated that.
As I was standing there all by myself with nothing to do, this girl suddenly got up out of her chair and came over to talk to me. Apparently she was waiting by herself as well, with friends who were also late. I guess something about me had struck her as being friendly, so she approached me, and before long we were chatting and having a great time. Quite coincidentally, both Joel, the girl he's been seeing (with all the confusion as of late, I hesitate to call her his girlfriend), and the friends of my new acquaintence all arrived at the same time. Joel, as usual, confuses the fact that I make friends in a heartbeat with the idea that I actually know people, and so was introducing himself around. Kind of comical.
So we all did introductions, and I met H, the girl Joel has been seeing. She actually seemed really sweet, very nice, and I honestly hope I'm wrong and that Joel finds happiness with her. Alas, I don't forsee it, because she has the same fatal flaw that all of Joel's girls do: They aren't smart enough not to need him. H's very insecurity about meeting me exposes her neediness, her fear that Joel will leave her. And Joel is a very smart, charismatic, interesting guy. Which is why he equally needs a girl who can keep him fascinated, who can keep him interested, who is always doing her own thing, who is always entertaining him rather than the other way around. H is sweet, but alas likely to bore him within the next 3-6 months. Joel always goes for quirky, interesting-looking girls rather than those who are conventionally pretty, I think assuming that they will be interesting in personality as well. The girl for Joel will be the one who can walk out on him at any point in time, who doesn't need him, and makes sure he knows it. That is the sort of girl who will keep Joel interested, if you ask me...
As it was such a warm evening and we didn't want to waste it, we had the staff bring sandwiches and another bottle of wine up to the terrace, and I'm sure that Joel and I had way too much to drink. However, we were enjoying ourselves, and H seemed to be enjoying my funny stories. (In order to assure H I wasn't a threat, I was telling the usual comical stories about my dating life).
Eventually we retired back down to the bar, where we ran into my friend Karishma, who turned out to know Joel through a mutual friend. Very random, but very cool. Joel paid for another round of drinks, and we sat for a bit more, before Joel and H decided to head out (as it was about 11:30 at this point). He suggested that Karishma and I stay for another round, as he'd apparently already bought them for us. (Although in truth, my head was swimming a bit, the last thing I really needed at this point was more to drink!)
At which point I struck up a conversation with the men sitting at the table one over from us, and they seemed really nice and fun to talk to. Yet the conversation couldn't last that long, as it was nearly midnight and I had to head home soon if I wanted to catch my train. At least it was a good night for making new friends, as Joel told me the next day that H had a wonderful time and absolutely loved me. But of course, everybody loves me, Joel should know that...
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