This evening I had a choice about whether to go to the Trafalgar Night dinner at the Army and Navy Club, or just going to the Lansdowne Club for the usual Friday night drinks. At the last minute I decided to skip the Trafalgar Night dinner, and just go to the Lansdowne, and I'm so glad I did...
I ran into my friend Stephanie on the street, as she was walking to the Army & Navy Club, while I was headed in the opposite direction. We stopped to chat for a bit, and I got the feeling she would have stayed and talked for quite some time, before I shooed her off to her dinner so she wouldn't be late.
When I got to the Lansdowne, I almost worried that I wouldn't know anybody there, but as soon as I walked into the bar, I spotted my friends Arleen and the Classic Tory Boy. I chatted to them for a while, and soon other people started arriving, including my friend SM, who I hadn't seen in a while. She greeted me enthusiastically, asking where I'd been, saying she had been starting to worry that I was avoiding her. Me? I assured her certainly not, and then wondered where on earth I HAD been, as so many people seemed to be treating me as though I'd been abroad for months. Who knew I hadn't been around?
After a bit, the Young Dutchman arrived with two friends he'd brought along from the Carlton Club. He'd told me that he planned on being in town to catch up with a few folks, so I knew I'd be seeing him here, yet it was still so exciting to see him. How long had we been apart? I've just gotten used to having him around.
So everyone excitedly greeted him, and I left him free to make the rounds, until I was the last one to say hello to him. He wrapped me up in a big hug, and I was sooooo happy to see him, I had not realised how much I had missed him until right then.
I then found myself caught up in conversation with the two men he'd brought with him from the Carlton Club. There was the Slightly Pompous Lawyer (who the Young Dutchman seems to think I should fancy, but alas I don't), and the Mysterious American. I can't quite remember his name (was it Mike? Matt?), but I think we'll go with the Mysterious American for now. We got to talking, and I learned he was born in South Carolina, but grew up in Miami. We bonded quite a bit about speaking Spanish and how Miami is. He then went to undergrad in Moscow, but did his graduate degree in Russian at the Humbolt Universitaet in Berlin. We got to chatting in German, and thankfully my German seemed to keep up with his, but I used the excuse of Neil being there to switch back into English. Turned out that Neil was able to follow a lot of the conversation anyway, but didn't speak German the way this guy and I did. I never found out what the Mysterious American did, but it sounded like he was actually just bumming around in London on his parents dime for a while. Although he'd been here nearly a year. Independently wealthy or army brat? I couldn't decide, but his stories of sailing off to the Bahamas for Christmas when he was a kid made me think it was the former. He seemed to have a lust for travel to unusual and risky places that only the well-off really have. I have to say I was intrigued.
Of course it didn't hurt either that he was so obviously hitting on me, standing way too close to me, leaning in, touching me... Only thing he wasn't doing was buying me drinks, but that was because weirdly he seemed to be managing to make the Pompous Lawyer do that, who didn't seem to realise what was going on with me and the Mysterious American. I have to say that although there was nothing long-term there (we got into an argument about the UK way of life vs the US, with him still coming down in favour of the US), but upon considering it, I realised that he would be perfect for some fun. Cute, and with just enough forwardness that you knew this guy would be an excellent playmate.
Alas, before anything really interesting could develop, my friend Marjanne arrived. Marjanne had been living in Melbourne since last July, and was now living in Vancouver, where she won't return from for another six months. She had called me out of the blue this afternoon to say that she was in London for a last-minute job interview, and was hoping I could meet up for drinks later on in the evening after she'd gone to a networking interview first.
Unfortunately, when I told her to stop by the Lansdowne, it never even occurred to me to tell her the dress code, so when she showed up in jeans, we were politely asked to retire downstairs to the Aqua Bar by the gym. So I had to abandon the Mysterious American without explanation, and whisk her downstairs. Although annoying to have to leave everyone, it did at least make me focus on her and her stories, as she told me about her lackluster dating life, but her old friend Hadley who she had been spending time with in Melbourne. Apparently despite him having her perfect sense of humour and being incredibly devoted to her, she'd always never considered him as a romantic possibility because he was about 2 inches shorter than she was. (And she's nearly six feet tall, the guy is probably not really short). I ended up telling her the story of my cousin's ex-girlfriend who started dating her best friend after years of saying she wasn't attracted to him (and to be fair, he was seriously overweight). Except one night she got a bit tipsy and kissed him and then decided to go for it, discovered he was the best boyfriend of all time, and now they're getting married. And so from that, Marjanne agreed to give Hadley a chance. I sometimes wonder if there's a boy in my life already like that, who I just never think of that way...
At around 10 PM, Marjanne decided to head home (I hope she didn't pick up on my impatience to return to everyone else), so I returned upstairs to find that the Mysterious American had gone, but my friend Sophie was there, who shrieked with delight to see me, as I did her. Being with Sophie often feels like the coolest girl in school has suddenly decided to become my best friend. So I was thrilled to see her, and even more thrilled that she was just as glad to see me.
I also ended up chatting with both SM and Curious George, and noted that while Curious George has always liked me, this evening he was really being overly friendly. The effects of too much wine, I suppose... I was also surprised when at one point the Pompous Lawyer pulled me aside and told me that he'd heard a certain Norwegian talking about what he'd gotten up to with me. At first I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, as the only Norwegian I'd had any dealings with lately was the guy I randomly spoke to one evening after the Port Tasting, who I barely even kissed. So what on earth was he talking about?
A bit more discussion revealed that the Pompous Lawyer was indeed talking about that same Norwegian, who claimed to have "totally scored" with me. WTF? Where on earth does this guy get off? Talk about creative license... So it made me incredibly irritated, that here I thought I'd been so good to not go too far, not mess around with anybody known to my social crowd, and just be so careful to keep my nose clean, and here my reputation was getting slandered anyway. At least the Pompous Lawyer was gracious enough to say he didn't believe any of it and was telling me because he was sure I'd be outraged, which was good to know, but it was irritating all the same. Can't a girl have a little fun without becoming the subject of gossip? Apparently not.
Sophie and a few others then grabbed me to go dancing on the dance floor, as some charity event was going on. However we were pretty quickly kicked back off the dance floor, as we hadn't bought tickets to the event. Who knew charity events were so uncharitable?
I did find myself chatting to some guy (Marcus, I think his name was?) who from my accent thought I was Irish. He seems cute, and he made me laugh with his comparison of me an Irish lass.
Then I got to chatting with some South African guy who I think was hitting on my friend Lotte, but I couldn't be sure... When the bar closed at midnight, the group wanted to continue the party at Lotte's, and so they all bought some wine to head there. The Young Dutchman was exhausted however, and whispered in my ear to ask if he could go home with me. So we all made our way out of the club, trying to get people into cabs and cars, trying to subtly deal with the problem of the Pompous Lawyer. As nobody really wanted the Pompous Lawyer to come along with them, but he kept hanging around, waiting for...I don't know what. Perhaps to get me alone? (He was ridiculously drunk and kept hitting on me, not picking up on my subtle evasions). The Young Dutchman claimed he felt responsible for the Pompous Lawyer, who was totally out of it, but there wasn't much we could do other than to hope that he would eventually get himself into a cab.
Which he finally did, so the the Young Dutchman and I then went off and grabbed a night bus back to my place. I told him the story of the Norwegian and my outrage, which really just made the Young Dutchman laugh. As I hadn't been planning on having company, my place was an absolute mess when we got home, but we got ourselves sorted and got the bed set up for him. Although unexpected, I was so glad he came home with me, as it gave us a chance to finally catch up.
Trying to explain my relationship with the Young Dutchman is so impossible, I wonder if I should just give up trying. Because there isn't really a sexual attraction there, as we are wise enough to focus our attentions on more age-appropriate people. (He was telling me about the 18-year old he's been involved with, who showed up this evening. And he's torn, because he's attracted to her, but she's only 18. They did slip away for a while in the evening, which I think is telling about the ongoing relationship of sorts. Yet, he doesn't want to get involved with her at all, both due to her age and the fact that he's in Oxford now).
Yet it just made me HAPPY to have him around. It's like having this giant ball of warm fuzzies that just emanates from him, and I just feel better when he's near me. I guess I should take this as some great lesson about love, how when it really works, it's not about impressing somebody or being nervous around them in the hopes that they like you. Instead, it's just a warm ball of happiness, where you can't help but feel good when you're around them. Now can I please have this with a guy I'm sleeping with please?
We set up our beds, fell into them, and then went back to our usual way of talking as we fall asleep, with him making me laugh so hard my sides hurt. He was exhausted, so I let the conversation drop off early, but just happy to have him nearby again...
No comments:
Post a Comment