Spreading the News

Did you know that the gym is open at 8 AM on Saturday mornings? And that there are actually people at the gym at 8 AM on Saturday mornings?

I woke up at 7:30 AM, plagued by the usual problems of sleeping after drinking. Not that I had a hangover, but you never sleep to well or too deeply when you have alcohol in your system. (Perhaps a reminder of why I shouldn't drink in January?) I thought about turning over and trying to go back to sleep, but after lying there for a bit, I pulled out my iPad to check when my gym opened in the morning. Upon discovering that it opened at 8 AM, I thought, "Why not?" and so threw myself out of bed, pulled on some gym kit, and made the five minute trip down the road.

Turns out that not only is the gym open at 8 AM on a Saturday morning, but the grocery store is too! Popped in to get a Diet Coke and a sandwich (my stomach was rumbling), and it was me and a whole bunch of really old people. I guess that's when they figure it's a good time to go grocery shopping, well before annoying young party-goers like me are normally awake.

Got to the gym, did 15 minutes on the elliptical, and then realised that there was a Body Pump class starting, so went to that. Good workout, even though I kept the weights a bit lower than I've done in the past, as I figure I want to ramp up slowly. But felt quite good and noble by the time I got home later, having finally made it back to the gym for the first time in the New Year!

When I got home from the gym, I spotted the Young Dutchman online and let him know I wanted to chat, and the boy is so good that two seconds later had a Skype call coming in. Because of course, I wanted to share the startling news of last night. I thought he would be surprised, but even I didn't foresee the ten straight minutes of "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod" that I got. I mean, it's two people getting married, not like they've just announced they have an illegitimate child or are secretly the Crown Prince of Bhutan or anything like that... Although to be fair, it's probably the first member of his peer group (or younger) to announce their engagement. And it was extraordinarily sudden. They'd only even known each other for five weeks! (No, that is not "dating for five weeks", that's "known of each other's existence" for five weeks).

We continued chatting for over an hour, which is of course because we just enjoy talking to each other so much, except that I began to notice the time, as it was ticking past noon, and I'd promised the Tall South African that I would call him in the morning. (No of course, still have not told the Young Dutchman about that. But it's only been a week anyway, and that kind of thing apparently only matters when you're Lotte, where a lot can happen in a week!)

Finally hung up with the Young Dutchman and called the Tall South African, where he greeted me with, "Hello, trouble..." Made me smile. And so I enjoyed talking to him for a while about the engagement, the night, renting vs. owning property, and just this and that. It's funny, because after all of the chatting online, I can forget that he's actually South African, until I actually heard his voice on the phone and that Cape Town-esque lilt was just unmistakable.

As I talked to him about the engagement, and my surprise at the speed of it, I realised a bit too late that I should reconsider how openly I speak with him. After all, I've only known him a week, while Lotte is one of his oldest friends. (Any concern I'd had about his standing with Lotte due to his absence at the club crawl the night before was assuaged when I realised he'd been invited but decided not to come, and that Lotte had actually tried to call him much earlier with the news).

The one problem was that I realised I had made a mistake not to take a comfort break before I called him, and I desperately needed to pee. I felt bad for cutting the conversation short (after an hour, and I got the sense that he would have happily talked to me all afternoon), but finally I saw a pause in the conversation and I just had to go.

Apologised later while I tried to get some work done, and told him that if I was a good girl and accomplished what I needed to, I might reward myself by calling him later. However, when it actually got later, I was unsure about how much I should actively pursue him, and hence dithered about whether or not it was a good idea to call him again.

At around 9:30 PM, the Tall South African popped up online and checked in on me. Ah, so resolves the question of whether I should call him this evening! After typing back and forth for a bit, decided just to give up on that and give him a call. Ended up talking for over an hour and a half (With a boy! On the phone! I know!) about pretty pointless stuff, but learned some more about his work and what he does and what he gets up to in general. At one point, without saying it outright, somehow it slipped that I knew what had happened on New Year's Day with him and Drunk Girl. He had been commenting on how he didn't think the Young Dutchman liked him very much right now, and I had to admit that he was correct, he was not in the Young Dutchman's good graces at the moment, although I had confidence that he would recover. (Unlike Drunk Girl, who I think is pretty much dead to the Young Dutchman). He didn't have much of an excuse, except to say, "I was very, very, VERY drunk that night..." Ah well, we've all made mistakes, and as he pointed out, it was just unfortunate that he got caught at this one. So, as I pointed out to him, I knew about this and I was still talking to him, so that should tell him something. My life hasn't been spotless either, and we all deserve forgiveness for some of our dumb moves. Doesn't mean I won't treat him with a certain degree of suspicion, but he shouldn't have to pay for absolutely idiotic things he did forever. And maybe the Young Dutchman will forgive him eventually too.

When I hung up with him, I had been also chatting online with the Young Dutchman's brother, and so apologised for ignoring him while I'd been on the phone. To which the Young Dutchman's brother instantly replied, "Talking to the Tall South African?" Jeepers, how on earth did he KNOW?? Seriously, that came out of nowhere, it was like he was psychic.

Unlike with the Young Dutchman himself, I didn't lie, but begged, "Please don't tell your brother..." As I pointed out, the Young Dutchman often acts like MY big brother too, and I know would disapprove. However, the Young Dutchman's brother assured me he would keep the secret. Although very funny how much it made me realise that the Young Dutchman is like my protective older brother that way. (Although even my real older brother isn't quite that protective!) But it's like we've often noted: Men and women care for each other in different ways. Women nurture men, which is why when the Young Dutchman is here I cook for him, clean up after him, do his laundry, and just generally look after him. Men want to protect women, on the other hand, which is why the Young Dutchman generally doesn't like boys I like, and warms me away from the Tall South African so much.

Still, I'm very lucky to have so many boys looking after me...