silver linings

ok it's taken me a few days to gather my thoughts to properly address my encounter with the girl from the previous post. recap: i met a girl, we had a great conversation, she invited me to a storytelling show, i was smitten.

fast forward to this past monday at said show. boyfriend.

errrrrrrtttttttt!!!! (at least that's how i think you spell that sound of tires screeching to a halt.)

so i met up with her and she's there with her two lady friends. i'm a little shy at first. do i hug? do i shake hands? i just wave, cause i'm dumb like that. a few introductions are exchanged. not ten minutes goes by then does one of her friends asks about the texts she's getting from scott. (yes that scott. always trust your instincts. unless your instincts are wrong.)

"so what's the deal? are you hitting that?" says the friend. ok, not in those exact words, but pretty similar. after some hemming and hawing, and non-concentrated stares out of the side of my head, she confirms it. they're dating. well that was fast. a little too fast.

what i mean by that was, this friend didn't seem to already know they were dating, but seems to know them both of them separately. this was the time she chose to ask? i dunno, seemed a little too convenient to have brought that up just as this new guy was sitting down at their table. do i think it was sort of planned so that it was out in the open before i had a chance to muck things up? kinda. if it was, slick move by them, because i stayed silent.

i mean it too. i didn't say, "oh hey, that's great. i'm happy for you two." really, i wasn't happy. i don't even really know them well enough to be happy even if i wanted to be. so i just sat there, not knowing what to say or talk about because these are new people, and i was just crushed to hear the news that i was secretly dreading for about a week.

eventually, they talked to me and asked me questions. they had their conversations too that i listened in on. a new friend arrived and he was a cool dude too. he told a story that night that had the room rocking with laughter. the rest of the stories were winners too. there was maybe only one where i checked out. eventually scott arrived, and it wasn't that awkward. probably because they had removed all doubt before he got there. wise choice ladies.

as we listened to the great stories, i was getting to know these people a little. and i was meeting their friends, people i'd seen here and there before at these events, finally putting names to faces. and we were having fun and funny conversations.

for instance, i remember one guy talking about his new girlfriend and how much he is enjoying it. he talked about the three things that are a must for him to date a girl. here was my chance to interject because i had actually been thinking about this a little while ago. i chimed in with, "in order for me to date a girl, i have to know that she thinks farts are funny and not gross."

well that was met with laughter from the table and a face of horror from one girl. i guess i know which one i won't be dating if it came down to it. but it was great because i just threw that out there and it didn't matter that i had just met these folks. that night we discussed penises, vaginas, (i'm cleaning it up a little bit here of course,) porn, jobs, being out-of-a-job, favorite ways of sitting, and other random stuff. been a while since i had conversations like these in a big group.

yeah i was still a little salty about the whole boyfriend thing, which probably led to me drinking three 20oz beers and driving home later that night a little more tipsy than i had realized. in fact, i debated on the 45min drive home whether or not to drown my sorrows with some late night junk food. i ultimately downed three doritos locos tacos and volcano burrito from taco bell before collapsing on my bed and knocking out.

the next day, i wanted to write about the night, but i didn't know what to say, or what i wanted to say. i wanted to say how much it sucked that she had a boyfriend. but that wasn't the prevailing feeling from the night. i had a good time. that's what i kept thinking. so i sat on writing or tweeting about it until now.

here's what i came away with. even though things didn't turn out the way i wanted, it turned out to be a good night regardless of the fact that i didn't get a chance to even express any interest in the girl. really. the silver lining was that i still had fun, heard some great stories, and i had met some new friends. most of all, i eventually realized that i think i'm ready to date again.

kind of a coincidence that the theme of the storytelling night was "silver linings."

p.s. - so i'm going to be seeing scott and the girl tonight at another storytelling event. you know, i decided that i want to be happy for them. she's real nice (obviously i couldn't tell the difference between being nice and flirting) and he's a really good and funny dude. it also kind of gives me hope that a goofy-ish and kinda pudgy guy can pull a girl like that. no offense to scott. but, in the off chance that they may not work out, i don't think i'd mind being that rebound guy. just saying.