1 post tagged “love”

Lately, it seems that life has been getting a kick out of getting back at me for my so many "I would never" comments.

I would never sleep with a man who is much older than me.
I would never have a sexy buddy.
I would never eat spinach.
Phone sex?  I would NEVER!

But this one... this one!  I would never thought life would get back at me with.

 I would never like/fall for someone I met on the internet;
especially someone who lives hundreds of miles away from me.

Matt, 25/M/CA

Bob, old/i-wish/mom's-basement WoW FTW!!!

Certainly there has to be a decent guy for you within your area code.  Why would you settle for someone across the Gulf of Mexico?

But what if you weren’t looking for anyone?  What if he just… showed up?

Meeting people online is fun.  Liking someone who you've only known through a computer screen and some phone calls, is silly.  Traveling 1,112 miles to see this person is absolute madness.  Right?

You'd think.

I would never do such things.  At least, that's what I used to think.  Then I met C.

I didn't like him at first, of course, which is the most obvious sign of all.  After all, what romantic comedy doesn't start like that?  He was too opinionated and his ego was bigger than him.  He didn't think it twice to insult your opinion if he didn't share it.  The world was his, and we should all be thankful that he decided to enlighten our lives with his presence.  In his own words, he was incisive.  He reminded me of Carly Simon's song You're So Vain.  (You walked into a party, like you were walking onto a yacht...)

I have to admit, I tried to avoid him.  I made an effort to stay away from his witty comments and his conceited posts.  I wanted to disregard how much he knew about musical instruments or where salsa dancing really originated.  Yet, he spoke in a way that entranced me.  He seemed very smart and knowledgeable, which I admired, but he was cocky about what he knew.  It was almost as if he challenged other people's knowledge with his own, and I secretly always hoped that he was wrong.  But damn it, he was always right.

Eventually, I started warming up to him a little.  He was not always so arrogant, and I’ll be damned if he didn’t always make good points in arguments.  Still, the day he randomly IMed me, I was a little wary.  Out of all people, it had to be him?  Being the rational and courteous person I usually am, I IMed him back.  He had five minutes to change my mind, I thought.

He did.

I don’t remember much of the first few times we talked.  It was random talk, but I do remember him being sweet and attentive.  He would greet me every day with a pick-up line but it didn’t feel like he was trying to pick me up; it was just his perfect strategy to spark a conversation.   He was a bit forward sometimes, but what girl doesn’t enjoy harmless flirting?  We talked about music, food, traditions, family.  It was as if he had let down his guard.  He was different… he was himself.

One day, as I was trying to get through a busy morning at work, I noticed something was missing from my routine.  I had yet to receive an IM from C.  I couldn’t believe me:  was I actually looking forward to chatting with him?  No more than ten minutes later, a window popped up on my computer with the usual pick-up line greeting.  I smiled and looked at the clock; it was 11:10.  For the next few days, I found myself anxiously waiting for eleven o'clock.  And sure enough, always at around the same time, the little IM window with his name would pop up, delivering a new pick-up line each time.  Despite everything, I didn’t want to admit that I might have a crush on this guy, especially because I was so determined to not develop a crush on anybody, and I was having a hard time as it was getting rid of that… something I had for… someone; so I pushed the thought into the back of my mind.  It honestly didn’t occur to me that he might genuinely like me too.

I’ve never had a boy like me first.  I’ve always liked the guy who doesn’t give me the time of day, or the one who wants to be just friends… or the one who only wants sex.  (Even with my ex, I was the one who liked him first and eventually, I guess he decided he should like me too).  So it wasn’t until one day when he –very casually, by the way- asked if he could maybe have my phone number and call me, that I realized that this was not just about harmless flirting and casual chatting on the internet – this was about to get better.

And it did.