I’ve been keeping a secret

I don’t know if I’ve been keeping this to myself because I was waiting to see where it goes or if I’m just lazy. Since I’ve been slacking and have a MAJOR new life development to share with you, I’m going to break the story of the new guy up into a few separate posts so you don’t have to read a novel JUST FOR ADDED SUSPENSE.

At the end of January I was invited out to a coworker’s birthday celebration. The coworker happens to be the roommate of a former coworker, my friend Mark, who I played softball with last summer and fall. Later on in the evening (after about 4 too many beers, I figure) he said something about me being “a girl he‘d like to take out some time,” but was hesitant to ever ask because of the Paul factor.  I told him that Paul had pretty much shot me down and that I was available.  After a few rounds of what most would consider inappropriate drunk dancing, we parted ways to go home but shared a few drunk texts in our separate cab rides home.

The next morning he sent a much more coherent text that said, “I don’t know if you meant the things you said last night, but I’d still like to take you out some time.”  Now I’ve knowing Mark for a while and have not really bothered to think of him in that way. But I’ve been bummed about Paul and keep telling myself that I need to get out and meet people, so I agreed to go out with him sometime.

We both had pretty busy schedules, so the first thing we could manage to coordinate was me attending a Superbowl party at his place. I had come down with a nasty flu over the weekend before, but by the time the game rolled around Sunday night I was depressed and lonely about being holed up at home for so long, so I showered and took the bus to his place (which is only about a 20 minute walk from mine, but winter in Boston is not a good place for a girl with the flu).

Let me tell you, being at a Superbowl party and being unable to keep any kind of solid food down is just about the most depressing thing I can think of. There were delicious-smelling snacks everywhere. Cookies, cheese, chips and salsa, tables full of dips … it was so sad to be unable to eat anything. Mark made chili, which is just about my most favorite winter soup EVER, and after half time I got up the courage to try a small bowl. It was DELICIOUS, and the thought occurred to me that I should marry him right on the spot just for his chili abilities. But I resisted. It was, however, the first solid food I’d been able to keep down in 2 days.

It was a good gathering of people: another of the guys from our softball team was there, as well as the 2 roommates of Mark’s that I knew, and some new people. I had been pretty miserable from the flu over the weekend, and my roommate was out of town.  It’s possible that I was just really grateful to be around people again, but I had a much better time than I was expecting to.

After the game Mark offered to drive my sick ass home, and I just about burst.  People with cars in Boston are not always willing to drive their car-less friends places.  Traffic is annoying and re-parking is impossible (the exact reason I left Gerard at home and took the bus, actually).  Mark happens to be one of the lucky ones who possesses his own parking spot, so I agreed to be driven.

When he dropped me off we said goodnight and he asked if we could get together again. It had been a good evening and so far things seemed fairly platonic anyway, so I agreed.

I didn’t know how I was feeling about Mark either way, but it was so nice to have someone filling my head other than Paul, let me tell you.