I may have been avoiding dates in the beginning of the year, but only because my efforts were focused elsewhere. On a crush. Yes, like the seventh grade kind.
I returned from the holidays to spot a new guy at the gym and the little I knew left me intrigued. My friend finally broke the ice and let him into our conversation circle and from there, I discovered that he was European and had recently moved to the states; his accent didn't betray a thing. I naturally used this as my in for our similarities. I peppered him with a million questions. I was fascinated by his life and constantly came up with excuses to talk to him. Can you plan my next Eurotrip?
My gym had it's annual winter party and when I saw him there, I played it cool. He spent the first hour talking to a girl who I mused to be his girlfriend so I decided to ignore him completely. He finally approached me and we spent the rest of the night enthralled in conversation. I had my wingman in tow who only encouraged my budding love connection, even if it was with a younger man (5 years younger). The tone of the night was certainly flirty and when we switched locations, he came along. Our romance was budding for sure...so much that when the crowd changed locations yet again, he and I remained deep in conversation in the comfort of a city speak easy. We stayed out till 1:30 in the morning, me maintaining all the composure. I got all flustered when I made eye contact so I knew this wasn't going to be a hook-up situation. Besides, try not to sh*t where you sleep, right?
We said our goodbyes.
From then on, this developed into a full-blown awkward interactions crush. I was in my element. If only passing notes was still in vogue... This led me to regular gym days and by regular I mean going 7 days a week in hopes of running into him. My old body had to make the sacrifice. I came up with excuses to talk to him and would miss his presence at my regular class times. This was a thing. I finally got the courage to ask him out; he accepted. I used the rouse of a last minute friend cancellation (80% true) so it could easily fall into the friend or more category. He cancelled the day before. I was disappointed.
This back and forth went on for the next week or so and he started texting me daily. I even attended weekend classes so we could workout together. On one of these days, I'm pleased to say that I was generally killing the workout and keeping pace with this twenty-something. I kept up this level and realized that he was starting to shave reps. I joked that he was cheating. I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
A few days later our workout had me aimlessly rowing as he was doing another movement so I had nothing but time to count. He only did 70% of the reps that time. The shiny luster started to fade immediately. After we finished, another gym mate noted that he only did 30% of the round before that. Now THIS was a dealbreaker. I texted him after providing some friendly advice. After 5 years at this gym, I knew things like this built a reputation fast. I said my peace.
Over consequent conversations, I made another age comment to which he responded, you assumed that. I recalled the first admission of age and he rebuffed saying that I gave a number to which he nodded his head (in agreement). Yes, that would make me think that you were that age. You nodded. Turns out he mislead me in that. Not only was he (or so I thought) 5 years younger, he was 10 years younger. That changes everything. No longer was he a potential suitor, he was a child. One that had a hard time telling the truth.
That day on I started to perceive him differently. Other people noted his continued rep shaving; I no longer wanted to defend him. I limited our interactions which only caused him to text me more; guys in their 20's can be so predictable. The death of the boy came when he casually mentioned that his girlfriend had plans on so and so night if we wanted to get together. Wait, what?? There were so many issues with that message. First off, the girlfriend thing was never mentioned. I'd vividly remember that and being a person with morals, I wouldn't have been chatting up a taken man. Second, because she was busy, he wanted to make plans with me. No, not going to happen.
The cute, promising foreigner fell from my graces quickly. His lack of integrity was a strong mar on his character and he proved to be a cheater in all facets of the word. DEAD TO ME. They're called crushes for a reason.
No comments:
Post a Comment