I am the only child of four that still lives in the same area as our mother. The other three have moved off to other cities and I am left with the burden and pleasure of being a short drive away from ‘home.’ My mother stops by with little to no purpose; sometimes she brings food, sometimes a newspaper clipping. One time she went above and beyond the standard call of motherly duty when she stopped by and told me that “I’ve found a girl for you.”
The girl was Jen and she did my mother’s hair, and as we know, little old ladies and their hairdressers get quite chatty. I gathered information about what was said between the two of them about me. Apparently I was brought up, strategically, around talks of Jen’s current dating situation; thankfully no baby pictures were involved. It was agreed upon between my mother and Jen, that if I were to get in touch with her we would get acquainted. Jen offered, after my mother quite perplexed I’m sure as to how, that Facebook was the place to meet. Facebook, as a phone number, was new to me.
“She’s cute,” my mother said to me. “She has short brown hair and is really very pretty and cute.” I didn’t put up much of a fight.
I looked Jen up as soon as my mother left, but had to plan a better time to ‘call’ then literally half of an hour after my mother got her hair cut. I did however; look her up for some investigative purposes as soon as the door had closed behind my mother. It turned out that Jen and I knew a lot of the same people. A few of whom I was going to be seeing in a few days.
A friend of mine, Jeremy, had moved out of town and was coming to town for a visit. He, his brother Corey, Eric (you’ve all met Eric before in earlier stories) and I were going to spend some time together. All three of them knew Jen, so I sent a ‘Friend Request’ and went to see my friends… I made it a point to bring up Jen’s name.
Jeremy told stories of knowing Jen’s older brother and a running joke between them about when the ‘little sister’ grew up. Corey added his input.
“I think if you can hook that up, you definitely should.” He said.
Eric said nothing. He looked at me with a serious, stern face and nodded his head in a quiet approval. I was not searching for approval for my mind was already made up in pursuance, it was interesting however, that three of my close friends knew her, yet I had no knowledge of her existence. I went to work and had to wait anxiously to see if Jen would respond.
I got off work early that night and came home to find that Jen had accepted the request. After a few minutes of staring at my computer the chat window popped up. It was Jen and we exchanged hellos.
“Here’s the deal.” My window exclaimed. Upon reading this I knew the fate of Jennifer and I lay in the negative. It’s rare that something good comes from a sentence that begins with ‘here’s the deal.’ Jen was at the very beginning stages of courtship with another man and felt it unfair to him if we pursued anything romantic. I felt it unfair to me, to write me off without ever actually meeting me so I offered that we meet and hang out… as friends, and she could pick the pretenses.
“Ok,” she replied, “but just as friends.”
My affirming of this notion of ‘just as friends’ was in actuality a partial lie for even though I am capable of being ‘just friends’ with a women I had already attached an expectation to our meeting, and that was unfair to her. I just didn’t want her to give up on me, before she actually met me. But the ‘hang out’ stalled, and has yet to happen.
Jen and I did meet one day a few months later, but not under any of the pretenses we had discussed. I was in the liquor store buying a bottle of wine when Jen and her now boyfriend walked by. At first I attempted to remain anonymous because of the presence of her boyfriend. I don’t think she saw me, and if she did then I don’t think she recognized me. And if she did, then she wanted to remain anonymous as well. As I stood in line I thought to myself. ‘First, you’re being ridiculous and immature. Second, this is a chance to meet her… who cares what the situation is? Who knows when this opportunity will present itself again?’ So I walked over to Jen and her boyfriend and introduced myself. It was a bit awkward for them I’m sure so I made it brief. I complimented the man on his choice of whiskey, exchanged some banter and returned to my purchase.
I have yet to get used to the idea that, with the popularity and vastness of online social networks, you can meet and get to know someone personally without ever actually meeting them. So when the opportunity presents itself to talk to a girl as beautiful as Jen, regardless of the circumstances… you take it. For it may be the only opportunity. Jen and I are still connected virtually, and this story will be her birthday present. But I am still left with the hope that the day in the liquor store was not our only meeting, whatever the pretenses.
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