Thursday, May 19, 2011

Only two and a half weeks

I imagined what it would be like if Chris and I ended up together, he moved to Washington, and I flew out to see him. While I was sitting in LAX, I listened to a girl talking on the phone about how she'd just spent a week with this guy and now she was going back home to Tucson, AZ. She said the week was great; things were great with him, that he would play with her hair, and that his friends said she should just move to L.A. She said, "I really like him but my job is in Tucson." That would definitely be rough.

Sophie picked me up from the airport that night. Chris and I had decided to wait until the next night to see each other since it was late and we both had to work in the morning.

The next day, my ex’s mom, along with a couple of his relatives, was coming by my apartment to pick up his stuff. He had left all his furniture behind and never came back to get it. I had been forced to mail a certified letter to him requesting that he pick up his things. I was glad his family was coming by and not him, at least. My stomach was churning over it though. I was worried they would be taking one of my cats with them, the one that was supposedly his cat.

While I sat at work waiting to hear from his mom that they were close by, Chris sent me a video of the town where he had lived in Washington. It looked very cool and laidback and it led me into daydreaming of living in other cities.

The ex’s mom called and I headed to my apartment to unlock the door for them.  Luckily, it wasn’t so bad. It was a little awkward, but I was at least able to keep my cat. His mom also let me keep the kitchen table she had bought for us the year before. She told me he got a job but didn’t say what it was. I didn’t want to ask because I didn’t want to show a lot of interest. When she told me about the job, I accidentally said, “Wow, I’m shocked.” His cousin started laughing and I said, “Sorry.” She said it was ok and that she’s happy he has a job. After they left, I looked around my apartment and felt ready to rearrange.

Later that day Chris asked me for a date on Friday night. I happily agreed, and told Sophie, “He’s awesome. I’m so happy.” She asked, “So are you really feeling things for Chris now? When do I get to meet him?”

I told her, “Yes, I’m really feeling things for him. But he won’t be ready to settle down for awhile and he wants to move back to Washington. So…I guess we will just be hanging out and seeing what happens. I think he and I will definitely have a lot of fun together at least.” 

She joked, “Maybe you will change his mind and he won’t want to move back.”

Chris came over that night after work and kept me up late. Our work schedules differed, so he was always up later than I. We talked well into the night about our past and our exes. We both said we felt stupid for dating our exes for so long. It felt embarrassing to admit I had dated someone like my ex. But I suppose we all screw up. We talked about why the relationships failed and how they changed us as far as what we now need and want out of a relationship. I felt like I wanted to know all about Chris.

I noticed that that one of my cats was being more loving to me with Chris around. She tends to ignore me. I stood and held her like a baby, as he put his arm around me, looked at her, and commented on how cute and fluffy she is. I then rested my head on his chest. It was a sweet moment.

He stayed the night that night. We cuddled for awhile and my eyes started tearing up. I think it was just because it felt so nice lying with him. He said something about liking me too much. I felt the three little words bouncing around in my head, though I definitely didn’t want to say them. I just felt the potential for this to be something amazing.

Of course, there wasn’t just cuddling. There was also major making out, to the point that our lips became so dry we finally laughed and said we couldn’t kiss anymore.

It was so hard to get out of bed on Wednesday morning. When I said bye to him, there were many hugs, kisses, and cheek touches.

I emailed Sophie that day and told her, “This is going to sound corny, but I just feel something with him in the way we look at each other and how it feels to hold each other close.” I added, “I feel very happy about him. Being around him feels so good.” I also told her I had learned that Chris enjoys celebrating holidays and spending time with his family. My ex hadn’t enjoyed those things, so this made me very happy.

I knew Chris wanted to take things slowly and just see what happened. But I felt that in those moments where we were cuddled up together, it was obvious we have something special that shouldn’t be thrown away. It sounded like he felt he wasted a lot of time by being with his ex, and just wanted to explore and have fun now. He had moved back to Texas because she wanted to do so, and he hadn’t been happy being back here, though he admitted it was probably just because of her and because his two best friends were in Washington.

I told Sophie I couldn’t believe I was feeling all these things for him when I had only known him for two and a half weeks. She reassured me by saying, “Well, maybe all those feelings are supposed to be there. Sometimes people just know at a very short time together. Some guys I know have said they knew the day they met their wives that they would marry them. My grandparents were married after three months of being together and lasted over fifty years."

Chris sent me a text message that afternoon inviting me to his place after work.

No comments: