‘A Formal New Years’

   After Halloween, I didn’t see Sarah’s sister at any of Jay’s shows. I was only slightly disappointed. I was hanging out with a girl named Maggie. It was mostly casual, but we had little in common. We just ended up being friends. She was one of the four girls I had to go see “Titanic” with. That movie being big at the time. I really was just bidding my time until Jen came back.

 When Jen moved back around Christmastime the trip to Europe became real. I was excited and nervous. Unfortunately, she got into a car accident with her boyfriend Bill right after she got back. She was fine but he hurt his back. Jen was planning to break up with him but now was feeling really guilty. She moved away from him for two months and now this…

  Now New Year’s was upon us and the guys at Fiddler’s Green were planning to host the 1st Annual Formal New Year’s Gala at the house. Jay and Dan rented Tuxedos for the event. It was well attended and part of the event was videotaped for posterity. The Melman made an appearance and even Mark was back from the Marines on leave. Meanwhile, Denver was dealing with three ex girlfriends at the same party.

  Sarah’s sister was at this party. I was happy to see her and we talked for quite a while. Her name was Azuree, not Ashley like I had thought it was. That was cool, I told her. I had met an ‘Azure’ at work recently too, so it’d be easier to remember. Our conversation put up a couple of red flags. Maybe it was the alcohol or maybe it was because she was really attractive physically, but I shrugged them off. She was a lot younger than I thought she was for one. Meeting her at a bar, I assumed she was at least 21. She was 18. I had just turned 24. The other thing was the fact that she said things. Things that made you say, “Did she just say that?” Worse than anything Mary ever said. Upon first talking to her, I thought it was refreshing that she said exactly what came to her mind. Before she left, I told her to give me a call sometime.

   The rest of the night we danced and drank till the wee hours of the night.

  She called me two days before I was heading to Spain with Jen. The conversation went well and I told her I would call her from Spain if I got a chance. I knew it would be a most inconvenient time to start a relationship, plus if I had a choice between Jen and Azuree it would have been Jen hands down.

  My older brother drove Jen and I to the airport. Jen had gotten my brother to talk about his failed relationships on the car ride, which is what she was prone to do. Get people to self-analyze themselves as if she was a therapist. She didn’t see it like that. She was really curious why people thought the way they did and I could tell she was using my brother’s thought processes to figure out her own relationship. My brother had said that when he broke up with his girlfriend it wasn’t that they would fight or anything. They got along great, but she didn’t stimulate him intellectually, and that was something he needed in a relationship. He said it was the hardest thing he ever had to do, because when you break up with someone, they want a ‘Why?’. And if you care for the person and have no negative feelings, you don’t want to tell them, ‘it’s because you’re not interesting.’ (Ed. Note: He didn’t phrase it like this. He was more articulate.)

  He dropped us off and Jen and I were ready to start “Jen & Kerry’s Excellent Adventure”