How to Make Something Out of Nothing

I was bound and determined to spend the weekend at home. The weather was cold and dreary, and with Easter being Sunday, I wasn’t about to go through the whole rigmarole with a crushing hangover. I spent the better part of Saturday as far from my phone as possible. But as luck would have it, Mark caught me.

 

“Joe Mike’s in town,” he informed me. “We’ll just go out and have a few drinks, and call it an early night. I don’t feel like being out all night, myself.”

 

Famous last words.

 

We met Joe and his girlfriend and Mark’s brother and his wife at the Point, which has become our new hangout. It’s a blues bar upstairs, and the DJ in the basement plays good music and has all the old stuff that puts a hump in my back.

 

I spent the first part of the night bullshitting with Joe’s girlfriend. It’s the first time she and I have every really had any convo, as he’s only in town intermittently, and they’ve only been dating for a year and a half or so. Pretty cool chick, and hot as can be.

 

I can tell, unfortunately, that they are not long for this relationship world. Joe flies F-15Es in the Air Force, and is used to being his own man and doing his own thing. And she, understandably, wants more. Joe is currently teaching flight school in Enid, Oklahoma, and she is living a few hours away in Oklahoma City. So while they only see one another on the weekends, she told me that she wants more.

 

Joe’s side of the story was distinctly shorter. “We break up and get back together all the time. I dunno, dude.”

 

At some point, Mark indicated to me that Jen had shown up. I shrugged it off.

 

So we all hung out and I danced some with Joe’s girlfriend (with his blessing, I assure you) so that I could have an excuse to get on the dance floor. She commented on my rubbernecking, and I informed her that I am absolutely in control of the situation, and that I won’t get caught.

 

“You could at least make it less obvious,” she joked.

 

“There are times when you do that,” I admitted. “But it’s kind of like watching a hummingbird through a Coke bottle. You don’t do it if you don’t have to.”

 

Eventually, we headed to Westport. I noticed, shortly after arriving, that Jen was in attendance. It didn’t surprise me, as we tend to frequent the same establishments. I wasn’t hiding from her—in fact, I made sure she saw me—but I steered clear of her general direction.

 

 

At our usual haunt, we ran across a whole handful of wolves. I made sure they knew I was indeed back on the circuit, and let them know I’d give them all a call. The nights are better when there’s a bunch of us, and it was an All-Star cast: Bogie, Jimmy, and Belt. They were in rare form.

 

Also saw Julie, who is perhaps the nicest girl on the planet. Made tentative plans for the revival of movie night at my place.

 

When I caught back up with Mark, he was shooting the shit with Jen. I tried to wait it out, but their conversation seemed to drag on. Mark wants to bed her roommate in a bad way, and she was with Jen, so I eventually came to the realization that he was in for the long haul. The booze loosened my good senses, and I stalked up to the two of them.

 

Jen turned to me with a look of embarrassment, and started in with her whole explanation of the previous weekend. She’s apparently been dating the guy for about a year. This would explain why I seldom—if ever—spoke to her on Friday nights. That is, from what I gathered, his night.

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I work with a good friend of hers (something I’d only recently come to realize), and I know she had her on damage control. But because I am good about not discussing or allowing my personal life to bleed over into my professional life, she wasn’t able to gather any information.

 

I said to her, “I can’t believe you didn’t let me in on the little secret!” She responded (spaces added for emphasis):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You never asked.”

 

  

 

 

 

I shit you not! And it was one of those instances where, by the way she said it, I could tell she’d practiced that answer. I laughed, and said, “That’s a hell of an excuse.”

 

She told me that they don’t spend a lot of time together at all. That he’s always off with his friends. And she alluded to a breakup.

 

But the thing is, I don’t really want to date anyone at present. Jen is a knockout in every sense of the word, but she’s someone I see at the bars and nightclubs. Those types of relationships never get off the ground in the sober world. And I’m not even interested in trying.

 

So while I wanted to tell her to dump his ass and focus all of her “creative attention” on me, I know that would be a colossal mistake.

 

But I have no problem messing around with her on the side. Particularly by virtue of the fact that I’ve probably seen her out every time I’ve gone out since I broke up with the ex, and he is NEVER in the picture. It’s one thing to steer clear of a married woman, or a woman in a normal relationship. But in this instance, I’m willing to play the role of Back Door Man on occasion.

 

I showed remarkable poise in not vocalizing my desire for her to break it off. But I did end the discussion with, “Well, whenever you’re feeling underappreciated, you should give me a call.”

 

We made out a little, and goofed around, and at Last Call, we parted ways. On the drive home, Mark reiterated (for about the millionth time) that we need to continue to build our network outside the Wolfpack, and start having people over at my place as either a prelude or conclusion to the weekend nights’ activities. Being the loyal friend he is, Mark is feeling dinged by Rob’s recent actions as well, and is bound and determined to help me turn the city on its ear this summer.

 

I’m game.

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April 12, 2004

Famous last words, indeed. And incidentally, are there any situations when one WOULD have to watch a hummingbird through a Coke bottle?

April 12, 2004

Why do you have a hump in your back? Were you in an accident? —

April 13, 2004

Dammit. Chuck sorta stole my line…but I was going to reference a different kind of hump in your back. Grrrr. You realize that it’s now on between Jen and me, don’t you? Lemme at her! Only kidding (sort of).

I identify strongly with Jen right now.

MRS
April 13, 2004

Yeah I’m not guessing that a girl who doesn’t tell you about her boyfriend “because you didn’t ask” is good girlfriend/relationship material. But booty calls are okay – as long as mutually acceptable. Sounds like the wolf pack is back howling at the moon!

April 13, 2004

she told you that, and you went ahead and told her to call you? this girl has you in the palm of her hand. i mean, here’s her hand, and here’s you, ya know? plus, you deserve better, even just for sex. sex with a liar sucks. and i’m not sure i find all this wolfish behavior very attractive. you better post another picture of your cat or something.

April 13, 2004

You know, sometimes your entries are even made more interesting by the notes. *peeks up* Yeah, more interesting. Anyway, Jen sounds like a good ‘side fling’. You did show remarkable restraint. Personally, I would’ve lost it at the “you never asked” comment… Alcohol is good in that it keeps us calm, eh? Hugs

RYN: Yeah, well, you wouldn’t have said the “L-word” one month in to a girl who has a boyfriend, correct?

April 13, 2004

Notes MORE interesting? Nah…but they definitely add to the whole package. Bridget’s note made me chuckle for more than just a moment. =)

April 13, 2004

Way to play the booty call card! Be well,

Is Joe Mike the lost Walton in the attic? Do tell! And Belt? I think there is a story in that name alone. Dude, you are too good for sloppy seconds. Especially after she said you didn’t ask. That sounded kind of rude. And like I said, if she wanted you to back off, she would have mentioned it long ago. So it’s all her fault! There are plenty of good ones still out there for free.

yeah, but he thinks i want him jealous?!?!? how absurd is that? i don’t. i am not attracted to him that way. and we haven’t had a sexual fling in over a year.

I agree you are too good for that, but then it sure does sound like fun and maybe what’s right for you right now 🙂

thanks, parliament. you have a way of forcing the truth through what i perceive to be an unbiased “eye.” won’t let it bother me….

April 13, 2004

As I’ve joined the parliament party late and am too lazy to read back – can you give me a nutshell version of the Jen story?

April 13, 2004

RYN: Gotcha – thanks!

April 13, 2004

RYoN: Oh, and – thanks for the scolding.

ryn: very sure.

April 13, 2004

RYN: Yeah, I do. I don’t hold it against you – you had to say it.

hey, thanks for the link. I figure I’ll try to make a buck until somebody (if anybody) gets it trademarked. Then, I’ll probably drop the whole thing.

EWS
April 13, 2004

Hmmm… I think that I’m missing some information, maybe from my lack of memory. I don’t remember you saying how someone that you were seeing was seeing someone else on the side. Am I not understanding the situation right? Eric

April 13, 2004

Dude. Don’t be her sucker though.

April 13, 2004

she sounds like bad news… but you seem to have everything under control. did you hear about one of your fraternity brothers? A sad thing happened in the ville last weekend… –

April 14, 2004

Careful, Grasshopper. This one is all about the chase, and can make you look the fool in the process.

April 14, 2004

ryn: emailing you

Max
April 14, 2004

RYN – Do you want to cuddle with me tonight?

April 14, 2004

Yes, there’s always a butt with you………

I had to come and thank you for such kind words. You’ve really helped me more than you know through a rough patch of a couple of days. Thanks, Jason.

April 14, 2004

I’m the most guileless woman in the world — I could never not tell someone, everyone, anyone about someone I had been seeing for a year, good or bad. RYN: HAHA! I’ve been trying to explain that some guys do like pantylines to my friends for years, and no one will listen! Thank you for stepping forward. Brave soul. Ha.

April 14, 2004

The notes definitely make this more entertaining.

Lor
April 15, 2004

**grin** Bridget cracks me up… cat indeed. She’s right tho, this Jen has you in the palm of her hand.

April 15, 2004

RYN: No.

RYN thanks for the info. I actually received this from my cousin and she said the baby was dead, but I’ll change the caption.

RYN where did you run across the picture?

April 16, 2004

RYN: Ooooooh….you’d have to come and catch me first.

RYN I found the photo on a Reuters site and its a Navy Corpsman, but thanks for letting me know.

April 16, 2004

And you are such a……. (thinking of a good acronym for you)

April 17, 2004

Boy does this take me back… The Parliament of old 😉

April 18, 2004

ryn: not when that’s how tall *I* am in heels. i’d give anything to be two inches shorter. –

April 19, 2004

ryn: you are right, i am 5’6″, but i come damn close to 6′ in heels. I can’t stand being as tall or taller than a guy. It drives me crazy, I’m really self conscious about it. I feel like a monster. :/ you need to write a new entry. i’ve left far too many notes on this one… –

April 20, 2004

RYN: Well, I guess you can take it up with James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, who wrote the Bill of Rights, and did not use the word “citizen” but instead only “person”.

April 20, 2004

more diary writing, more diary writing, more diary writing.

April 21, 2004

RYN: Yeah, you’re so right, Clinton’s the real issue here. I mean, sure, there’s rioting and chaos in the streets of Iraq, we’ve alienated most of the international community, we’re making a mockery of the constitution, and we’re back to a deficit-economy, but the REAL problem is that Clinton lied about sex six years ago. STOP THE PRESSES, folks, that’s the real scandal.

April 21, 2004

RYN: Actually, I do think the way the administration is handling the Guantanamo situation is VERY related to the way it handles other international issues. There’s a general disregard for the development of the international order in this administration, an order the architecture of which was intially created with major impetus from this country (United Nations).

April 21, 2004

RYN: I respect your opinion. Just because I use a little sarcasm in responding to you doesn’t mean I don’t respect you. I never object when you do the same thing to me — it gets a little rough and tumble sometimes, Big Daddy, but I wouldn’t push unless I thought you could take it. Don’t take it personally — we disagree but that doesn’t reflect on my opinion of what a good person you are.

April 21, 2004

RYN: And by the way, Clinton WAS squirming around semantically to make himself a loophole on that sexual relations issue, but I don’t think you can make much of a loophole out of the word “person”. Person is human being, plain and simple. My point is that the Clinton impeachment scandal is old news, while this stuff is really important and going on right now.

April 21, 2004

RYN: In closing, have you ever seen me waste this much time talking to a bible-beating hillbilly? Nope. Don’t waste my breath on those people. I get a sense of your viewpoint from the little you’ve said, and in some ways I understand it, but eventually passion (for vengeance, etc.) has to be mitigated by respect for the law. That’s how we really beat those fvckers.

April 21, 2004

RYN: I know, I think you’re on your period today, honey. So emotional! I had to be all manly and straighten you out.

April 21, 2004

Hey – I can read your diary again. Cool. I’d almost given up.

April 21, 2004

RYN: Aw, you’re just jealous because you can’t stick your face in my chest and go to sleep. 🙂 Be well,

April 21, 2004

Have fun! Y pl

RYN: Joe has decided to “keep him under observation” at home. He’s cleaning up the crap if it happens. I swear. Ugh.

April 23, 2004

RYN: thank you man very cool of you. But I must ask why would you do that for me ?

you are very popular. i enjoyed reading your entry. i think i could learn a lot about men from you. i am newly single after a 23 year marriage and i know nothing. very nice to meet you.

your entry title is how to make something out of nothing. that’s something i would like to learn to do.

I can read again!

April 26, 2004

Where are you?

You, are like, James Dean, and everytime I walk into (per say) your diary, I feel like I am in another world, and its something totally differant from anything I know. You are the most *not, romantic, but, James Dean,,,,,type of man” I have ever read or known, its like falling into another universe reading u. Its f*cking fantastick! LOL. 🙂