I'm so emo

Well, the thing being alluded to in my last post has been put off by a week. I'm not chickening out or anything, I just had something else come up that has priority. (It's true, I swear!)

In the meantime, to whet your appetite, let me share with you the story of the last time I asked somebody out. It was a couple of years ago (insert your "Mark is a loser" joke here) when I lived in the dorms. In the dorms you tend to see many of the tenants frequently, especially in the cafeteria. There were many girls I saw and, uh, kept my eyes on during meals but one of them captured my interest more than others. I won't say her name but I will say that she was cute and seemed to be very sweet. I often times tried to work up the nerve to approach her but, being me, I never did.

During this time I was frequenting the Newman Catholic Center. One Sunday I went to the leadership meeting and the girl from the cafeteria happened to be there. It was there that I learned her name and a little about her. I kept my eye on her the rest of the night until she got up to leave. Sensing a chance to talk to her I smoothly slid out of the room and followed until I met up with her about halfway back to the dorms. I introduced myself and talked with her the rest of the way back, and then we went our separate ways.

After this, I didn't see her in the cafeteria for a while. (To be honest, I didn't see her all that frequently before, but I wasn't really looking, either.) Not wanting to let my chance slip away, I did what any geek like me would do: I looked up her phone number using the university's online phonebook. A few days later I actually managed to call the number. Unfortunately, her roommate picked up the phone and I had to leave a message. The next few days I was on pins and needles waiting for her to call back. After a while I just figured it was a lost cause and decided to move on. Then late one night I was playing cards with the gang at the Trident I saw her walking past. She saw me and flashed me one of those innocent smiles. It was like she poured hot acid all over me. I was pissed.

When I got back to my room a little while later I immediately noticed the flashing red light on the phone indicating a voicemail message. I called up the number and, sure enough, it was the cafeteria girl calling to apologize for not returning my previous call and saying that she was going to be gone for the weekend (this was a Thursday night, in case you were wondering) but that she'd like to get together sometime next week. I was so thrilled I think I jumped for joy. Pretty pathetic on my part but that's just me.

So after a great weekend Monday arrived and I waited for her to call. For three days I didn't hear a word from her. This concerned me so I decided to give her a call but, of course, her roommate answered again. She did not sound too cheery when she was taking my message but I was hopeful that cafeteria girl was just bad about returning calls. Unfortunately for me she decided to blow me off and never called me back. I have some inkling that her roommate played some part in this and/or she started wondering how this guy she barely knew got her number. I honestly don't know why she never called back, but whatever the reason was it wouldn't have made me feel any better.

Over the rest of the semester I saw her a few more times. Once in the cafeteria I had to be verbally restrained from confronting her by Bill and Tim, but the other times I maybe strained to shoot her a weak smile but that was it.

Alright, enough of this emo shit. Jack Bauer's throwing a party and I'm invited. Time to go!

-Mark