My Not-So-Imaginary Boyfriend

I don't want to jinx anything and jump on the ACTUAL BOYFRIEND bandwagon with Grayer and Fen just yet, but the cute neighbor is anything but imaginary.

First, there was a comment he made a few weeks ago, after having done my taxes for me. (As if that wasn't sign enough, yes, he did my taxes for me.) I told him he was the best fake boyfriend a girl could ask for. He told me that I should see what kind of a real boyfriend he was.

Then, when Fen was here, she was doing her usual meddling, and asked him what he was looking for in a woman. One of his responses was "thick hair." Which I just happen to have in abundance. I mean, who answers "thick hair" to that question?

The biggest clue came the other night. I have a tendency to put up a few walls when I think I might be vulnerable. Unfortunately, the cute neighbor's job is moving to Canada. He has already decided that he's not going to Canada, and therefore needs a new one. I think it's understandable if I'm a little hesitant to dive in if he's going to end up moving across the country within the next year. I told him as much. Then he said he would never ask me to move to Canada, but maybe somewhere else in the country, which I thought was interesting enough. But after a pause, he said, "But you're the reason I'm looking for jobs in Atlanta."

Huh. How so very un-imaginary of him.

There are other signs, too. Like the fact that I haven't slept in my own bed in over a week. (Or slept alone for quite some time either, since before this, I was sharing sleeping space with Fen.) Or that on Sunday while we were in the park, he casually asked what we wanted to make for dinner, as if it was a given that we would be making dinner together. Not only does he do all the cooking, but- Grayer, I know you'll appreciate this one- all the dishwashing too. He enjoys washing the dishes. I started to wash them once, and he took over before I got halfway through. And then there's the fact that he told a long-distance friend of his that he was seeing someone when asked how things were going.

So no, I'm not going to go out on a limb and call him an ACTUAL BOYFRIEND just yet, but he is so NOT imaginary. And in our world, that's huge.