Expect the Unexpected

Ever since Sunday, when I walked out of the Dark Horse's house and told him not to call me until he had things figured out, I've been very, very proud of myself for doing the right thing. It would have been so easy to say, "Casual? Sure, casual's cool." But I have made that mistake before, and it only led to heartbreak and months of my being closed off and guarded. And if we can't learn from our mistakes, what's the good in making them?

I knew there was a possibility that I would hear from the Dark Horse again someday, but I figured it would be just that: someday. Imagine my surprise when I returned home from a run this afternoon, a mere four days after the Incident to find that the Dark Horse himself had called. When I realized that he had called, I stopped before listening to the voicemail to remind myself that he was probably just calling me about the books we had lent each other (because that is apparently a mistake I will make more than once). His voicemail didn't mention anything about the book. It went something along the lines of, "Hi Violet, I know you told me not to call you until I had figured things out. Well, I've figured things out and I want to talk to you about it, so give me a call back."

Still, I was skeptical. So much so that before I returned his call, I called Scarlet to tell her about the voicemail, and questioned whether or not I really wanted to talk to him. I mean, I wasn't expecting to hear from him for weeks, months even. My appetite was back, so did I really want to get bad news from him now, which would surely bring back the nervous stomach? In the end, I decided to get it over with, so I called.

First, he apologized. There was something about the apology that didn't give me much hope. I don't know why, I just thought to myself, yeah, this won't be good. He started telling me about his calls overseas to the ex this week, and still I thought, this isn't going to be good. Then I heard, "I need to let go and move on."

What? Huh? Did I just hear that correctly? You're going to move on? Like, to me? I still wasn't sure as to what that meant, so I asked. (Because asking questions is a good thing.) He said that what was holding him back before is no longer holding him back. He wasn't sure if this changed anything for me, though. I explained to him that I certainly don't want to be a runner-up to someone who's just geographically undesirable. I don't want someone to be with me just because I'm here, when they would rather be with someone else. He said he understood that, but that when he's with me, he's definitely not wishing he was with someone else.

I'm beginning to think I may not be as good at reading signs as maybe I thought, so I need a little bit of help here. I told him on Sunday that I couldn't "just be casual," and not to call me until he figured it out, figuring it was highly likely I wouldn't ever hear from him again. He obviously spent some serious time thinking things over. He knows that I'm into him, I made that quite clear. And yet, he called. Quickly. That's good, right?

We made plans to see each other later this weekend. I'm cautiously optimistic. Scarlet questioned whether or not this was indeed an imaginary boyfriend situation, and no, it is not. Here's why: It's been two months since I started seeing him, which sounds like awhile, but not in this case. We've only been seeing each other on weekends, and there were weekends where we didn't see each other. We actually counted the times we've seen each other, and they didn't add up to all that much. For that reason, things won't move quickly with him, and I'm prepared for that. On top of that, I met him in a bar. Twice. I don't need to go rushing into anything just yet either.

It could be worse: She could be Bridget's mum

Grayer mentioned in her last post that she recently had a breakthrough with our mother. The breakthrough came in the form of her actually saying to me on Sunday, "So, I'm supposed to ask you: How's your love life?" She asked, for the first time ever. (I'm well out of adolescence by this point, too.) Grayer and I had a few theories as to why she suddenly stepped up and asked (besides the fact that Gray told her if she wanted to know things, she needs to ask), one obviously being that we're not getting any younger. But I think the reason she asked had to do with our latest cell phone bill.

Last month, it seems Grayer and I were a bit out of control with the phones. Grayer went over her text limit, I went over my minutes. I have no idea how that happened, though, since I can talk to Scarlet for free and Highlander was never that interesting to talk to, let alone on the phone. Mom sent us a nice email informing us how much we owed her. I responded with the following:

Something to take into consideration: If you and dad want grandchildren (and I suspect you do), it would be wise of you to invest in our cell phone expenses. I don't know how things went down back in the day, but these days, it is literally impossible to date without texting, etc. Unless, of course, I were to date a federal inmate, but luckily, thanks to your EXEMPLARY parenting skills, I have much higher standards and no desire to do so. Just something to think about

That may sound like I was being my usual cheeky self, but I wasn't. I was being very, very serious. And I believe they took me seriously, since the next thing I knew, my dad was calling from the Verizon store, going over all the options to upgrade our family plan. Seriously, if parents are worried about their spinster daughters living out their days as spinsters, the best thing to do is invest in their phone plan. There is really no way to snag Mr. Right without unlimited texts.

I believe it was this email that prompted mom to stick her nose into Gray's and my love lives, as it was evidence that we apparently were dating. She has always been notoriously non-evasive, which isn't always a bad thing, but got to the point of ridiculousness. Take this for example: instead of asking Grayer if she was seeing anyone, while giving her a good-bye hug, our mom asked her, "Is anyone else hugging you?" It's an incident that lives on in family infamy. At least between us it does.

But hey, at least she's not running around with a Portuguese tour operator who carries a gentleman's hand bag.