Meeting West.
To refresh our memories, I announced the story of my engagement to West
HERE.
Go ahead and read it, I'll wait.
Okay, up to speed? It has since come out that West and I didn't get engaged that night, although that's the story we stuck to for a little over a year. It's been sitting in the back of my brain that I need to record the
real story.
I get all giddy when I watch a chick flick or read a good girly novel because love is amazing and I certainly enjoy a plot where love overcomes. It does not make we wistful and dreamy. Why would it when I have my very own fairytale where love has overcome. These things always make me relate back to real life and The Man that I have.
The Man has a thing against people fantasizing over movie stars (I don't blame him), but seriously, it isn't about them. It's about him.
I digress.
After my divorce I was pretty blank. Empty. And in desperate need of some validation. I plunged almost immediately into the online dating world. The first one I joined was a local group. I had to go to their office where they did a background check on me making sure I was a good person and that I really was what I was saying I was. And also that I really was single. They also took a picture of me there in the office to put on my profile so there would be an assurance (on every profile) of honest representation of what I currently looked like.
You know, so there wouldn't be any surprises that the pictures posted were all from 10 years ago... oh, so you've changed quite a bit in 10 years, haven't you...
I like the precautions that they took. They also did monthly outings for the members to meet and mingle in real life and not just online. I only ever went to one activity. And it was after I'd already met West.
So I signed up and started looking around at who else was a member and found I was extremely disappointed. No one really caught my attention. I chatted with a couple, went on a pity date or two (which didn't help how I felt about myself) and found a real a$$ hole who left me feeling overly grateful that I'd never actually made it on a date with him.
I was a part of other dating sites too. I met a few guys, shut down a lot of perverts, and ended up in somewhat of a relationship with a Navy guy. It was long distance though and only lasted a few months. He ended up dumping me, very harshly I might add.
After that "break up" I went back to my local singles profile. I left work during my lunch period and headed to my dad's house to use his computer. I hadn't looked at it since I'd started "dating" Navy guy so there were two months of emails stacked up. I started with the first one, which was the most recent, and started deleting. No one was catching my interest and I was disheartened. In two months of emails, not a single prospect.
Until I reached the very last email. Which, of course was the very oldest, dating back to two months prior. It was an introduction request from Matthew, which, if I clicked to accept it, would automatically swap our personal info with each other so we could make contact off the website. I looked at his picture and I'm pretty sure I forgot to breathe for a minute.
The man was gorgeous.
Gorgeous.
He'd written on the introduction request: "Hi :). I've been wanting to say hi for awhile but didn't know what to say. -Matt"
I panicked. Two months is a long time to have not heard back from me. What if he was dating someone else by now?
I took my chances and hit the accept button. And then I printed off his picture to show the girls at work. My heart was racing and I was excited and nervous all at once. After work I ventured a call to him but ended up having to leave a message.
And I waited. Man a live, I was scared. Why was I so scared? I was still struggling with self esteem and finding it hard that this man would be interested in me. There was also the thought that two months had passed since his email.
He called me back and I was elated. And nervous. And I had a hard time thinking of what to say to him. He wasn't dating anyone, to my relief, and we talked for a little bit. He asked me if I'd like to go out with him that weekend. I agreed and we hung up. It was Tuesday night. I would meet him on Friday.
Or so I thought.
At 4:00 the next day I received a text from him. He claimed that he was supposed to be going out to a movie with a friend that night but his friend had to cancel. He was stuck with an extra ticket. Did I want to go?
I called on Brent-Dad to step in as a last minute babysitter, which he graciously did, and I accepted the offer. I felt rushed and flushed. I was working at Burt Brother's Tires and every day I left reeking of those tires (
here). I didn't have time to shower and I desperately did
not want to be smelling like a tire company when I met this man for the first time. I went home, changed into fresh clothes, fed The Circus, got them ready for bed and then began frantically spraying body spray into my hair, praying that it would be enough to get rid of the smell. My dad showed up and I left.
I shared a phone call with my brother Nick before that date. I told him about the claim of having an extra movie ticket.
"He's playing you. He's making a move. There's no extra ticket, he's making an excuse to go out with you."
"Nick, I'm
very okay with that." It was a flattering thought.
I got in my car and drove to the outside mall strip where I was to meet him for dinner and a movie. How original, I know, but our plans for a real first date on Friday were better. I viewed this as our
pre first date.
I blared Maroon 5 on my CD player as I drove and tried to talk the butterflies in my stomach away. It didn't work. I felt nauseous and light headed, I was so nervous. Not only from meeting someone I was finding to be so attractive, but from the thought that he would find me lacking. I wasn't sure I could face that.
I pulled into the underground parking garage and parked my car. I took a deep breath and mustered all the confidence I could as I walked out of the garage and onto the mall strip. I was on an upper level and I sent him a text stating that I was there. He replied with were he was, which happened to be right below me. I was standing by the escalator and as I traveled down I glanced around and saw him.
He grinned at me with those amazing smile wrinkles. I noted his pale blue eyes and his leather jacket and his tan.
I found it extremely hard to look him in the face.
We entered a restaurant and he gave the name "West" which confused me, and I figured it to be his last name. I struggled to come up with things to say through out dinner, but somehow the conversation flowed. He had a great laugh. After dinner we walked over to the theater.
Where he purchased the tickets.
Nick was right, there hadn't been a friend leaving him with an extra ticket. I was still okay with the excuse to go out with me. And I still couldn't look him in the face.
We sat in the theater watching "Jumper" but I was very aware of his presence. He didn't make a move on me, and by the end of the movie we sat with our shoulders touching, but just barely. I knew I wanted to see him again and felt reassured that we already had another date set. We walked to the garage and found that we were parked on the same level. He walked me to my car and hugged me.
On my drive home Navy guy called. He ended up being upset that I was "already" going out with someone else. To which I asked him what did he expect I was going to do? Sit around and cry for him? I had no doubt in my my mind that I would be seeing this Matthew again.
Very soon.
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
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We got all gussied up, wrapped up the present, and piled into the monster truck. We drove to the wedding site only to find that there were no other cars there.
