Smitten

Smitten (Part 1)

I met Shawn about a month after I moved to Europe to study abroad. Pathetically enough, he was actually one of the first people I really met. Don't ask me what I was doing for the first month. Recovering from jet lag, I guess. He was a "native," cute accent and all. He was also a tall blue eyed blond. Add to all this the fact that he owned a car--something that was quite the rarity in these parts--and he was pert-near perfect.

On of the first things I found out about him is that he was involved in a long-distance relationship with a girl from Utah. He confided in me that he kind of wished "she would just meet a guy back home" and dump him, as he apparently didn't really like the situation. My first words of advice was that he should dump her as quickly as possible. I was not a fan of distance relationships myself (for reasons that are an entirely different SOS story). Now at this point I was sorta kinda still in a relationship that was on the rocks, and close to ending. I told him this, and he said "so, our love lives suck, we have something in common." We hit is off quite well, and by the end of the evening I could hardly believe that we had just barely met. We even joked that we should both dump the people we were dating and date each other. However, since we were both involved with other people at the time, we didn't exchange phone numbers or anything, and so at the end of the night when we said goodbye, I had no idea when I would see him again. However, I knew that something would definitely happen between us. I was 100% sure that at some point in the future we would kiss. (In retrospect, I wonder how much of a self-fulfilling prophecy that was...) That night I could hardly sleep because I couldn't stop thinking about him.

It turned out I saw him less than a week later, when I went to help decorate for a dance that was being held for the youth. Some of my acquaintances were in charge of decorating, and I got roped in to helping out. I was more than happy to do it, since the prospect of Shawn being there was quite high. I was getting ready to hang balloons from the ceiling when he walked in. I was trying to act "cool" and not run up to him as soon as I saw him. I wanted to see if he would come talk to me. He did. He even gave me a hug. Then he proceeded to help me hang up balloons, hold the tape for me, and anything else I needed. I was enjoying the attention. After we finished decorating, we went in to another room where the kids were watching a movie, and we sat in the back and watched it. I think we were thinking more about each other than about the movie. But, since we were both "involved" with other people, nothing really happened.

For a while it stayed like that. We would only see each other when we both ended up at the same activity, which happened enough to keep me happy. We would hang out and talk a lot, but nothing more. Then I didn't see him for almost a month, and I was getting a little frustrated about it. I was starting to wonder how I could stalk him without making it too obvious--I didn't want to have to call a friend and say "hey, do you know Shawn's number?". Then, just a few days later, I noticed that he was a friend of one of my friends on Facebook. I immediately added him and sent him a message. Something along the lines of "Hey, we should hang out sometime but only as friends since we are both dating other people." Smooth, I know. Surprisingly, he actually replied and gave me his number. I gave him the number to my apartment since I didn't have a cell phone yet (very very bad for my social life, I might add). We bantered a little over Facebook messages and then switched to email since I hate Facebook. Eventually we decided to do something. We ended up watching a movie at my house. He invited Tim, one of his other friends. I was a little annoyed that it wasn't just the two of us, but it was probably good to have someone to chaperon. Shawn sat by me on the couch, and shared a blanket. By the end of the movie, we were holding hands under the blanket. So jr. high, I know. But it still made me feel excited and giddy.

I also found out that Tim and I had talked on MSN before I had moved there, when I was looking for an apartment. He had been a little offish with me at the time--I was trying to flirt a little and make friends so I would know someone when I got there, but that was obviously not on his agenda. However, in real life he was much cooler. We made plans to hang out.

I felt a little guilty about all this, due to the fact that I was still technically dating someone. However, I was vastly becoming more and more annoyed by this fact, so a week or so later when we got into a fight and he dumped me, I didn't put up much of an argument. I also called Shawn later than day and manged to work into the conversation the fact that I got dumped. You know, just so he knew I was single. He asked he if I was sad and I said "sort of."

That Sunday there was a choir concert at the church, but I didn't feel like going. I called Shawn to ask if he was going to go (really just an excuse to talk to him) and he said he didn't want to either. So he said he would come over and we could hang out instead. I was definitely up for that! He came over and we eventually decided to just drive around in his car. When we were getting in his car he said "Oh, here is an old cell phone of mine I got for you! Now all you have to do it buy a pre-paid SIM card and you will have a cell phone." Wow. He gained some MAJOR points for thoughtfulness right here. Although I'm sure he just had the ulterior motive of wanting to be able to get in touch with me better.

It was raining a little and getting dark... kind of romantic. I started bragging about how good I was at driving a stick, and he said I had to show him. I told him we had to find a side street or something because I didn't want to drive with other traffic. Seeing as how I didn't have a drivers license in that country, getting away from traffic was probably a good idea. Eventually we ended up on a small quiet road out in the middle of nowhere. He pulled over and we switched places. I drove for a little while, not doing as well with the clutch as I had thought I would, unfortunately. Then I saw headlights in the rearview mirror, and wanting to avoid other cars, I pulled off into a parking lot. I told him I was done driving, so we switched places again. Instead of starting up the car and leaving, he turned on the heater and the radio. We ended up sitting there talking for about 45 minutes, though I could tell talking was not #1 on his agenda. Somehow he managed to get his arm around me, and eventually we ended up holding hands again.

Now since I was newly single, I was not in any way hesitant about getting close. It was obvious he wanted to kiss me. We were still talking, but ended up with our heads really close together. Finally, I tired of all the games, and just leaned over a little more, with one purpose in mind. The next thing I knew we were kissing. It was a GOOD first kiss. We ended up making out for like half an hour. Then we realized how late it was, and decided we should go. On the way home, I couldn't stop looking at him. It made me smile. When we stopped at a light, he leaned over and quickly kissed me again. Finally we got to my place, and I kept starting to get out of the car, and then leaning over to kiss him one more time. He laughed and said "stop kissing me and go home now!" so I jumped out of the car and went in to my apartment. I couldn't stop smiling, and I could hardly sleep that night (again).

However, through all this, he still had his long-distance girlfriend. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized that I had become the "other woman."

To be continued...