First, a bit of background information. Back in early 2008, I was working at a music store in a mall and still dating my college sweetheart, Leo. I should say up front that Leo was and is a great guy, but he and I had run our course, and ultimately, we were bad for each other. We influenced each other in very negative ways. While we were still officially a couple, the relationship had all but died at least six months before I met Nate.
One Friday night in February, I was working the closing shift as I usually did when two guys came in looking for a specific CD. We were extremely busy, so my part-timer was helping everyone else while I dealt with a very difficult customer. The two guys said they'd come back in a bit. I'll admit it, I checked out the tall, skinny, dark haired guy. I liked what I saw.
A little bit later, they came back. It turned out that the slightly shorter and much stockier of the two was looking for a specific Dropkick Murphys CD. While Rob was in the proper section looking for it, I walked over to the Staff Picks shelf and grabbed the CD from my music picks and handed it to him. Comments were exchanged about the quality of the picks on the Staff Picks shelves. So, as you see, the "in" of the dating world wasn't initially with Nate, it was with Rob. Luckily for me Rob wasn't remotely interested in me. That would've been just weird.
Nate, being the smart ass he is, was, and always will be, pointed to my DVD picks and complained that I was missing one of the best movies ever. Without missing a beat I told him that "Boondock Saints isn't on there because I sold the last copy yesterday."
His jaw dropped.
That was the movie he was thinking about.
We kept chatting to the point that I closed the store 10 minutes late. Fortunately Gina, my part-timer, was awesome and took care of her half of the closing procedures without me having to tell her what to do. Great employee, right there. Anyhow, as I was closing the gate, Nate asked me to join them for a late dinner once I was done closing the store. I declined as I hadn't been home for a few days at that point, but I told him to come back and see me as I practically lived at that damned store.
I assumed I'd never see him again. I was wrong. I saw him again a mere 24 hours later. That Saturday night I was having a party at my apartment. He showed up at the store to see if I wanted to get together, so I invited him to the party.
He was the last guest to arrive, and I told everyone beforehand that for that night, I didn't have a boyfriend. Honestly, I'm *really* glad that Jill, Leo's sister, had already moved out at this point. Anyhow, I ended up being a lousy host and ignored most of my friends for Nate. After everyone else called it a night, he was still there. We stayed up until the wee hours, and then slept (yes, just slept) in my bed until he had to leave for work at 7am. I'd given him my phone number, and he said he'd call.
Once again, I assumed I'd never see him again.
I was wrong again.
He called me that Tuesday, and came over to my house that Wednesday. Since then, we've spent a total of 6 nights apart. He pretty much just moved in with me at my apartment. We got married just shy of a year and a half later. Next month will be 5 years that we've been together. That thought baffles both of us considering that now we're married and have a kid and we haven't killed each other yet.
I guess Dr. Seuss was right:
No comments:
Post a Comment