Thunder

Rejection. In most cases (like, percentage wise, the high 90s) it sucks. In all cases, it's either expected or unexpected. And in the cases of where it's expected, you still hope and pray that it isn't coming. But in very few cases (the unused percentage), it isn't necessarily sucky. It can be shocking, sad, unhappy, surprising, or even funny. Tonight's case of rejection was both surprising and funny. Here's the story.

So a few weeks ago, I met this girl named Isabelle. Izzy for short, as a nickname I guess. She's cool. A lifeguard, plays rugby, and works with a bunch of people I know. Uses the expression "true story." Anyway, we talked a lot (this was at Tuesday night karaoke that we met), and decided to exchange digits. In my mind, I'm thinking sweet, a new friend! I didn't know what was going through her mind.

At one time, she came over to my house. We BBQed a dinner-type thing, popped in a movie, but we talked most of the time. Payed very little attention to the movie because it was such a good conversation. And no, that's not blogger or slang or code for anything else. We just talked. Then I walked her to the bus stop, and that was it. We made half plans to hang out again.

Those plans grew into proper plans. We were going to go bowling. Just the two of us, but bowling because it's something fun and something you can do while talking and/or having a conversation. Still in my mind, I had the word friends. I didn't think anything would happen, nor did I want it to, nor did it ever even enter or cross my mind.

Anyways, those bowling plans were "rain checked" because Izzy didn't feel too well on the day of. I say rain checked because that was the word she used. Not canceled, just moved to another day. So that's what happened. Then somewhere between that day and the day it was supposed to happen, we traded bowling for the movies, and made movie plans instead. (Still friends in my mind. (And for those of you who don't know, I wouldn't do movies as a date unless it involved a day of something else first, so that should really confirm that it was solely as friends.))

Get this; the day we're supposed to go to the movies, there's a wicked storm. That was this past Monday. Izzy's got a bad knee from a rugby injury, and she's not a fan of rain (whereas I am a huge fan of storms). So we moved the plans from Monday to Thursday. AKA today. Well we met up at Fairview to catch the bus. While waiting for the bus, she turns to me and says "We need to talk." This totally came from left field. I had no idea what it was going to be about, or what was going on in her head. But listen to (or rather, read) what she said to me.

"I just want you to know that I don't think I'm in the mind set for a relationship right now, and I hope that doesn't hurt your feelings in any way."

Like I said; left field. I actually chuckled, and quickly explained to her that it had never entered my mind. She smiled and chuckled a little bit, saying that she's glad for that, as it meant nothing would be awkward between us throughout the duration of our relationship (which would be a friendship. Got it?). I didn't bring up the recent ending of my relationship with GC with, well, who needs that when you're trying to get to know a new friend better, right? There's a time and place for that. And sure, it's been a month (close to it anyway) since it happened, but I'm still thinking about her. Not all the time, but there are moments that sneak up on me and then BOOM, like thunder, they're there.

But apart from the whole "nearly awkward moment" and the chuckle we shared, it was a good night.