said.
After I beat Brandon in ping pong, Crista and I spent the next couple of hours conversing. Thankfully, I didn’t have to talk to her about Eden. She must have remembered the days that I told her that I wish people would stop bringing it up in conversation our senior year. After a few drinks, I grabbed a six pack and took it to the beach with her. We watched the sunset and walked around. Just a few weeks ago, I would have never thought that I would be able to reconnect with most of the people who were important to me again.
As Crista and I were about to go back inside she asked me,
“Jake, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Michelle.”
“What about her? I’d assume you talk to her way more than me, “I said.
“Well I haven’t talked to her in about a month, but that’s not what this is about. I’m just wondering, why did you never go for her?” She said.
“You do know anything I say is probably going to go straight back to her right? Come on, she doesn’t think of me like that.” I said.
I started getting really uncomfortable. Was this a trap? Why would Crista bring this out of nowhere?
“I’ve just never got it. She liked you, I thought you liked her, but she was always so concerned about you always being in a flavor of the week fling. After Kyla, she just gave up because you wouldn’t stop talking about Kyla,” she said.
I couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. Was she joking around? But wait, Crista has always been pretty serious. I recalled the memories I had of when Michelle and I were having a casual lunch and I was resisting the searing pain of asking her back to my room so we could “dry hump just to see where it goes.” I was always so good at resisting Michelle because I was so scared of losing her in my life. I always felt great around her.
“I guess I was always too scared of rejection, especially since we got along so well,” I said.
“Well just saying, up until recently she’d talk about her attraction to you,” she said.
“Can you be a little more descriptive?” I said.
“Grow some balls Jake. Take a risk if you want. I already said too much.”
After about a minute of silence Crista I and started talking about the sunset and how beautiful the Florida Keys were. We went back into the house, spoke a bit more and then went our separate ways. Brandon came up to me and said, “where have you been, some things never change you’ve always been the one to pull a Houdini. I want a rematch in ping pong.”
I went to play Brandon in another round of ping pong. I couldn’t shake thinking about Michelle though. Did I have any regrets about ever putting a move on her? Even though I’ll admit I’ve always found her gorgeous and super intelligent, I had no regrets. I don’t think I’ve ever been mature enough to handle a relationship with her. But what if I tried to court her now? I kept thinking about how she was wearing the bracelet I gave her on her 21 st birthday last month when we went to the MFA. I just kept thinking about that moment over and over.
I wasn’t fully able to focus on the ping pong match, Brandon destroyed me. I took the opportunity to make my rounds to everyone I hadn’t talked to yet and hear what they had to say.
That’s how the whole weekend was. It was beautiful to finally look into the lives of other people in a non-professional setting. We spent the weekend on the beach and in the house relaxing without a care in the world.
I forgot to mention, Key West is wild on New Year’s. The main streets are extremely crowded with a bunch of people raging like there is no tomorrow. Surprisingly enough, I took the rest of the weekend moderately easy on my body. I couldn’t stop thinking about Michelle.
As the clock winded down to the New Year, I realized that I hadn’t thought of any resolutions. I thought quickly and said, “I’m going to stop wallowing in self-pity and start actively making steps to feel happy
After I beat Brandon in ping pong, Crista and I spent the next couple of hours conversing. Thankfully, I didn’t have to talk to her about Eden. She must have remembered the days that I told her that I wish people would stop bringing it up in conversation our senior year. After a few drinks, I grabbed a six pack and took it to the beach with her. We watched the sunset and walked around. Just a few weeks ago, I would have never thought that I would be able to reconnect with most of the people who were important to me again.
As Crista and I were about to go back inside she asked me,
“Jake, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Michelle.”
“What about her? I’d assume you talk to her way more than me, “I said.
“Well I haven’t talked to her in about a month, but that’s not what this is about. I’m just wondering, why did you never go for her?” She said.
“You do know anything I say is probably going to go straight back to her right? Come on, she doesn’t think of me like that.” I said.
I started getting really uncomfortable. Was this a trap? Why would Crista bring this out of nowhere?
“I’ve just never got it. She liked you, I thought you liked her, but she was always so concerned about you always being in a flavor of the week fling. After Kyla, she just gave up because you wouldn’t stop talking about Kyla,” she said.
I couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. Was she joking around? But wait, Crista has always been pretty serious. I recalled the memories I had of when Michelle and I were having a casual lunch and I was resisting the searing pain of asking her back to my room so we could “dry hump just to see where it goes.” I was always so good at resisting Michelle because I was so scared of losing her in my life. I always felt great around her.
“I guess I was always too scared of rejection, especially since we got along so well,” I said.
“Well just saying, up until recently she’d talk about her attraction to you,” she said.
“Can you be a little more descriptive?” I said.
“Grow some balls Jake. Take a risk if you want. I already said too much.”
After about a minute of silence Crista I and started talking about the sunset and how beautiful the Florida Keys were. We went back into the house, spoke a bit more and then went our separate ways. Brandon came up to me and said, “where have you been, some things never change you’ve always been the one to pull a Houdini. I want a rematch in ping pong.”
I went to play Brandon in another round of ping pong. I couldn’t shake thinking about Michelle though. Did I have any regrets about ever putting a move on her? Even though I’ll admit I’ve always found her gorgeous and super intelligent, I had no regrets. I don’t think I’ve ever been mature enough to handle a relationship with her. But what if I tried to court her now? I kept thinking about how she was wearing the bracelet I gave her on her 21 st birthday last month when we went to the MFA. I just kept thinking about that moment over and over.
I wasn’t fully able to focus on the ping pong match, Brandon destroyed me. I took the opportunity to make my rounds to everyone I hadn’t talked to yet and hear what they had to say.
That’s how the whole weekend was. It was beautiful to finally look into the lives of other people in a non-professional setting. We spent the weekend on the beach and in the house relaxing without a care in the world.
I forgot to mention, Key West is wild on New Year’s. The main streets are extremely crowded with a bunch of people raging like there is no tomorrow. Surprisingly enough, I took the rest of the weekend moderately easy on my body. I couldn’t stop thinking about Michelle.
As the clock winded down to the New Year, I realized that I hadn’t thought of any resolutions. I thought quickly and said, “I’m going to stop wallowing in self-pity and start actively making steps to feel happy
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