rudely awakened at the same time. “He’s coming back
to Columbus in a couple of weeks, so I’ll work on it.”
I wasn’t stressed about my fling with Jay until exactly that moment.
Suddenly, I felt pressured to make it work no matter what. What if Jay was the first
and last guy of his caliber who would ever want me? It was already a total
fluke that he was even interested at all. Erica was right, I was on the verge
of entering a new age bracket, and who knew what sort of vibe thirty-something
single women exuded to men? I could be giving off a vibe of desperation without
even knowing it! Yikes. It felt like being the last kid picked for a team in
gym class, something I was painfully familiar with.
I swore to myself that things would be different with Jay. He would
be the one—the one I’d work to get and work to keep. Worst-case scenario,
I could move to New York. And that wouldn’t even be so bad. I could get used to
a life in the big city. Sure, I’d miss my family, but New York was vibrant. I
felt tense as I was forcefully scrubbed with pumice by a nail technician, and
each grind of the stone to the sole of my foot was like a painful reminder that
landing Jay would be no easy feat. I wondered why he hadn’t texted me yet (it
was nearly one in the afternoon). I started to panic, so I shot him a message
that simply read, Hi there.
Hey babe, he quickly
responded.
I breathed a sigh of relief. His texts were like crack to me. When
they waned I felt low, and when they came through I was high; I felt
invincible. Maybe I really could make something of my new fling after all. Jay
had everything going for him, and according to my friends, so did I. I just had
to convince myself that they were right.
5
Following
Erica’s birthday, I was resolute in the decision to make Jay Conrad mine. Erica
and the other girls were right: I had to I seal the deal during Jay’s impending
visit. Ending up with him would be the ultimate vindication. The mean girls
from high school had long since settled down with their high school
sweethearts, the former jocks who now had protruding abdomens and diminishing
hairlines, but not me. I’d spent the past decade growing as an individual and
finding the crème de la crème of men. With Jay by my side, I could do anything
I wanted and be the person I always wanted to be.
Always the
pessimist, Jenna reminded me that I should be wary. She believed it was likely
that Jay was so good looking that he was inevitably a player. And even Jay
himself had even mentioned in a text message to having had only negligible
relationship experience. But I argued that for the right girl he would change.
And I was the right girl. I had to be. Since meeting Jay, I'd felt transformed.
I had a shot at happiness with someone who no doubt had women falling at his
feet.
Two weeks felt
like two long, agonizing years as I waited for Jay to arrive back in Columbus
for our first official date. He’d landed just before noon for his meeting on a
Thursday, and we were going to dinner later that evening. I’d taken the
following Friday off, knowing that I’d be too hungover to work. I always
required a drink to loosen up on a date, and for a date with Jay, I’d probably
need three or four. I planned to drink in proportion to his hotness, just to be
on the safe side.
Being at work
that day was torturous. Knowing that Jay was in Columbus while I was indentured
to a time clock was excruciating. It took every ounce of my willpower to not
get up and walk out of my office for good. The day dragged on, teasing me as if
it were fully aware of the pot of gold waiting for me at the end of it. On top
of the day crawling by, I had to stop at the downtown restaurant on the way
home to greet a few customers. There, I got stuck talking to Ryan about an
upcoming bridal shower.
“We can’t set up
the tables that way in the Ambassador Room, Elle. It just won’t work
to Columbus in a couple of weeks, so I’ll work on it.”
I wasn’t stressed about my fling with Jay until exactly that moment.
Suddenly, I felt pressured to make it work no matter what. What if Jay was the first
and last guy of his caliber who would ever want me? It was already a total
fluke that he was even interested at all. Erica was right, I was on the verge
of entering a new age bracket, and who knew what sort of vibe thirty-something
single women exuded to men? I could be giving off a vibe of desperation without
even knowing it! Yikes. It felt like being the last kid picked for a team in
gym class, something I was painfully familiar with.
I swore to myself that things would be different with Jay. He would
be the one—the one I’d work to get and work to keep. Worst-case scenario,
I could move to New York. And that wouldn’t even be so bad. I could get used to
a life in the big city. Sure, I’d miss my family, but New York was vibrant. I
felt tense as I was forcefully scrubbed with pumice by a nail technician, and
each grind of the stone to the sole of my foot was like a painful reminder that
landing Jay would be no easy feat. I wondered why he hadn’t texted me yet (it
was nearly one in the afternoon). I started to panic, so I shot him a message
that simply read, Hi there.
Hey babe, he quickly
responded.
I breathed a sigh of relief. His texts were like crack to me. When
they waned I felt low, and when they came through I was high; I felt
invincible. Maybe I really could make something of my new fling after all. Jay
had everything going for him, and according to my friends, so did I. I just had
to convince myself that they were right.
5
Following
Erica’s birthday, I was resolute in the decision to make Jay Conrad mine. Erica
and the other girls were right: I had to I seal the deal during Jay’s impending
visit. Ending up with him would be the ultimate vindication. The mean girls
from high school had long since settled down with their high school
sweethearts, the former jocks who now had protruding abdomens and diminishing
hairlines, but not me. I’d spent the past decade growing as an individual and
finding the crème de la crème of men. With Jay by my side, I could do anything
I wanted and be the person I always wanted to be.
Always the
pessimist, Jenna reminded me that I should be wary. She believed it was likely
that Jay was so good looking that he was inevitably a player. And even Jay
himself had even mentioned in a text message to having had only negligible
relationship experience. But I argued that for the right girl he would change.
And I was the right girl. I had to be. Since meeting Jay, I'd felt transformed.
I had a shot at happiness with someone who no doubt had women falling at his
feet.
Two weeks felt
like two long, agonizing years as I waited for Jay to arrive back in Columbus
for our first official date. He’d landed just before noon for his meeting on a
Thursday, and we were going to dinner later that evening. I’d taken the
following Friday off, knowing that I’d be too hungover to work. I always
required a drink to loosen up on a date, and for a date with Jay, I’d probably
need three or four. I planned to drink in proportion to his hotness, just to be
on the safe side.
Being at work
that day was torturous. Knowing that Jay was in Columbus while I was indentured
to a time clock was excruciating. It took every ounce of my willpower to not
get up and walk out of my office for good. The day dragged on, teasing me as if
it were fully aware of the pot of gold waiting for me at the end of it. On top
of the day crawling by, I had to stop at the downtown restaurant on the way
home to greet a few customers. There, I got stuck talking to Ryan about an
upcoming bridal shower.
“We can’t set up
the tables that way in the Ambassador Room, Elle. It just won’t work
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