off the hook

diga sa sauna continued

“You have a cute smile”.

Imagine receiving that comment from a guy in your Friendster. And you’re not even out.

After getting my number that night, the following nights saw me receiving calls at odd hours from this guy, the “hi” guy at the sauna who introduced himself as marvin. From his calls, I got insights into his own personality that made me all the more squeamish of letting him becoming more personal with me. I dunno if my being too friendly sometimes sends the wrong signals, but I think I’ve stated my point early on with him; that he cannot expect any blossoming of relationship whatsoever with me, except only along the safe lines of friendship.

Though that might be the case, in the nights when his calls interrupted my yoga practice, he continued making advances by telling me of the allure of my smile that night when we were talking at the sauna. This declaration is no longer foreign to me, as friends and acquaintances from the normal world also tell me—even way before making that big shift from my former plus-size wardrobe to normal-sized clothes; I am already aware that my smile, if such a word is apt to describe it, is a killer one. Hehehe.

A bit irritated by this show of affection though, I cut him in the middle of his sentence to ask him straight as to what made him call. He said there is a party in their house and he can’t concentrate with his studies so he just called me up. Uhm, i didn’t get your drift. I’m almost on the verge of telling him straight out that his brain seems to be floating up there with the stars. Instead of taking the ballistic path though, I decided to play clinical psychologist to him and asked him what’s the matter. What followed was an honest-to-goodness pouring out of emotion from a kid who just wanted someone to love him back; a breakup that’s just too recent to be processed and shelved like archival materials, neatly stacked and labeled.

I’m not an ancient, if one tries to compare our age, but seeing that I’m in a much stable place in the EQ department, I volunteered bits and pieces of wisdom culled from an array of recent heartbreaks where I managed to pull myself through (I think). He ended the call feeling light hearted than when we started the conversation; leaving me the drained one. Hehehe.

With that call, I saw a new role; that of being an older, wiser confidante, something that I willingly embraced if it meant getting off the hook. Hehehe. the succeeding calls saw a waning of intensity on his part, his advances altogether stopped; not by me, but by himself. It was when the situation was finally under control that I decided to tell dee all about it. though it might seem an unnecessary move—the emergency having been contained already—I still opted to break it to my dee gently for I believe honesty is a crucial ingredient in any relationship.

to be continued