our internet has been out for a few days, so sadly i haven’t been able to continue the series i started. too long of a piece to write while i should be working, no way to write at home. so, there’s my excuse. let’s get back to it. this one’s a bit long, but so worth it.

Girls: Source of Endless Pain and Amusement

Part Two – The Scene

so the deal is, i’ve had a crush on an intern that worked in my office all summer. very cute, extrememly smart and cool. and no, she wasn’t too young for me or one of my actual coworkers, so i wasn’t breaking any taboos or anything. it was a safe and healthy admiration.

after getting to spend some time talking to her and her friends at a coworker’s housewarming party one week, and a von bondies/x-games party the next, she had mentioned how i should come to a karaoke night she went to with her friends. i figured it was just polite flirtation until she emailed me her phone number the day of, saying i should call her and come out. i became very excited about the evening and the opportunity to spend more time getting to know this potentially great girl in a social setting. of course, i called her up.

since the place we were going offered free admission if you come with a girl, the plan was to meet up at her friend’s place and go all together to avoid a ten dollar cover. so, i drive up to this friend’s place up in silverlake figuring there’s a group of 3 or 4 people going as a big party. fun times. he lives in a rear-facing unit with a fraction in the address, so when i park my car i call the girl and tell her i’m out front and sit on a ledge with a tall hedge behind me waiting for them to come out. i hear people talking, coming around from the back, and recognize something odd i can’t really place. first the friend comes around and spots me and waves, followed right after by the girl i like laughing along with someone else, another girl who comes around the hedge last, another girl that i stand up to get a full look at and realize that SHE IS MY EX GIRLFRIEND.

i freeze and my jaw drops. she stops dead in her tracks, looks down and says loudly, ‘oooooh my god.’ i start laughing to battle the awkwardness, and say, ‘hey, how’s it going’. the other two look at us reacting to each other and ask what’s up. the ex says, ‘brian and i used to date.’ the other two don’t even believe it, but when told it’s as true as it is unbelievable, start laughing hysterically as well. i wonder between laughs if anything worse could have possibly happened. oh, you just wait.

how about her saying on the way to the car, ‘yeah, so brian broke up with me because he didn’t think we had a future together. isn’t that right?’ pointedly in my direction. i resisted the urge to punch her in the face and ignored her. she was obviously whispering about me/us/something in the backseat with the guy friend while i tried to make conversation with the crush riding shotgun on the way to the bar. turns out the ex had been having the worst day of her life (i found out later secondhand) and was just beginning to cheer up when she saw me, and actually ended up calling a ride home from the bar after only about 15 minutes, which i can’t say didn’t relieve me.

honestly, what are the fucking chances? how small can my social circle be that the girl i barely know from work has a friend from school who used to work with my ex-girlfriend who i didn’t even know at all before we started seeing eachother?! it seems impossible, but i laughed it off and had a great time that night anyway. the scene is just weird sometimes, i guess, so i mostly just saw the humor and tried to play it cool since that was easily the weirdest thing that had ever happened to me.

until exactly one week later. tuesday night i decide to go with my roommate and his friend to the kibitz room at canter’s on tuesday night, which they’d been going to frequently for a couple months. lots of young hipsters apparently. i wanted to finally give it a try. we drink a few at the friend’s place, walk down beverly, pop up to canter’s, get our bracelets and walk in the door. quick scan of the room shows lots of young-looking girls, a beer stand right near the entrance, and oh yes, MY FUCKING EX GIRLFRIEND! standing right in front of the door no less. and not just there, a psychotic second coincidence, but there with the same two people, the crush and her friend. perfect!

you know, we all did laugh about it, and nevermind the fact that she came with a zinger again this time instead of being cool about it — ‘you’re like the curse of my life!’, i believe it was. and the cute girl i like even swung by later and said she was so sorry although she and her friend did laugh hysterically. but i just don’t know how funny i found it that second time. after two it’s a little less funny and a little more cosmically creepy and disheartening in the pursuit of the crush. note to self: this tuesday, stay home.