Vexed by Text

Recently I met a guy in whom I was interested, and my pro-active straight friends decided to help push things along. They were going to a Carolina Panthers game over the weekend and had some extra tickets. My friend invited me, and she got one of her friends who knew the gentleman of interest to invite him. I was excited at the prospect of getting to spend some time with this guy, and I figured a group setting would be less stressful than a formal date.

We had arranged to meet at a bar near the stadium that had outside tables. It was a beautiful afternoon and everyone was looking forward to dinner outdoors. Seating was strategically planned so that I would be beside my guy. Unfortunately, once everyone was in place, a female in the group who was unaware of the dynamics asked if anyone would trade seats with her because she was getting too much sun. My guy immediately got up and traded seats.

I was still a bit nonplussed with this development when I got a text message on my cell phone. It was a flirty comment from my guy! My mood immediately improved. During dinner and the accompanying conversations, we traded flirty text messages with each other discretely under the table. It felt fun and a bit naughty. Soon it was time to go to the game.

Again, my awesome friends had arranged for me to sit beside my person of interest. At this point, things began to get strange. The guy positioned himself with his back to me (WTF??) and engaged the woman (one of our group) sitting on the other side of him in conversation. I tried once or twice to start a conversation, but he’d always eventually turn back to his friend. Disenchanted, I went with one of my friends to get a beer. Then the text messages started to arrive:

“Where’d you go?”
“Ur not leaving, are you?”

Now I was getting annoyed. It’s one thing to text me when we’re not sitting together, but to talk to your friend while I’m sitting beside you and THEN send a text after I leave is completely aggravating. I was sure when I returned he would be more attentive, but that didn’t seem to be the case. So I just struck up a conversation of my own with the friend on the other side of me.

After the game, I was convinced there were no sparks between myself and this guy—but my friend assured me he was interested. In a last ditch effort, I asked the guy if he’d want to have dinner together sometime soon. He said he would.

I guess the next step is to get something scheduled. I’m totally willing to take the initiative to call this guy and make some plans. I just hope this time he’ll actually speak to me instead of texting. Maybe we can have dinner at a hospital cafeteria—last I heard, they don’t allow cell phones in hospitals.