Monday, August 17, 2015

Friends help you heal, but what is this?

I have known Susan for a few years now. She has always been very nice to me, but then she is nice to everyone. Over the last couple years she and I would talk at events. During these discussions I got the impression that I am not her type, and she doesn't use Meetup as a means to date. One thing I do know is she has a lot of guy friends. Since I have a number of girl friends (2 words), I didn't think anything of it. So I figured that we would just be friends. We talked about our kids quite a bit. She knew my ex-girlfriend, Laura through other meetups. Laura and I eventually got back together, and Susan and her became friends.

After Laura and my breakup, as well as Susan breaking up with her boyfriend around the same time, we stayed friends. She and I talked about Erik playing baseball in the Spring, and she asked to come to a game. This very much surprised me. Not too many people that you're just getting to know want to do something like that, especially a woman you aren't dating.

Well, it turns out she is a BIG baseball fan. She met me at one game, and soon after invited me to a Rockies game. This past spring she came to 3 of my son's games, and we went to at least a couple Rockies games.

We learned a lot about each other, like although she is into sports, especially baseball, she is also quite the geek. There was a discussion about the Marvel movies, and then soon after we were also going to movies.

One night at dinner she was telling me how she is trying to see a major league baseball game at every park in North America. I was a bit taken back by this, but the more I listened the more fun it sounded. She was going to be doing a stretch of about 3 weeks where she would hit 11 stadiums. I mentioned something about always wanting to see a game at Wrigley Field, so she invited me to meet her in Chicago for the game.

This soon evolved into seeing games in Atlanta, Chicago, and Cincinnati. Unfortunately she was hurt playing flag football, so we just made it to just Atlanta and Chicago. It was kind of a mad rush from place to place, but it was also one of the best trips I had ever taken. We also learned that we travel well together.

While on this trip she was talking about going to Boston to see a game before the end of the season. I mention how much I would love that, but I could not do that without taking Erik, as he is a HUGE Red Sox fan. She thinks Erik is awesome, and said to bring him. I surprised Erik with this as an 18th birthday present at the end of September.

The whole summer has been a great time, mostly because of spending a couple days a week with Susan. The problem is I have developed feelings for her. I have been pushing those thoughts aside, but then she also seems to be having those feelings. Most people would ask why is that a problem. Well, Susan and I have talked, and although we have so many great things in common, we have very different dating styles. Plus she keeps repeating how I am not tall enough.

Don't misunderstand, I have not made a move to elevate this to another level. But I think it is going that way on it's own. She is being a lot more "touchy feely", and her hugs at the end of the night tend to last a lot longer now. There was also a night last week where she had this look like I should kiss her, but I resisted.

A "friend" of ours, Tina (mostly a friend of Susan) was hounding us one night. Tina said to me that she didn't want me to get hurt. Although it was nice, it was kind of a butting in where she doesn't belong. Susan said that Tina had pulled her aside and said relatively the same thing to her. Tina said that she can see that I am interested in Susan as more than just friends. I told her there was nothing to worry about, but she kept pushing.

A little background here, Tina was once interested in me. I barely even like her, so there's that.

We met a few days later, with Tina, to watch the UFC fights. I'm not really into it, but figured at a sports bar there would also be some baseball to watch. Tina started in again about Susan and I, and Susan got pissed off. We eventually left. Susan almost ended their friendship, but didn't.

Susan met me for sushi and a movie the other night. As we sat and ate, she said she wanted to talk about us. My reaction was, "OK". She said she feels like she needs to put parameters around things. She wasn't going into specifics, as she was nervous about it. She was trying to see if I understood, but without knowing what the parameters were, I couldn't give her a straight answer. I told her that I don't normally have to think about parameters with my friends. I kind of feel like if she wants to take beyond friends, to a more intimate relationship, then she has to say it.

Unfortunately, we lost track of time and had to get to the movie. We didn't finish it afterwards either. But she did send me a text about needing to finish that conversation.

So... To Be Continued




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