You never get a 2nd (3rd, 4th) chance at a first impression.
Back in my Junior year of University, post-nasty relationship breakup, I was spending a lot of time on the 6th floor of my building in the Quad, with my friend Chris. Chris and I never were a couple, although the rest of the world (including my mother) was sure we were sleeping together. We were just great partying buddies, and spent most of our days together. One evening, I walked out of his room looking for his next door neighbor, a funny guy we called our "party favor." We'd invite him over when we needed to be entertained. He always obliged. I found him on the stairwell with some goth-looking chick who was wrapping rolls of toilet paper around the banister and had made it down almost to the next floor. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Wrapping the banister." came the reply from Neighbor Boy. "Why?" I asked.
Goth Chick looked at me with some serious attitude. "I'M DRUNK, OKAAAYYY???"
Uh, yeah. Fine. Be my guest. Bitch. Chris and I returned to his room.
A month or so later, my younger sister was up visiting me for the weekend the night my ex-boyfriend decided to kill me.
I'm not going to go into the details of our year and a half long relationship, his neediness, my ending it so I could become myself again and not the person I was turning into, his stalkerish behavior, his crazy 8-page letters...
Approximately 6 months after I ended our relationship he decided one night that if he couldn't have me nobody would.
My sister and I were getting ready to go out for the evening when Psycho Boy busted in to my 4th floor room weilding a gun. My first instinct, insanely enough, was anger, not fear. I was furious that this idiot would intrude on my life like this and threaten ME. He shot out a window, shattered my mirror and was chased out of my room by some complete stranger from two floors up (no police, nobody else even responded to our screams), who chased him down four flights of stairs and out into the courtyard, where he lost him. My hero.
Psycho Boy stayed missing for several days, during which my sister and I were treated like a liability and I was forced to move into a new room. A month before the end of the school year, with everything else going on in my life, I had to move the entire contents of my room two floors up. At least I'd be on the same floor as Chris now.
So my sister worked with me, helping me carry stuff upstairs, and we worked into the night, for I had been told by the University that I was to be out of my room that day. We carried my boxes of stuff, milk crates full of records and books, clothing in garbage bags... Almost done, late in the evening, we were carting my mattress up and out of her room walks Goth Girl. "Nice fucking time to start moving in," she says and walks to the bathroom. My sister shut me in my new room while I vented vociferously about this bitch, who does she think she is, if she had any damn idea WHY I was moving, against my will, into a new room, and doing it all night... Yeah. I was pissed.
Later that night, close to 2am, who do I see walking down the hall but My Hero. I stopped him, thanked him profusely for helping out even though he had no clue who we were, if the gun was real...any of it. Just a brave, brave man. I was giving him the update on where things stood when Goth Girl walks out of her room again and says, in her by now signature bitchy tone, "It's 2am. Move out of the hallway!"
We moved out of the hallway and that was it with Goth Girl. Three strikes, she was done in my book. She better hope she never runs into me again.
A week or so later, all settled in, sister gone home, I was hanging out with Chris when he suggested we invite DebbiefromAlaska to come hang with us. She's cool, he assured me, and as Neighbor Boy was not around, we thought we could use some entertainment.
Chris and I walked into DebbiefromAlaska's room and guess who her roommate was. Right. Goth Girl. Chris invited DebbiefromAlaska to come hang with us and said to Goth Girl "You can come too, if you want."
The look I shot him could have melted the Polar Ice Caps. She joined us.
Somehow, possibly due to ingestation of slightly illegal substances, the mood shifted and I found myself sitting on the floor of Chris' room talking to Goth Girl. Whose name was Laura. Who was having some trouble ending a relationship with an abusive asshole of a boyfriend.
The heavens opened up, pigs flew, hell froze over...we clicked.
Fifteen years later, I count Laura as one of a very small handful of true, close friends. I'm leaving tomorrow to visit her overnight and I can't wait. We still laugh at the series of events prior to our becoming friends. Turns out Chris really wanted to invite DebbiefromAlaska over because he wanted to get in Laura's pants, and the only reason she came was because she SAW the look I gave him when he invited her too. And still, every time my sister sees her, she says
"Nice fucking time to be moving in."
Goth Chick looked at me with some serious attitude. "I'M DRUNK, OKAAAYYY???"
Uh, yeah. Fine. Be my guest. Bitch. Chris and I returned to his room.
A month or so later, my younger sister was up visiting me for the weekend the night my ex-boyfriend decided to kill me.
I'm not going to go into the details of our year and a half long relationship, his neediness, my ending it so I could become myself again and not the person I was turning into, his stalkerish behavior, his crazy 8-page letters...
Approximately 6 months after I ended our relationship he decided one night that if he couldn't have me nobody would.
My sister and I were getting ready to go out for the evening when Psycho Boy busted in to my 4th floor room weilding a gun. My first instinct, insanely enough, was anger, not fear. I was furious that this idiot would intrude on my life like this and threaten ME. He shot out a window, shattered my mirror and was chased out of my room by some complete stranger from two floors up (no police, nobody else even responded to our screams), who chased him down four flights of stairs and out into the courtyard, where he lost him. My hero.
Psycho Boy stayed missing for several days, during which my sister and I were treated like a liability and I was forced to move into a new room. A month before the end of the school year, with everything else going on in my life, I had to move the entire contents of my room two floors up. At least I'd be on the same floor as Chris now.
So my sister worked with me, helping me carry stuff upstairs, and we worked into the night, for I had been told by the University that I was to be out of my room that day. We carried my boxes of stuff, milk crates full of records and books, clothing in garbage bags... Almost done, late in the evening, we were carting my mattress up and out of her room walks Goth Girl. "Nice fucking time to start moving in," she says and walks to the bathroom. My sister shut me in my new room while I vented vociferously about this bitch, who does she think she is, if she had any damn idea WHY I was moving, against my will, into a new room, and doing it all night... Yeah. I was pissed.
Later that night, close to 2am, who do I see walking down the hall but My Hero. I stopped him, thanked him profusely for helping out even though he had no clue who we were, if the gun was real...any of it. Just a brave, brave man. I was giving him the update on where things stood when Goth Girl walks out of her room again and says, in her by now signature bitchy tone, "It's 2am. Move out of the hallway!"
We moved out of the hallway and that was it with Goth Girl. Three strikes, she was done in my book. She better hope she never runs into me again.
A week or so later, all settled in, sister gone home, I was hanging out with Chris when he suggested we invite DebbiefromAlaska to come hang with us. She's cool, he assured me, and as Neighbor Boy was not around, we thought we could use some entertainment.
Chris and I walked into DebbiefromAlaska's room and guess who her roommate was. Right. Goth Girl. Chris invited DebbiefromAlaska to come hang with us and said to Goth Girl "You can come too, if you want."
The look I shot him could have melted the Polar Ice Caps. She joined us.
Somehow, possibly due to ingestation of slightly illegal substances, the mood shifted and I found myself sitting on the floor of Chris' room talking to Goth Girl. Whose name was Laura. Who was having some trouble ending a relationship with an abusive asshole of a boyfriend.
The heavens opened up, pigs flew, hell froze over...we clicked.
Fifteen years later, I count Laura as one of a very small handful of true, close friends. I'm leaving tomorrow to visit her overnight and I can't wait. We still laugh at the series of events prior to our becoming friends. Turns out Chris really wanted to invite DebbiefromAlaska over because he wanted to get in Laura's pants, and the only reason she came was because she SAW the look I gave him when he invited her too. And still, every time my sister sees her, she says
"Nice fucking time to be moving in."
posted by cjblue at 11:32 AM
4 Comments:
this is GREAT. have fun with GothGirl! xoxoxo
Yay! Isn't it crazy how you come to meet friends. I am the Queen of making a bad first impression because I look so serious. But once people get to know me they feel different about me!
What a great story. Very interesting.
I tend to make a bad first impression on folks, since I'm a bit nearsighted, sometimes I squint at stuff way off in distance. Unfortunately, when it's people way off in the distance they just think I'm glaring at them, rather than squinting.
Nice post thanks for sharing
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