congratulaaaationsss....

...I thought it would've been me, standing there with you. Congratulations, I hope you're happy. Well, not really.

So, I recently reconnected with a long lost friend of mine, M-Rod. I hadn't spoken to him in over a year...and even THEN, it was very brief. I hadn't seen him in prolly close to 10 years and I was hoping for a chance to verify that he hadn't gotten any cuter than the last time. It turns out that he lives a little over 3 hours away and I had the bright idea that I could swing through while on my way to Char.lotte, the end of this month. Unfortunately, he's been stationed in Ha.waii for the next 4 years...fortunately for him, I guess, but foiled my doggone plans. So, we're catching up and I ask, "Are you married off yet?" I figured that I already knew the answer to this...the question was more of an ice-breaker than a jaw-dropper. His response, "NO, I'M NOT MARRIED!" And right when I begin to exhale, I get..."Well, not yet anyways. The wedding is next year." Tricky ba$tard...ok, that was ugly, I know. But why did my heart drop down into my uterus?! Seriously, its all tangled up in my fallopian tubes right about now. I cannot even understand why I am reacting this way b/c my mind has certainly been occupied with other men since we last spoke. Yet, I'm sitting here quoting Ves.ta in her good days and drowning my sorrows in Can.ada Dry, when the situation OBVIOUSLY calls for a cherry slush from So.nic!

I met him during the summer after I graduated high school...through my g/f, Tam. They attended the same summer medical program. Apparently, he stole some pictures that she had developed from our trip to Disney World and he saw me all hugged up with some stuffed bear and thought it was hot, lol. We chatted on the phone for a few...he had that Spa.nish accent (if you call it that)...and in an effort to surprise me, Tam decided to drop by my house one night with him in tow. He.made.me.nervous. I think that I made THE WORST first impression known to man. I believe what he liked MOST about me was my sense of humor, but when I saw him, I couldn't find a joke with a map and a compass. He was so handsome...my first crack at exotic men (S23, 2007). I liked him, but the timing was off. He was about to go away to school...and I was staying home to attend TU. It just wasn't happening, but we still talked. But then, once we got into that school swing, those talks were few and far between.

I didn't see M-Rod until the following school year. He came to visit me in my dorm room one night, while he was in town. He and I...and my roommate...were all chillin' together, but then this broad leaves for no good reason and locks the door behind her. We were sitting on my bed, at the time, and I remember my first thought being, "Sh*t!" Up until this point, we hadn't so much as kissed...heck, up until this point all I DID was make-out with dudes, nothing serious. But I just KNEW something was about to go down that night. And it did. We didn't...well, hmmm, we did some things but my virgi.nity was still in tact (that's prolly the cleanest way that I can put it). And my roommate, being the thoughtful broad that she is, jingled her keys for a good 5 minutes before she walked into the room some hours later. Mayne, I ripped into her after M-Rod left...blamed her for every button that came undone, lol.

I made it clear afterwards, that he and I were not about to travel down that road. I was still clinging HARD to my vir.ginity. M-Rod was cool with all of that...I think that he admired the fact that I was still a vir.gin, but that didn't mean that he wasn't gonna try and get away with as much as he could. Shortly after the dorm incident, I went home to stay with my momma for a few days. He came over and she absolutely fell in love with him...she called him every Spanish name that she could think of...everything besides his real name.

Manuel, you want something to drink?

So, where are you taking my daughter, Jesus?

Julio, you hear me talkin' to you?

We were dying laughing at her...long after we left her to her Lifet.ime channel, while we grubbed at Cope.land's. When we came back, my momma was still awake. But she decided to give us some privacy and then went in her room and closed the door. I recognized that same mischievious look in his eye that he had at my dorm. My first thought was, "Sh*t!" I told him to not think that my momma didn't have her TV low enough to hear things going on...we'd better sound like we were talking and quick! Well, we lived VERY DANGEROUSLY that night.

The next morning, I jumped on my momma's bed to tell her about the fun time that me and Antonio had, lol. She stopped me mid-sentence:

"Who's been grabbing you around your neck?"

"Hunh?"

"Did Jose try to choke you?"

"What???"

"Go look in the mirror."

She started laughing as I was on that slow stroll. Lo and behold, I saw five dayum hickies that looked like he pulled an I.ke Tur.ner on me...the five finger silencer, lol. I know that I didn't drink that night but I didn't even remember him sucking on my neck, lol. Why he didn't have the decency...the common make-out courtesy...to not leave any marks is beyond me. But what was more aggravating was my mom's growing laughter.

"This isn't funny. Why are you so tickled by this?!"

"Baby, if boyfriend spending that much time around your neck, I know that he wasn't EXPLORING too much else!"

Moms even decided that certain family members and co-workers needed to know what Enrique was about, lol. I have an aunt that STILL likes to throw that story on the table. Yes, M-Rod and I had a few "physical encounters" throughout the years after that, but this one was prolly the funniest. After we first met, we never lived in the same place at the same time, but when we did meet up, we always enjoyed ourselves....not always in THAT way.

And now this dude is getting married....and I can't figure out why my eyes watered a bit. We were never a couple...it makes no sense. All I CAN say is "Congratulations", right? I DO hope that he's happy. But right now...JUST RIGHT NOW...I want him to be happy with me.

**Sigh**