"At the Tone..."

Ok, so the guy? The friend of a friend? He’s really starting to annoy me, and I haven’t even spoken to him since NYE. How so, you may ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

As I mentioned earlier, I “agreed” to dinner and a movie under duress. (And by “duress” I mean when I was more than likely still a bit buzzed, half asleep, and caught off guard.) To me, this does not then actually constitute the making of an actual date. This requires a phone call, at which point I would tell him that I really like him as a person, but I don’t want to get involved with anyone right now. Which I HATE doing, but since I was foolish enough not to nip this thing in the bud right from the get-go, I am obliged to do.

Anyway, he called on Wednesday while Lexie and I were out shopping, and I had no desire to call him back when we got home. Actually, I had no desire to call him back, period, but whatever. So I figured I’d call him the next day. Next day came, and I guess I “forgot” accidentally on purpose. On Friday I honestly DID forget, and then the proper time had passed for calling someone back. So I did what anyone in my situation would do: I lied.

I took Lexie to bowling and was talking to my friend R whose husband is FOF’s friend (hence, FOF). I told her I really had no interest in dating FOF, he was a nice guy and all, but not my type. I mean, honestly, I had known him over a year, and if I DID have any interest in him, he would have known by now. So she said, “Well, tell him that when you call him back. He’ll understand.” (This is the part where I lied.) I gave R the big innocent look and said, “Call him BACK? He hasn’t even called!” Of course, she told me that he said he had called, and left a message. I blamed it on Lexie and said I’d check with her about the message.

So. At this point, it is obvious that FOF is talking to R and her husband about said situation, so I figure R will tell him I didn’t get the message and maybe he would call back, at which time I would do the right thing and tell him the truth about how I feel. Because I had no intention of calling him and saying “oh, so sorry I JUST got your message!” because I think that’s cheesy. I honestly felt it would be better to wait, stick with my original lie, and when (or if) he DID call again say maybe Lexie accidentally erased his message or something. Anyway.

So there I am, Saturday night, with Lexie spending the night at her friend’s house. I come home from an early dinner with a few friends, and had just set up my cheap surround sound speakers and popped in an R rated movie (which is a real treat for anyone who lives with people under 17). As the opening credits began, the phone rang. I picked up the handset to check the Caller ID, and saw that it was FOF. Now, on TOP of the fact that I was totally irritated by a ringing phone just as my movie was starting, I was also kind of pissed off that someone who doesn’t really know me would think that I am sitting home at 8:30 on a Saturday night. So, in defiance, I ignored it. Because maybe I DO have a social life. He could just leave me a message and I would call back on Sunday afternoon.

But guess what? No message. Fine, I thought, I don’t even have to call him back, then.

Just as the movie was ending, the phone rang again. This time the Caller ID said “Private Caller.” Ohhhhhh, no. We are NOT going that route again. Tell me this – why is it that some people think that if you are screening your calls and won’t pick up when you see their number, if they BLOCK the number you will answer? This drives me NUTS. Dude, if I won’t answer YOUR call, I sure as hell won’t answer a “private” number. And it is totally rude and annoying when I know you are blocking your number to try to “trick” me. Mr. South Side used to do that – and we all know my feelings about HIM.

So again, I do not answer. And again? No message.

Fine. Fine fine fine. I refuse to let this get to me, as far as I am concerned, he hasn’t even called back. So I put the whole thing out of my mind.

Until he called again last night. At this point, I am more concerned about my friends being upset with me for being “mean” to FOF than about hurting FOF’s feelings. Because I am NOT going to call this guy back until he leaves me a message. Now it has become something of an obsession with me. I decide I will NOT answer his calls or speak to him UNTIL HE LEAVES ME A MESSAGE. And did he leave a message? Nope. Not that time OR the second time he called, which happened to be during “Desperate Housewives” when I don’t answer my phone for ANYONE, let alone for FOF-who-won’t-leave-a-message.

Maybe I am being a total bitch, but I don’t care. Ok, so I should’ve just bitten the bullet and called him back on Thursday, but I didn’t. And I DID cover myself with a pretty believable fib. So why he won’t just leave a message is beyond me. How hard is it to say, “Hey, I heard you didn’t get my last message, give me a call?” Because I WOULD call him back. I think the whole calling and hanging up thing is extremely juvenile, and considering that everyone in the world has Caller ID, pretty stupid, too.

So now I am waiting to see if he EVER leaves a message. If he doesn’t, fine by me. If he does, I will have one more reason why I don’t want to go out with him. But I won’t bring it up. God help me, I hope I don’t have another Mr. South Side on my hands.