Day 3
The following morning, I left before he did. Neither of us knew what the other was up to that evening, which was fine because, after all, we were merely host and traveler, right?
He wasn’t home when I arrived from work. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Host asked if I wanted to meet her at a street festival. Mr. Traveler then texted, “You off?” I said yes and he responded that he’d be back soon. So was I supposed to wait for him or was this just informational? I mean, he had his own key (which a month and a half later, he still has)…so he didn’t need me to grant him entry. Fifty minutes later, my impatience prompted me to ask, “What’s your plan?” He said he wasn’t sure and asked me what mine was. I told him I had been waiting for him until about 5 seconds prior. He said he was walking over and thus, I said I’d turn around and resume waiting for him. So I waited. And I waited. And I waited. And I waited in the humid as fuck weather, which ruined the refreshing effects of the shower I had just taken and irritated me further. Finally, I got up and decided I would wait no more.
Naturally, not long after I had yet again started my mission, he texted, “here.” And, naturally, I responded, “Wtf.” He then called me and I repeated the wtf sentiment with the unmistakable animation of an annoyed MoMo. I don’t know what he said, but I hung up the phone. Right after, he texted, “Sorry for getting lost. I’ll see you whenever I guess.” I cooled my humidity fueled jets and told him I was coming back. After all, this was his last night at my place.
When I made it up to the condo, he began engaging me in an argument about what had just happened by saying things like, “You’re high maintenance” and “you flipped out.” Now, I don’t know what North Dakota’s like or how the people of that land express their displeasure; hell, I don’t even know where it is on a map. But, what I do know, is the behavior I had just exhibited did not even remotely qualify as “flipping out.” And, trust me, I have the capability to go bona fide flip mode. When I had made the decision to turn around, I was making a decision not to be annoyed about the situation anymore, but if he wanted to keep bringing it up, the decision would easily be reversed. That’s exactly what I told him when he continued to make snide remarks. He got the message and shut the fuck up about it.
We went to the street festival. It was stupid and humid and there was still tension between us. When we got back, things started to smooth over a bit. We had a non-contentious conversation about what had transpired earlier and boiled it down to miscommunication. I expressed that I was frustrated that we didn’t have plans and yet he was sending me cryptic messages questioning what I was doing and miscalculating his arrival time without communicating the relevance or his intentions. He then said something very interesting, “If I’m not doing work stuff, I’m with you.” Wait. Hold up. What? Who was I talking to? My very short term tenant or a person I had unknowingly married?
I responded that we had just met two days ago. He argued that in those two days, either he was at work or with me. Well, that was indeed true.
Who was this guy? The specimen stork had dropped him right into my condo and I felt as though I would miss cohabitating with him when he departed the next morning. But, he said he’d return within a week or two weeks, at most, for work and that he’d routinely be in the area. I left for work knowing he would be gone when I returned.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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