About 6 years ago I joined a bowling league with some friends thinking it would be a great way to meet people. It’s a fun league, not a competitive one (thank goodness!) and I HAVE met a lot of amazing people and made some great friends that I socialize with outside of bowling. Sadly, I have yet to meet anyone on the league that is both single and interesting.
This season may have changed that – there’s this new guy Ted that we bowled against on the first night. He had a great smile, a fun personality and no ring and I realized that it was the first time in a long time that I’d actually met anyone in the wild that I found “interesting”. I don’t know Ted’s deal, just because he’s not wearing a ring doesn’t mean he’s single, and even if he is it doesn’t mean that he’d meet my five simple rules (or that I’d meet his!).
We’d been chatting it up for a few weeks when he joined a conversation with my friends about a Halloween party they were having so I invited him to the party. We exchanged phone numbers and party details and he said he had plans to golf earlier that day but he would be there.
On the day of the party he texted to let me know that he wouldn’t be able to make it, said he’d spent too much time at the “19th Hole” and he could only do so much partying in a day. He texted “maybe we can get together some other time?” To which I replied “definitely!”
Then he missed the next two weeks of bowling in a row and I started to get paranoid. Did I scare him off? Do I smell? What is happening right now? I asked my friends and they said yes – apparently I am scary, or overly confident, or something like that.
Ted did pre-bowl those weeks, so he knew he was going to be gone and he didn’t abandon his team (for those bowlers who might be like WTF?) and he’s been back since. We’ve been chatting it up again but I guess we’re just in the friend zone because there’s no spark there.
Now one of my teammates isn’t planning to come back next season – I’d really like to keep bowling but I don’t get out that much and bowling night is my one night to cut loose and have a good time. I’m afraid of being stuck with a teammate who can’t hang so I’ve tried poaching Ted – twice. He acted semi-interested and finally smiled and said “I have your number, I’ll let you know.”
Shall I start holding my breath now? Why is it so hard to meet people in the wild? And, do I smell?
Photo Credit: ID 5489551 | Bowling © Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime.com
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