44. Uninvited

Once upon a time I was a single girl living in the crazy dating world that is Provo, Utah. I was, at the time, between boyfriends, not particularly interested in anyone, and open to whatever options presented myself.

One day I was asked on a date by a guy (we'll call him Bruce) who lived in my complex. We'd had conversation, and I didn't really find him enthralling but I had nothing against him. However, the date he asked me to go on was to a concert that sparked my interest, so I accepted. I wasn't exactly eager to spend the evening with him, but the activity would be enjoyable and he had mentioned it was with a group, so I had hopes of it not being terribly uncomfortable. 

Alas, my anticipation was short-lived, as about three hours later he called me up and uninvited me. Talk about awkward. He explained to me rather matter-of-factly that a girl he had asked earlier had gotten back to him and said yes, so he was going to take her instead. I laughed it off and that was that. 

I wasn't heartbroken. Any points Bruce may have earned on that date were definitely now in the negative column, but I hadn't had very high hopes to begin with. I found the whole situation rather amusing. Rude as his move was, I wasn't hurt, probably because I knew my own reasons for accepting were rather selfish. 

I went on with my day as normal and when I returned home from work I shared the amusing account with my roommate (whom we will call Liz), who also knew Bruce and his social-awkwardness. As my tale progressed, Liz got quiet. When I finished, she double checked that I wasn't secretly guarding a wounded heart over the slight of my secret beloved. I wasn't. Then she laughed and gave her own admission.

Turns out, Liz was the other girl. And Bruce's version of events wasn't exactly accurate. It seems after asking me to accompany him to the concert, Bruce ran into Liz on campus and asked HER to go with him. And since, two months previous, Liz had asked for a raincheck on a different date, she felt obliged to say yes. He took that as "getting back to him" and promptly called me to cancel. 

How he didn't think Liz and I would figure this out is beyond me. We slept in the same room, for goodness sakes! But apparently men's brains just work differently than women's and he had no expectation that we would talk with each other about our dating lives. 

Liz did ask if I wanted her to cancel on him, but I found the situation way too hilarious to be even remotely jealous. Needless to say, I never went on a date with Bruce, and I was perfectly okay with that.