Sixsome Outting Gone Bad...

Sorry, I wasn't able to write about this last night as I should have but I just wasn't up to writing about this, cause it was pretty bad. Earlier this week, Sam asked me to go out (again for what seems like the "empteenth" time already!) with our usual group of friends. (minus Bunny, Tawny and Paulo) and of course, I was supposed to be up to the neck with sudden excuses. ( and I don't know why I even bother because she knows pretty well that I'm not into going out very much ... well at least not as much as she does anyway.) but even before I could start my tirade of... "Oh I can't because of this and that, she was pretty smart to ward me off saying that, I've already had a lot of absences from our group and it is not fair to everybody... her exact words were " ... andaya mo naman eh, lagi ka na lang palusot, dami mo nang utang sa kin!..." (... you're being unfair, you always have some excuse... you owe me a lot already!...")

My friend, Sam, (short for Samantha) isn't usually the type to nag about somebody owing her something (one of the many things I love about her.) but she said that her cousin from Vancouver Canada will get here in a couple of days for a visit and she wants me to be his "partner" on a sixsome group date! I was like, "Ano? bakit ako?!" (What? Why me?!) It's been ages since I've been "intentionally partnered" with someone I don't know... to me, (based on how Sam puts it....) it's a blind date!

How do I know? She asked me, without putting any of the words "friendship"... "friends"... or "being just friends" within the same sentence. I even said, I'm too old to go on a blind date and to make matters worse for me, and better for her, Sam came back here that same evening to ask my mom and dad for permission, which wasn't really required so after she left, my parents came to me asking what's really going on with me and Sam! ( They made it seem like I was at fault, if ever there were any to begin with!)

So there I was on a Saturday evening, picked up by my girlfriends on the way to watch a movie at AMC Rolling Hills (WATCHMEN) Sam said, we'll meet the guys there. (Ah, it was just a way that my mom and dad won't catch on that it was indeed a group date! They think its all-girls group thing!) The guys were already waiting for us when we got there, Joseph (Sam's boyfriend) Ricky (Yan-yan's boyfriend) and another guy, (I assumed to be my date) who Sam introduced to me as her cousin, Xander (for Alexander )

According to what Sam told me while we were still on the way to AMC. Alexander's been in a car accident about a month and a half ago and his parents decided to send him out here to basically chill out and recuperate. So to summarize everything she told me, he injured his right leg and because of it, a major nerve got almost completely cut (he would have lost his right leg completely if he hadn't had an operation to repair the tear. )

At first look, he seemed ok, he's 28 and a bit taller than my dad, around 5'6 -5'7. As far as his looks are concerned, he's about average, not handsome, but still cute eventhough, he now has a scar near his temple due to the accident. He walks with a caneand has an unmistakeable limp.

But one thing turned me off right away : SO SERIOUS - NO SMILE when we first introduced. Okay, I admit IT IS UNFAIR to automatically just read a person just because something's missing right off the bat, but one of the main reasons an introduction is done when two unacquinted people meet is that for them to make an impression of each other. And Xander looked like he wasn't ready to socialize with normal people, much less with someone like me.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE HANDSOME /ATTRACTIVE GUYS... who doesn't? but I'm not the type to set a standard... who am I to do that? To me, being cute or handsome is no good if he has no viable character to show for. Looks are just icing on the cake if a guy actually has 'em.

With still 20 minutes before showtime, I just had to talk to Sam so us girls made a huddle in the girls' restroom and talk. I just wanted to make a point to Sam regarding setting me up with a guy who clearly isn't up to dating. I'm pretty sure, Sam meant well, she just wants her cousin to go out so things can start getting back to normal again but my point is for a person like Xander who used be completely normal and healthy and now injured, with still the possibility that he might not be able to use his right leg normally eventhough he already had an operation is just so much for someone to take in and so fast too. And I suppose it also bothered him that he got me for a date. (no offense intended, no offense taken both ways! ) It's like adding insult to injury.

Samantha defended herself saying that she never treated me like that (she meant disabled and all) which I already know but the thing is SHE IS NOT HIM and HE IS STILL NOT USED TO THE IDEA OF BEING ONE OF THE "ABNORMAL" PEOPLE.

The movie passed by like I wasn't really sitting with someone. (we took the disabled "loveseat" (seat for 2) upfront while the others climbed up ) he basically kept to himself while I occassionally asked him if he wanted anything off the stuff Sam treated us with, asked a couple of question about the movie in between and he answered back but that was basically it.

After the movie, we settled for Islands Restaurant nearby and me and date "walked" (I actually wheelled myself LOL!) separately and that's when Sam literally blew her top off and she started rattling off stuff at her cousin, asking for a little effort. As for me, I felt like I was actually caught in the middle, it's was a little confusing for me weather I should side with Sam or defend Xander's side because I COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD WHY HE'S THE WAY HE WAS OR STILL IS. (Self-pity and depression often makes a totally different person out of someone who used to be energetic, happy and vibrant.)

The others were able to calm Sam down upon entering Islands, we ate with our usual friendly banter while Xander ate quietly. Watching him in the corner of my eye, in between bites of burger and fries, he seemed a bit uneasy since Sam's outburst a while ago. (I think the right tagalog term to describe it is "Napahiya yata siya." I'm sorry I can't think of the right English term for it right now.)

Anyway, after finishing up his order, Xander said he was going outside to smoke and walked himself out while Sam profusedly apologized to me about setting up this bad date. A minute or so later, Xander came back and he asked me to come with him outside. And I can't forget how Sam looked at me when Xander asked me to step outside LOL! It was like she was mentally asking me if I needed bodyguards! I was like thinking, Hello! I'm 33 years old and your cousin doesn't seem to be planning on making a move now that the date is almost ending!

I wheeled myself out with Xander a few steps behind, I waited until he seated himself on the bench in front of Islands and we started talking. I assumed he was going to apologize but he didn't so I went ahead and said there's no need for him to do so if he doesn't want to. I also told him that I was marely there to be with my friends and was looking at the possibility of making a new one (meaning him of course) but since he wasn't ready yet, we'll leave it as it is.

I waited but he never said a word so...

IT WAS TECHNICALLY A ONE SIDED CONVERSATION!

:: SIGH :: ( How frustrating!!! )

If there was anything good for me that happened last night It was that Xander paid for my Islands order!

(Is that actually something to be happy about???!!!)

Not really... but I think I at least deserved a free meal...

Right?

(I FEEL A LOT BETTER NOW AFTER VENTING OFF THE LAST 30 MINUTES OR SO! THANK YOU! )