Dear 18+ year old Hammy,
Now that I had your dad's attention, what now?
I was pretty pleased with myself. Sure it didn't go exactly as I had hoped. Sure I had insulted him. But I got what I wanted or what I needed to happen to see if just maybe Mr. Yardbird was the Mr. Yardbird for me.
As the night went on I made my best effort to strike up any conversation I could with him.
He would order another Becks and I would dramatically roll my eyes and say things like, "Surely you have better taste" or "Really? You might be the only one who orders that, let me go see if they have one more of the worst beer ever made."
And each time, Mr. Yardbird laughed, I walked away feeling triumphant and in my head, I patted myself on the back for a job well done.
But then something happened.
On one of my trips past their table, I noticed that one of the girls who I had thought came with another guy in thier group was leaning very closly and talking to Mr. Yardbird.
She was smiling and leaning in to Mr. Yardbird. She was playing with her hair, while she talked to him and she was laughing at everything that he was saying. She was flirting...and I didn't like it one bit.
And just who was this girl who had suddenly taken all of Mr. Yardbird's attention?
I knew exactly who she was. She was my competition. Not just in the world of Mr. Yardbird and me, but in my art world. The one where I drew pictures in class with other art students. I had just graduated and the memories of art studio classes where still so fresh.
In my art class, she was the best of the best. She was the one who drew the best gesture drawings that we all marveled over, that we all tried desperately to reproduce. They just came naturally for her. And to add insult to injury, she was one of those girls who looked fantastic without a stitch of makeup on. And that was just not fair.
And now she had captivated Mr. Yardbird's attention.
I knew if it was totally possible for Mr. Yardbird to fall in love with this makeup-less, gesture drawing wonder and I was disheartened. All my hard work would have been for nothing.
As the night went on, my eyes drifted over to thier table but all that I saw was more talking, more smiling and more leaning.
I even went to check on thier table a few times, but with her in the way there were no more opportunities to talk to him.
Finally, I glanced over at thier table one last time. This time, it was just the other couple and low and behold one lonesome Mr. Yardbird. I wondered where my competiton ran off to.
I wasn't going to waste anytime wondering though. I walked as casually as I possibly could without seeming like I was in any kind of a hurry to beat anyone over to him.
"Hey." I smiled at him. "I...um...did you need another beer?" I glanced down at his more than half-way full beer.
"No." He smiled, a smile I already loved. "I'm good."
Here goes nothing. "Did your...girlfriend....did she need anything else?"
"Who?"
"Your girlfriend, you know, the girl that was sitting right here.' I pointed to the empty stool between us.
"Oh no, she came with the other guy." He gestured across the room and sure enough there was the girl sitting on the lap of the guy I thought she had arrived with. They had apparently opted for a seat closer to the live music. I can't believe I didn't notice that.
And I breathed a big sigh of relief, in my head, because any other way would have been hugely embarrassing.
"Oh, I'm sorry I guess I just though she was with you." What a RELIEF.
"No, No, No...." he shook his head.
"Okay well, let me know if you need anything." I smiled an I'm so happy your single smile.
And Mr. Yardbird, well, he must have had some clue, right?
No, Ham, not yet.
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