The Rest

These are all going to be short stories seeing as how most of these encounters never developed into anything at all.

Amanda (Leto) - She was a girl who seemed to like me, but I was so blind to girls and how they show interest in guys that I spent four years oblivious to this girls advances. What a waste!

Courtney - She was a family friend that I always had a crush on. She was older, and I was super shy during these times. As I grew up, so did she, but I still retained my shy tendencies around her. I got the nerve to ask her out, but it never amounted to anything.

Tiffany - Another Publix chick. I don't really know if she ever liked me. She was Jessica's best friend, so something wants me to believe she was just playing me for a long time. We talked, and she flirted and showed me lots of cleavage, but I got nothing other then being blown off on more then one occasion.

Ashley - A Publix chick that seemed to know me through my step mom? I am not sure. I can't even remember if I went out with her or not, but all I remember is nothing ever happened between us.

Jessica (church) - The girl I used as a cover up for my infatuation with the other girl named Jessica (Jessie). I was almost forced to talk with her to make a good cover up, but I did not really like her, so I used my shyness to stay far enough away from her.

Ana - The first girl I had a crush on at Publix. She went away for a long time, and I thought I lost my chance with her, but she came back which made me happy.  The thing was, another one of my friends also liked her and told me that he wanted to try things with her. I let him and that was pretty much that...

Amanda

And the Coup de grâce. 


It's my girlfriend's birthday today so I figured since I ran out of failures, I would go ahead and talk about the best relationship I have ever been in.

It's been almost a year now and I am loving every second of it. This relationship has been a blessing and it was much more then I could ever wish for. Amanda is the one is have been waiting on for so long.

I met Amanda when she was the tender age of 19. I was freshly 26 year old and the idea of dating another young girl were far from my thoughts. But there was was, she was so beautiful. I knew she was special, and I acted on my gut feeling.

We met, we became friends. She dismissed the notion of us becoming a couple off the bat at first. She was already in a relationship and I could tell she was one of those girls who was not going to do anything to ruin that bond, that was something I loved very much about her. I was very glad she never did anything with me while she was still with her old boyfriend because that would have changed how I thought of her. Think about it, if she was wiling to cheat on her ex, she could be convinced to cheat one me, but she did not cheat on anyone and my mind was put at ease.

Her other relationship was doomed the day she met me. It lasted for about 4 months before she finally ended it with him. I waited patiently. I knew my time was coming, our time was coming.

Amanda came from a mixed family. Her mom was white and her dad was black. That left her with a light tan complexion, darker then my own. It gave her a very natural beauty that I mistook for hispanic origins at first. She also hardly wears makeup. I know most girls rely on that kind of stuff, but Amanda has no need for that because she is naturally beautiful as I specified earlier.

She is just like me. It makes us the perfect couple. She is a little naive and supremely stubborn. She is super shy and enjoys being a loner. These are all traits I share with her or used to have in common with her. The world is a confusing mess of colors and situations I am just unfamiliar with. I am a pretty naive person myself, so I can appreciate someone who shares that naivety. I am also a very hard headed person. I used to be shy, and t an extent I still am, but she is much more timid then I am. It took a couple years for me to break out of my shell, I'm sure she can do the same. The loner title just means her and I can enjoy the simple company of solitude and not freak out about it. I enjoy that quality, it means we don't suffocate each other which is a good thing.

Amanda also likes playing video games, watching anime, and reading manga. I wish I could get her more involved actual books, but oh well! The one thing I can't seem to get her into is sports. Personally I am in love with most sports and I am deeply involved in the local sports, but Amanda could care less. It's a darn shame too because if she could only open up and embrace sports like I do, we could get along much better. We could go to games together or sit at home and watch a game casually. I doubt that ever happens though.

So...we met each other at Home Depot. My last attempt at a relationship had ended during my trip to Tallahassee and I was plain ticked at the female species in general. When I laid eyes on Amanda, my dislike for women vanished and I was smitten.

She is a kindred spirit. She is my significant other, my thought provoker, my positive inspiration, my movie date, my music regulator, my massage therapist, my play date, my playmate, my dance counterpart, my confidante, my co-conspirator, my eating colleague, my companion, my chore helper, my sidekick, my all, my pen pal, my texting buddy, my doubt disolver, my player two, my reassurance, my true love, my soul mate, my beloved, my life partner, my best friend...

My everything.

Irene

This one could have been something good, had I ever been able to close the deal. Damn my ineptitude!

Karla

Yet another girl from Publix I attempted to woo that ended in disappointment.

Kelly

Looking back, Publix sure looks like a long list of failures.

Andrea

Girls with boyfriends are a tricky lot. This one liked me, I could tell. I just could never get her to leave the D bag she was with and try me out. Again, this was a girl who was friend's with that Jessica chick from Publix. I do not know if she was whispering anything in Andrea's ear at the time, but it seemed every time I was getting somewhere with this girl she backed off unexpectedly.

Andrea was another new bag girl at Publix. She was just about the cutest girl I had ever seen working at that store. I really wanted to make us a thing, more so then any other chick I pursued at that job. She was a dark haired girl of Latina decent I imagine. She wore glasses and had a wonderful physique. I wanted her for myself. Damn the arrogance of it all. This was another that hurt since I never sealed the deal.

At first Andrea played hard to get. She had a boyfriend, I understood the distance she kept at first, but my persistence eventually broke through her defense. After that it was the usual. I would see her, I would go over and spark up a conversation, she would resist at first every time, but eventually she was joking and playing around with me as if she were single. I almost had her wrapped around my fingers.

And then, I didn't. The next day after we spent enjoying each other's company at work together, she would ignore and avoid me. I could almost see Jessica's smirk somewhere hiding around a corner. If I was a betting man I would say she had something to do with Andrea's cold demeanor's, but who is to say.

Nothing happened between us. She never came around to view me as anything other then a friend at work. Later on I would find out she ended up having a kid with some D bag who left her. I felt bad for her, because that would have never happened between us. Even then I tried to spark up old memories of us to her, but she never bit at any of my offerings, so that became the end of that story.

Alexis

Proms are fun. I only went to my Senior year Homecoming and Prom, so both of these experiences were a first for me. I never had a girlfriend my whole time in high school. I never had a date for any dances I attended either. I was "selected" a date for Homecoming because I couldn't find one myself and my friends needed one more person for their limo. I say that like it was an act of kindness, but I was really there to dish out the extra money they were lacking.

Plus, my date was a huge bore. She didn't even talked with me all night. What a major let down. I eventually left her side and went around dancing with some of the other girls who were less prudes. I digress though, I had a good enough time.

Fast forward to Prom though. I actually asked someone out, and they said yes! I was very proud of myself. Although I wanted to take a certain someone else, the fact that that other person did not live in Tampa kept me from asking, though later one she revealed that she would have gone....ah well.

I asked this girl named Alexis out. She was the Homecoming Queen or something special, I forget. I remember she had some sort of status within the school for being popular and winning one of those awards.

Whatever.

In any case, she actually wanted to go with me. That or I was the last option? Who knows! I had a date, and I was done asking questions.

Prom was whatever. I don't think I took many pictures with my date, which was my fault. I was too busy going around taking pictures with all my buddies. This was my last party with all of them. Some of them I haven't seen since. Those pictures are all I have left of them.

But don't get me wrong, I danced and took a couple of pictures with my date. I mean, the girl said yes to me, I felt a special connection with her.

The after party was where I struck out. Alexis was a good girl and did not want any part of me after all the glitz and glamour was done with. We talked a little, but I took her home and that was the end of that.

I did not bother calling her and she didn't call me either.

Not very exciting, huh?

Jamile

You know, I had something like a zero success rate with the girls at Publix. Jamile was just another one that never got past the first date. Well I must have done something right to get to the first date with this one, but it seemed as though my reputation caught up to me and one date was all I got with this one.

Jamile was another new cashier at work and she seemed different from the others. She did not hang out with the crew who had given me a bad reputation around the store so I figured I had a chance with this one.

Well I had as good of a chance as any other girl I failed with. What's the worst thing that could happen? I had been rejected enough at this point that it was starting not to bother me that much.

We got to talking and of course my charm was having its normal affects on her. She was giggling and enjoying all of my flirtatious ways. Before I knew it we had talked all the way to going out on a date.

The venue? We were going to go watch the premier of Fast and the Furious 2. What was it called? Two Fast Two Furious? I dunno. That alone should have sent my spider senses off.

But it was a girl who seemed interested in me. I doubt even if I had doubt that I would have backed off at this point. So we set it up.

At least this time when I went to go watch a Fast movie, it did not blow up in my face. The date went off without a single problem actually! The theater was packed, but we found two seats together and had a good time. The laughed and cuddled a little during the flick, but nothing too crazy happened. The night ended with me dropping her off and giving her a small kiss on the cheek. I actually though it went really well.

Oh how silly I was.

The next day started off the usual way these things go. Jamile was nice, but rather distant with me. After work I tried to call her, but she avoided my calls. I am not sure what happened or if someone got to her before I could, but she was not the same after that.

I am not sure what happened between us, but it seemed like it was over before it even had a chance to blossom.

Ah well. Such is life.  

Vanessa

This girl would have never made the cut regardless, but there was another problem.

You see this girl was re-introduced to me one night while I was hanging out with my boy Alex. Alex had called me up in need of a wing man for the night. He was taking out these pair of girls out somewhere, and he wanted me to run game on one of them while he worked his magic on the other.

I guess he did not review my track record with females.

Either way, we went to go pick these girls up. I recognized one of the girls right off the bat. Her name was Vanessa, but I could not remember where I had seen her face before. I did not know her friend, but she seemed like the bitchy type so I did not want to get to know her either. Vanessa was a Spanish girl with curly hair. She had a nice frame, but ultimately she was not my type.

Vanessa was on the phone with someone when we arrived at the scene. Just so you know I met this girl at one of my brother's birthday parties. Ah, Stephenstock. I met a lot of random people at these events and she was one of the many who I forgot about after it was all over.

At Stephenstock my friend Andy and Vanessa seemed to hit it off. Andy was never much of a vocal person about his love life, so I did not hear much about her from him. Yet, it was Andy who she was on the phone with. You see Andy had just had a run in with the law and I had just gotten off the phone with him prior to getting to this house. He said he had another call coming and that he had to take it. It was Vanessa.

Funny, but I did not remember her, but I sorta knew who she was talking to by the way she sounded and acted on the phone. When she got off the phone I could tell she was worried and/or bothered about a friend of hers who just got out of jail.  I mentioned the name Andy, and her attention turned directly to me. Of course it was not like she was making out with me, she figured she recognized me too and all of her angst about Andy was now targeted towards me.

The rest of the night I was her buddy and all she talked about was how bad she felt about Andy.

I mean, she did not seem like a bad chick at the time, but I could tell her and her friend were a deadly combination. I got Vanessa's number that night and I was going to give her another shot.

Maybe I should have left her alone.

The next time I took Vanessa out I could not get her away from her friend. She insisted that she come along, and I caved. The three of us went to Hyde Park Cafe. Alex was supposed to meet us there, but he couldn't make it at the last moment. So there I was, stuck at this club with two hot headed girls. Vanessa I could handle, but her friend was a piece of work. She was a pretty girl who thought everyone was below her. I do not mess with snobs.

I went to the club to meet with my friend Steve and his posse. They thought I was big pimping that night because I showed up with two girls on my arms. Oh how wrong they were.

The night ended rocky and the two girls started bickering with each other near the end. I just wanted the night to be over with. Vanessa was showing me her true colors and I did not like what I saw. She was decent by herself, but she became hard to deal with when she was with this other chick which told me she had two sides. That's sort of a deal breaker to me.

Still she kept showing me interest, but every time we got close she would mention Andy and every time I backed away.

I just have too much friend loyalty to do something that might hurt a friendship of mine. Andy is too good of a friend for me to mess it up just because I was trying to get with some girl I may or may not have really liked all that much.

So in the end, I stopped calling Vanessa up.  I'd say I made the right call.

Linnet

I love Spanish girls. There's just one problem. If they speak just Spanish, then there is a small language barrier to deal with. I mean, I can speak Spanish decently, but I am not fluent, and when people talk fast it is hard for me to understand them. There are also words I just do not register when people are talking and I have to figure out some of the words I miss like I am trying to reconfigure a jigsaw puzzle.

In any case, I like the Spanish ladies, but I also like them to know English too. It just makes it easier for me. If a relationship is created, then they can start to teach me all the words I miss and help improve my own Spanish. That was the goal with almost every Latina I ever tried to get with. It never worked in my favor, but it did not stop me either.

Enter Linnet. She was a new hire at Publix and she was gorgeous. There was just one issue with her. She was basically right off the boat from Cuba, so she spoke barely any English at all. This was going to be difficult.

Almost instantly I befriended her. She was easy enough to get along with. I truly did try to speak only in Spanish with her, but she understood that it was not my strongest language. She helped me a bit, and I helped her with English and also with her getting to know her surroundings better.

As usual, she had a boyfriend right off the bat, so that was not anything new or anything. I just played my usual nice guy act around her. I made her laugh and smile and I just tried to be a sweet heart whenever I could. Eventually that relationship ended, and I knew it was my time to make a move.

But as usual, my move is a slow and methodical one. I just was not built with a killer instinct, especially when it came to women. So I waited for the right time to strike....so to speak.  My time came one day when i was at work and  heard that Linnet had been in a car accident.

I was honestly worried. She had missed a few days of work and on Friday I finally did something about it. I left Publix that day with a mission though. I was going to use that accident in my favor. I bought a single rose, and wrote Linnet a little, "Get Well Soon," card. I had dropped her off at her house in the past, so I knew where she lived. I decided to make a surprise stop at her place and deliver the letter and rose to her. I thought it cute enough of an idea.

Turns out, it was!

She opened the door with a caste on her hand and when she saw the rose her face  turned beat red. She had a smile on her face and eventually, I was invited inside. Yay, me! Inside a girls house. I was not really used to any of my ideas working this well so I was rather shocked when I entered her home.

It was a typical Cuban house. It smelled like there was a meal being cooked, and there probably was. It was around dinner time, and you do not have to tell Cubans twice when it is time to eat. Both her parents were home, and they spoke even less English then she did. Linnet also left me in the living room with her dad who had one of those dad looks on his face while staring at me. Linnet ran off and I heard the shower start in the background.

I did not have any plans to go out that evening, but it seems I really struck gold with my actions that night. Her parents offered me something to eat, but I politely refused. Linnet finally came out ready to do something, anything it seemed.

Everything was going great so far, I was bound to mess something up. We got in my car and I had Willy Chirino's "South Beach" CD playing. I had it in already, just in case. Linnet wanted to go to the Homecoming game at Hillsborough. No problem I thought. Except, it turned out to be a big problem. You see, I did not go to Hillsborough High, and I never really ventured into the school long enough to know where all the entrances were. I could not find the entrance to the Football field.

Instead of making continuous loops around the field, I decided to take her to Leto's Homecoming game. It was not the same thing, but it was better then nothing. She seemed to enjoy herself, even though she knew no one at Leto, but the problem had been averted. We wet on a little pseudo date that night and it lead to others in the future.

Linnet was a doll. We talked on the phone and I started taking her out here and there. She even agreed to help me with my Spanish, and I would help her learn more English. It seemed like a win-win situation for me.

Then, one day it all came crashing down. Lesson learned Pharrell. I had been spending time with Linnet by myself, but I had been telling my friends about her for awhile now. A group of my friends were going to the beach one day and I knew Linnet was off. I figured this would be as good of a time as any to have them all meet each other.

I call Linnet up and I can tell something is up. She seems hesitant with me, and she rejects my beach offer. I try to come up with something else for us to do other then the beach, but she dismissed each and every one I threw at her. Just before I could ask her what was wrong, she throws in my face that she is talking to her ex again and that we can not talk anymore and hangs up the phone on me.

Yay!

I knew this was a bad idea from the start.

Kaitlyn

Another attempt by me to woo a girl from my SACC job. Another failure as well! That makes, what...three girls from SACC that I tried to make my girlfriend and three supreme failures. Score!

Kaitlyn showed up at SACC after a couple of our staff left and were transferred. We shared a nice summer of work together, but I doubt she was ever truly interested in me. I do not think I was her type, but that did not stop her from keeping my hopes up at work when we were around.

Kaitlyn was a Spanish girl and an instant cutie on my love radar. She came during the summer, so the hours were longer, the pay was better, the mood was lighter, and the settings were all around more relaxed.

Together we read stores to the kids who were stuck with us. We played games together (with the kids too, sheesh!), we had dances, we had costume parties, we had recreational outings, we even did some water events. It was fun, and with each day it felt as though we were connecting more and more. I mean, hell, we had to see each other almost every day for an entire summer.

I remember one of the kids brought in this Spiderman book, and although the kids liked me reading about all the characters in the series, Kaitlyn would always sit right near me and act super interested in the stories too. I thought for sure that she was reaching for something connect with me on. I mean, what girl is that interested in comic book characters so that every day she is on your arm asking questions at each page turn? I'm not lying when I say she was more interested in my story times, then the kids were. She even wanted me to read and explain the characters to her, when the kids were doing other things. I thought I had something here.

Nope!

Turns out she was not ready for a serious relationship, and that was that. She acted the same way around me for as long as we worked together, but as usual nothing ever surfaced into anything meaningful.

Even after SACC I would see Kaitlyn around, but by then we had almost no connection and if I bothered to try it would have just been another failed attempt.

Jessica

Another  Jessica. I should have just realized I was not that lucky with girls who held that name. Oh well. This one was more my fault then anything. I suppose you could say it was a Jessica's fault that I never pursued this other certain Jessica.

I was working at SACC still and my old boss Alisha was leaving. Her replacement came in the form of this girl named Jessica. She was an attractive dark haired girl and I could tell instantly that she was interested in me.

There was only one problem. My heart belonged to someone else. If you read the previous blog, then you know of the girl named Jessie. At this time, Jessie had just proclaimed her love to me and I was on top of the world. There was little anyone could do to make me even think about anyone else as a romantic partner. In my head, Jessie was the end all be all. This other girl named Jessica just came into my life a the wrong time.

This other Jessica came at me strong. She was one of the only girls to ever come over to me and show interest towards me from the get go. After each advance, I turned her down. I tried to explain to her the situation I was in, and she tried to get me to change my mind about the other girl I was infatuated with, but she could not dissuade me. My mind was set. Although this girl was attractive and attracted to me, I belonged to someone else.

I do have to try and remember to do that Hersey Kiss stunt this Jessica told me though. I'm sure my love would enjoy that, even if it was not imagined from my own brain.

Oh how wrong could I have been? I stopped working at SACC before I found out that Jessie went ahead and got a boyfriend while in Miami...unbeknownst to me. I also did not have the SACC Jessica's phone number and I never made an attempt to go back to that school and try and get it either.

I messed this one up from the get go mainly because of my stubbornness. Oh well. Such is life.   

Jessie

(Warning: Expect this excerpt to be considerably larger then the others.)

Ah, I could never close on this girl.

There was once a time in my life where I thought this girl was it for me. Perhaps I was young and naive to the notions of love, but in my heart I felt that my journey had ended. I first met Jessica when I was young, but she was really young. There was an age gap, but I always enjoyed her company.

As time went on, I got to witness her grow up from a cute kid to a beautiful women. I have known her for so long i do not even know where to begin this story.

I could say I have always liked Jessie, and that would not be a lie. She was my best friend's niece and every time I got the new that she was visiting him, I had to make it over there. I think after awhile the family got the idea that I liked her.

If there is one memory I hold dear it was the first time I really noticed her. The term Quince was not the most common word in my mind, but I knew of them. Quinces are the Spanish equivalent of a girl's sweet sixteen coming of age party except it is held around the girl's fifteenth birthday. Hence, the name "Quince." (Quince is Spanish for fifteen for all you non-Spanish speaking readers out there!)
I was still young in my relationship with Gonzalo's family and the church family as well. I was just a random boy that had gone to a few Sunday sermons. I was an outsider, and unknown bystander, and yet I was granted permission to go to my very first quince. Well, actually I was around during the quince practices, but I did not know how to dance at the time. I tried to cover it up, but I had never danced before in my life. I had never gone to a school dance, and I was too young for clubs too. My cousin had a quince, but for some reason I was not allowed to go. It was a girl named Rachel's quince that eventually became the first of many that I was subsequently go to.

Needless to say I was severely under dressed. All of my friends were dancing in the quince, so they were all in suits while all the girls were in formal dresses. I tell ya, these quinces are like mini weddings. They are rather big deals in the Spanish community and I was not informed. The quince came and went, and after the show came the after party. Yikes was I nervous at the time. I looked out of place and I could not dance. I did not know what to do.

And then an angel saved me.

Jessie must have seen my timidness, but that did not stop her from grabbing me and forcing me onto the dance floor. There, we shared our first dance. I doubt I was any good, but it was memorable. Suavamente, by Elvis Crespo, I remember it like it was yesterday. We might have danced once or twice more. I did not even bother with all the crazy dances my friends were doing. I had known and seen Jessie before. She was always a cute girl in my eyes, but after that day I was hooked.

I tried to hide it. I even accidentally told Danny that I liked her one day after church. At the time I did not realize how big of a mouth Danny had, but when he tried to confirm which Jessie I liked I pointed to a different girl and then the rumor spread that I liked a different girl named Jessie at the church. At the time I was fine with that. It was a good cover up, even though certain people tried to get me to hook up with the other Jessie all the time after that. I did not mind. As long as they did not know who I really cared about.

I would see Jessie almost every time she visited. My trips to Miami during the stopped soon afterwards. Before I did not mind going over there for three months, but after Jessie, I could not stay that far away from her for so long. I just needed my fix. It was funny because she lived in Miami normally, but there was no way for me to see her when we were both there unless I went and stayed with them along with Gonzalo. Besides, she went to Tampa for the summer which is why I did not want to be stuck in Miami for the entire summer.

So I started spending my summers in Tampa, and more importantly around Gonzalo's family. True enough, I enjoyed my friend's company and I did not only hang around for hints as to when Jessie was coming to town, but I did like to get a heads up. The best part about it was that I could tell she liked me too. The two of us got along very well. It started to become very noticeable.

I remember one time being dragged along to a basketball team one summer. Sergio, Gonzalo's brother in law the our coach and we had a pretty bad team. Plus our jerseys smelled like shrimp and none of us were too good. The only redeeming thing I can remember about that entire event was that I once made a basket and as proud as i was to score some points, I heard some cheering from up top. It made my day to see Jessica up there with a wide grin cheering me on. That made my day. She was what I wanted in a life partner.

It's a shame I never knew how to handle the situation.

She was still young. Too young for me to approach at the time. I knew my boundaries. Plus, she was my best friend's niece and I knew he was not going to like the fact that I had feelings for her.

Time went on, and my feelings for her never wavered. The other girl named Jessie realized that I wasn't interested despite some of the church members best attempts to get us to talk. That detour had been crossed, and now I was starting to run out of ways to hide how I felt with white lies. Sooner or later everyone would know.

I recall one outing where a big group of us went to the local bowling alley. Everyone was there including Jessie. I remember getting especially close with her during some of the songs that were being played overhead. Nothing too intense, just sharing some moments together, talking, laughing, mocking my singing and dance routines. The usual Ryan shenanigans I did back in the day. Though it seemed my actions finally got the attention I did not desire.

Gonzalo and I left together that night. I do not remember why, but we left early if I recall. The ride was quiet. His one message to me was simple and clear. Not to mess with Jessie. He did not approve, or he just did not see it as a plausible relationship. Whether he was right or not, this warning stayed with me for a prolonged time in my life. It was clear my best friend was against me and Jessie ever being together.

Still, my feelings lingered. Despite Gonzalo's warning, I did not change much about how I went about seeing and talking with Jessie. We even started to become dance partners so to speak. The quinces kept rolling in and with everyone that she attended I was always happy and eager to get as many dances with her as I could. To me, she was the best partner I ever had. We were even each others date in one or two of the quinces.

There was just one things wrong with all of this. Okay, there were multiple things wrong with this situation, but one things loomed over my head like dark cloud. Despite my deep passionate feelings for this girl, despite my inclination, despite my beliefs, Jessie had never gone out and told me that she had ever felt the same.

I should have confronted her about the possibility of us ever becoming a couple. I wanted to, but I did not know how to approach the subject. This started to become a long standing problem with me and other girls. In high school I never pursued any girls even if they seemed interested because I was waiting for Jessie to come of age so to speak. I know for a fact that I ruined a couple possible relationships in the process. Those girls meant nothing to me compared to Jessie. It was obvious she was at the top of the food chain and everyone else was left at the bottom rung of the ladder. Actually there was not even any competition. She reigned supreme.

That was my fault. I committed to something I was not even sure of. Be sure that this ideology bit me in the tuckus many-a-times.

Let's fast forward a bit, shall we? Colombian parties were all the rage at the time and my friends and I were having one great time at one of them. We were having a blast until we received news that my dad's dog, Diablo (Devil) had just died a couple of minutes ago. It turned our celebration into depression. My brother left to deal with the dog. My dad unleashed his anguish the wrong way as usual. he was drunk and tried to pick fights with his friends. me on the other hand, I dealt with it the only way I could at the time. I did not cry, I did not weep or bitch or moan at the loss, I just drank, and drink I did.

I drank a whole bottle of Smirnoff green apple during all of the other turmoil going on, and right next to me was Jessie trying to comfort and console me. I tell you I got a good vibe from her that night, but my mind was in another world. My friends dropped me off home and I received one of the biggest surprises of my life.

I was getting ready for bed when I got an instant message from Jessie. This was as rare as it comes especially considering we just saw each other earlier that night.

It was the message I was waiting forever for.

She confessed her love for me that night. I sobered up like the quickness during this conversation. This was the girl hat I had been head over heels in love with for most of my life. From middle school through college this girl was always the one I prayed would return my feelings of affection and it had finally occurred. We talked for what seemed like an eternity on the computer. She expressed the same concerns I had. That she lived far away and she was scared about how and if it would work out between us.

But she had given me the greatest news I had ever experienced up until that point. we ended the conversation with both of us telling each other, "I love you." I was elated. It was about to happen. Things were finally going to go my way. I was loved!

...

Things never seem to go the way you envision them to go in this game we call life. After that chance encounter with Jessie on the Internet I was invincible. I was happy, I was confident, I had no worries. Life was good. The girl of my dreams finally confessed to me her true feelings and I figured it would only be a matter of time until we joined together as a couple. The future looked good.

It never panned out.

I went to Miami shortly after Jessie revealed her true feelings. I even went out of my way and my families way just to go over and spend time with her while I was down there. My cousin dropped me off and we went to go watch a movie. We saw Coach Carter if anyone cares. Jessie went to go pick up one of her friends as well. I thought that a bit strange, but it did not bother me much.

At the movie I was pretty nervous. I figured this to be a date, our first real date. But Jessie had met up with a bunch of her friends who I never met and I felt like an outsider, not to mention we had one extra person in her car so had no opportune moments to make a move. In the end, maybe I should have kissed her, but I felt awkward in my approach and it never happened. Perhaps that was my downfall right there.

Soon after that short lived date, the bad news started to trickle in. Jessie was still in Miami going to college there. I did not get to see her again for quite some time, but when I did see her it was too late. She had a boyfriend. I was too late again. I wasted an opportunity to attempt to kiss her and I missed my chance. The worst thing of it all was that I felt miserable because I kept going back to that instant message I saved. Her, "I love you," mocked me after every read. You could say this was one of the most depressing times of my life.

It was hard, but I had to forget about her. I could not wait for Jessie to be ready for me. She did not wait for me, so why should I wait for her, I was tired of waiting. I had to get her out of my mind and reassure myself that she was not the one. It was a hard sell.

Time heals all wounds, even emotional ones. In time I got over this girl, but she was never forgotten. Jessie is still a good friend. No matter who we are with, the two of us share emotional bond, and I am glad she is in my life to a degree.

Sara

This girl might have ended a friendship. If she was not the catalyst then she came in at the wrong time. Sara was introduced to me through Danny a long long time ago. Danny was still dating a girl named Kristen at the time, and Sara was the sister of one of Danny's friends, Jacob.

She was cute. She also seemed to like me, or maybe Danny mentioned she liked me. Either way, she was someone I was pursuing at that time. I obtained her phone number with relative ease. It was something I was starting to get good at.

Time moved on and we did thing together, but never alone. I started to think I was getting nowhere with this girl when Danny and Roberto stopped by my job and mentioned a trip they were planning. Hollywood Horror Nights in Orlando was the venue.  They were going to get a Hotel room and we were all going to go and drink our faces off before we went to the park. Sounded like a fun time to me. So I went.

At the Hotel I noticed Sara and Roberto showing interest with each other, and I withdrew from the hunt. I might have never had a chance with Sara, who knows. All I knew is that I cherished my friendship with Roberto and I did not want a girl to get in the way. He seemed to get the idea, because soon afterwards the two started dating. I was happy for him. I figured at least one of us got the girl. there was no dirty play involved. I simply did not want to start a rift, so I told him about it and told him to go for it, that I was over her. Maybe I wasn't, but it did not matter at that point. I had no shot.

After those two were together, things started to go downhill in terms of Roberto and the group. Events started to cascade into huge problems and lies turned friends into untrustworthy individuals. It got to the point where all of us started to question each other's allegiance and overall commitment as friends. Who is to say what was the cause of all this, but all I know is that before Sara, Roberto was still one of the guys.

As of today it has been almost seven years since I have seen or heard from him. One of my closest friends, gone. Perhaps I was too naive to see him for what he truly was. That's what everyone else always tells me. Maybe they are right.

Johanna

Well this story takes a turn for the worse near the end, but here it goes!

I was in school and it was Gasparilla time. That meant two things; getting extremely hammered drunk and pirates. Both usual happen during Gasparilla, both are things I try to accomplish by the days end. I liked dressing up and getting wasted. it was fun since everyone else around me was usually doing the same thing.

This was a few years back. I want to say it was around 2007. I was in school and in particular I was in this public speaking class. There I met a girl, as I usually do. I could tell she liked me. I can always tell when someone likes me, I was good at doing that. It was the steps afterwards that I seemed to stumble on.

Regardless, this girl was called Johanna. She was a younger white girl, but she seemed nice enough. Nice or naive, or maybe she was both. I could identify with those traits. The two of us started talking real early in the semester. She even started buying me food and taking me to the mall to buy clothes which she had store cards to purchase with. Honestly I did not find this girl too attractive, but I enjoyed her company enough.

Gasparilla loomed around the corner and Johanna showed interest. I was already planning on going, so I thought we should meet up. It seemed innocent enough. I had the vibes that she liked me, but again this girl did not really seem to know what she wanted. She liked me, but she was hesitant at the same time. I guess she had gone through her own harsh relationships in her time. Either way Gasparilla was a go, and we planned to meet up.

The day turned out just as I thought it would. I went to Gasparilla with one group of friends, lost them, and then found an entirely new group of friends from out of town and just tagged along with them for the rest of the day. My friends from Gainesville wanted to see what Gasparilla was all about, so while I was looking for them I lost track of my starting group and just managed to wander around with them instead. It was not that big of a deal. You get lost in Gasparilla all the time. At least I do. There is a sea of people pushing and shoving, it's bound to happen eventually if you take your eyes away from familiar faces or if you are drunk, or even if you stop to use the bathroom.

So there I was walking around with my friends Colin and James from G-ville and Johanna calls me. We rendezvous near the bridge and walked around all together. She was with one of her friends who had one of those looks in her eye every time she looked at me. I shrugged it off, particularly because of the booze, but also because I was starting to become less interested in Johanna. She seemed more interested in my friends then me, which kind of soured my mood. Still, I drank my worries away like I used to do. We even made some money off selling some beers to wandering drunks. It was a fun time.

The parade ended, and the five of us were all pretty intoxicated. Johanna's friend worked at some hotel and told us she could get us some free food if we went with her. Who were we to refuse such a gracious offer? So we went, and boy what happens next is when things start to get a little awkward.

We are sitting down at this restaurant in the hotel. Johanna sits across from me, next to James. I'm sitting in the middle of Colin and Johanna's friend. She was super horny, or so it seemed because she kept rubbing my junk under the table. I tried to stop her without making a scene, but it was not working. I was fidgeting and moving around feeling a little uncomfortable. She would stop, try to act nonchalant about it and then start doing it again after a short pause. it got to the point where she was pretty blatant about it. I pointed it out to my friend Colin, and he couldn't help but laugh at the situation. That was only the beginning.

After we ate, we went back to this girl's house. She had an apartment somewhere in south Tampa, but I could not tell you where since I was still pretty drunk. Plus I was starting to get a nasty headache. Gasparilla starts around nine in the morning. It was easily seven at night right now, so I could have been receiving an early hangover. Either way when we got to this girl's place, everyone kept drinking, but my head was pounding. I mentioned it to her and she quickly gave me something for my head.

Now in retrospect, perhaps I should have looked at what exactly she was giving me, but I was too woozy to care and my head hurt too much to think too hard about the situation. After awhile I got sleepy, and I was escorted to a bedroom where I promptly passed out.

I am not sure how long I was gone, but I do know how I woke up. I was lying in the bed with my eyes closed when I felt something grabbing at my lip. When I opened my eyes I saw the girl (whose name escapes me to this day!), fully naked, on top of me, and softly biting at my lower lip. This was certainly new. I tried to get her off of me, but I was drained of energy. You can only struggle so much when a naked girl is on top of you.

Afterwards I ran out of the room with a sense of panic entering me thoughts. Both of my friends were asleep in another room. I guess they slept through it all. I ran outside and called my friend Gonzalo. I was panicking. He told em to calm down and call him if I was in some real trouble.

Which...I guess I was not in. The night ended with all of us going to some house party and me ignoring that girl for the rest of the night. I never saw her again.

Johanna seemed less interested in me after that night and I was just as uninterested as her. I guess that's the way the world works. 

Kristen

She was quite the looker, but I suppose she still is. I doubt I ever had a chance with this girl, but I always thought I did. I met Kristen during the period where I was working at SACC.

SACC is an after schooling child care program for college students. I was working with little children after school and watching them after their school was over until their parents could pick them up. That was a fun job. I did tons of fun activities. I went to theme parks with the kids, I played sports with them, I was there during the Lightning's title run, we had water slides, we did dances, we had stage performances, we did things we should not have done, and we even played Smash Brothers. It was a crazy fun job. Too bad it did not pay well and it was way out in the middle of nowhere.

Sorry I went off on a tangent. The school is where I met Kristen. She was a new student aide and she was breathtakingly beautiful. At the time she was hired, she was in a relationship and me, well I think you already know I was single and still searching for that elusive manfly known as love.

Right off the bat I could tell that this girl had the heart of an angel. She was super sweet, smart, and she had a very bright smile. She was very friendly and for once I do not think this girl truly knew how beautiful she was. She did not flaunt her looks, and she treated us all in a very friendly manner. She changed her hair color a lot too. I do not even remember if she was a natural blond or brunette at this moment.

We got to talking and as it turned out, we knew a lot of people in common. She was friends with my best friend Steven from high school. That seemed convenient for me. The two of us became friends easily enough. She had a warm personality and it seemed as though she always was paying attention when I said anything. That was something that always bothered me with women, and people in general. I never thought people were paying attention to me when I spoke my mind. I would say or try to say something and either people weren't paying attention or they just flat interrupted my train of thought. I guess I am just not that strong of a personality or no one really cares about what I have to say. Kristen was different. She listened.

Time moved on and it just so happened that Kristen and her boyfriend had broken up.

Yay!

I mean, that is a shame for her, but it meant that I had a potential shot at courting this girl. I always thought we had some sort of connection, so why not try? She was cute, she liked talking to me, she was a sweet hart, and I felt as though she was an honest person. Why not right?

Thing was...I did not want to jump all over her right after she broke up with her boyfriend. That seems a bit desperate to me. Give the girl some time to think about things, I mean she just ended a long relationship. I was not going anywhere, neither was she.

Or that is what I thought.

Turns out, I was mistaken to think other guys would also wait through her grieving period. Because they did not. The next time I had a thought that I should ask Kristen out on a date it was too late. She was already talking to another guy. He had swooped in before I ever had a chance. He must have been waiting for the right time to strike because he came out of nowhere.

In the end, the two started talking more frequent and I saw my chances begin to slip away. However, there was one night I felt as if I had as good of a shot to try to steal her away as I ever had.

It was one night where me my brother, Steven and Danny all went over to a mutual friends house. Kristen was there and I believe there was a Dave Mathews concert happening on TV at the time. That was in the background, because the rest of us were drinking and having a grand time. I remember there was a time when me and Kristen were alone in the kitchen. We just talked and joked about things. She was still with the guy, but perhaps there was a little bit of hesitation, because I saw her wane if not for just a second.

We seemed to be alone for awhile. We were mixing drinks and having just a jolly old time. When the drinks started to set in, we started getting a little extra friendly. There was fruit and we started feeding each other the alcohol induced foods to each other. I remember it clear as day that after I fed her a chocolate strawberry that she began to suck my fingers. You know in that sexual way. It was nice. I felt that we might have something. We were flirting and she was digging it to the tenth degree. I was smiling, she was smiling and giggling. It was a good time.

But that period in time did not last forever and we had to leave shortly after.  Funny thing was is that after working with her for so long I did not even have her phone number. I was not aggressive enough I suppose, but I hate trying to look desperate. This was the perfect opportunity to grab her digits though and I seized the moment.

It's funny how life works out somehow though. While I was acquiring her number my brother chimed in and seemed to ruin any mood we had or any momentum I had in wooing this girl. I doubt he meant to make me look bad, but I never recovered after this moment with Kristen. Here is how the scene went down.

I was in the kitchen with Kristen. We were still talking and I got around to asking her for her phone number. So I gave it to he, to which she replied, "Ok, I guess I will put you under Ryan number two since I already have a Ryan in my contacts."

I was not going to accept being number two in her contacts, "Oh, come on. I think you should make me Ryan number at least! I hate playing second fiddle."

She smiled, "Well....maybe I can put you under as Ryan R. How does that sound?"

My brother swoops in. I could see the devil in his eyes. He calmly walks up to us, and I could tell he was up to no good. "Why don't you add him as Ryan F in your phone."

I already knew where this was going. Kristen did not. She chuckled and asked him, "Ryan F?"

My brother with a stone cold face looks at her, not a gleam of humor in his demeanor and says, "Ryan Faggot," turns and walks away.

I was blown away.

Some other events happened after we left that house, but that is for another time and place dear reader.
Perhaps I never had a shot with Kristen. Not shortly after that incident did I hear that her and that certain guy had become a couple, but I felt something special that day if only for a moment.

Frances

Some girls just love to lead guys on. Others have no clue what they themselves want. I think this girl fell in between both these categories. Now, bless my friends for trying to help, but man if only they could find more sane suitors for me I would not always end up looking like a fool. This girl came from my best friend Steven's girlfriend Andrea. Frances was one of her so-called close friends. She seemed liked a nice enough girl. She was cute, that was easy to see. I am always skeptical of the cute ones. If they are single there is usually a good reason as to why.

I met Frances at my brother's annual birthday party, Stephenstock. It was his second big birthday party, but the first one where we sent out fliers and had a huge turn out. Stephenstock was such a great time. Frances came with Steve and Andrea. I never really met any of Andrea's friends. She usually just came around with her sisters, so I may or may not have met Frances before. I can't really recall. Their group was all dressed up as hippies or something. I guess hearing the name Stephenstock made them think Woodstock, so they dressed accordingly? Who knows. Either way she caught my eye and I took what opportunity I had to talk to her and try and score her number.

The day was going great. I was talking to a cute girl, the party was kicking, everyone was having a great time, and most importantly I was talking with a cute chick! We did not have any life altering conversations, but we talked enough to know that we knew there was a mutual attraction going on between us. If you exclude the pointless drama going on involving Andrea's younger sister Diana and two of my friends, I would say it was a very wonderful day. At the end of the night I did muster up the courage to go up and get Frances' number. She willingly offered it to me and that was that.

We met again soon enough. I forget why, but something brought us together at the beach. I might as well point out that it was also nighttime when we arrived at the beach. It offers a different mood I suppose. It was me and Frances, as well as Gonzalo and Diana. I can not recall where Steven and Andrea were, we might have taken separate cars there. Either way the two "couples" split off to give each other their room to do whatever they wanted to do. We did not do much other than talk. We did talk a lot, as we walked along the beach. We talked about our families, and our future. We talked about what we wanted in a partner and what turned us on and off. we talked about marriage and where we saw ourselves in the next couple of years. These were all questions I considered standard for someone who was probing someone they saw promise in. All in all I felt pretty good about myself afterwards. I saw, what I thought was a genuine smile from this girl after everything was said and done. She held onto my arm as we walked back towards the rest of the group and it seemed nice.

Perhaps too nice.

After the night at the beach I received the usual cold treatment I was used to. I called and got no answer. I would text, but received no reply.

Typical.

Turns out this chick had an on and off again relationship with some Puerto Rican, and it just so happened that the dude came back into town right around this exact time. Just my luck!

Needless to say, that was the end of my stint with this chick. I have said it once, but I do not play second fiddle to anyone. It seemed she was done with me too, because she offered no rhyme or reason to her sudden departure. I did not see her again for a long time, and when I did I was already long since past caring for her and deep in my relationship with Amanda. She was just another cold hearted bitch I happened to come across in my path of life.

Such is life. She was never right for me. She was just another bump on the road to my soulmate. A better look at what I did not want in my significant other.

Danelia

Back in my high school days I was failing with women as much as I ever was!

It was my junior year. I was losing weight at an astronomical pace. And lo and behold, girls were starting to notice.Some of the locals were even saying hello to me as I walked by them in the hallways. Having girls holler at me without me instigating was an entirely new experience. In high school it felt nice. Shame nothing really ever came out of it.

Still there was a time when I would go and meet with the teachers before the classes began. I sat in my Chemistry class and in the seats behind me was this girl I had not seen before in school. We caught each other eye and started talking during the introduction or whatever the teacher was rambling about. Her name was Danelia, a weird name for sure, but she was a cutie and Spanish too! Cuban if I am not mistaken with dirty blond hair, possibly bleached, I forget. Either way even before the school year began I had a possible love interest, which was a plus in my eyes. Our paths crossed a lot in the early stages of that year. She liked me, I could tell. This was going be the one!

So, after awhile she introduce the idea of going to Bush Gardens together. Yes! A date, and a date initiated by her as well. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to charm and woo her. Too bad that did not happen. What happened instead was she seemed to want to invite more people, so two of her friends tagged along.

Wonderful.

I did not mind the extra company, but I was hoping for a more solo approach. At the time I did not have a car, so I found out more people were going when she picked me up. That's always a plesant surprise. The trip was fun overall. I made her laugh and smile, much like I do with all of my futile attempts, but in the end when I wanted to talk about getting serious, she kept shying away and changing the subject. I asked her friends, but they gave me no advice that was useful.

Fast forward to school. The next time I saw her she was acting weird, and when I confronted her she told me that she had lost interest in me during our little excursion at the B.G. I am not sure what I did, but she started getting mouthy with me, so I dropped it altogether and left her alone. I was always envious of the guys she started talking to afterwards. In the end, I think it was a good thing that me and her never got together. Later on in my schooling life, I did not find her to be as attractive as I once thought.

Oh well. you live, you try, you fail, you get back up, and you learn.

Jersey

I knew this girl was trouble right from the get go. First of all, who gives themselves the nickname Jersey? Do people really want to be named after that place? And this was way before that whole Jersey shore disease started spreading around the world. I just never got the glamour Jersey got.

But regardless, this girl told me when I met her that people called her Jersey. I should have waked away right there.

I met this chick through a friend. Who I met her through should have told me everything I needed to know about what type of person I was dealing with. I just wish I had this type of clarity back then, I would have never gone through such an ordeal.

My friend Danny's girlfriend Yenly was in a sorority and they were in some sort of dance competition that was being held at Busch Gardens. Sorority chicks, dancing and the eventual after party at a house or bar? Sign me up! Danny invited us for the same reason. He enjoyed being around a slew of beautiful women just as much as the next guy. Me, Gonzalo and Steven were all going to go, but in our usual fashion we were going to make as big of a mockery of the situation as possible. We bought poster board and were planning on bringing signs with Yenly's name on it to taunt and pretend that we were cheering for her, but it would have been in ridicule. we knew that Yenly was the type of person who even knowing the signs were a mean of poking fun at her and her sorority, she would have embraced the signs. We decided that her inflated ego did not need to be pumped up anymore.

As it usually turns out, my two compadres backed out at the last second. I did not have anything better to do for the rest of the day, so I went along and joined Danny. They were having this little competition in the huge theater where that holds all those fancy shows. I found Danny, who was easy enough to find. He was surrounded by beautiful women. I sat next to him and he started introducing me to some of the lovely ladies. One of them just happened to be Jersey. We got to talking a whole lot during the competition. She was cute, sure. She was one of the smaller girls, which was right up my alley. I thought the nickname was cute at the time. You see how naive I was back then? Someone calling herself Jersey should have thrown up the red flags right from the get go.

The show ended and all the girls were antsy to get some drinks in them. Danny and Yenly told me that all of them were meeting up at one of the local bars around the area. Since we all were driving separate cars, they assured me they would see me there and told me to follow Jersey there. Well guess what happened? Danny calls me up right when I am pulling into the parking lot and tells me he decided not to go to the bar after all.

Weeeeeeeeeeeee!

One thing I do not do is go to bars or clubs stag. I hate being alone, in every sense of that statement. I am always accompanied by a friend whenever I do anything. Needless to say, not having anyone here made me extremely nervous. Not only was I completely alone now, but I hardly knew any of these girls. Usually girls pay me no attention if I am by myself. I was nearing panic mode, but I saw Jersey walk in. I found some of the last remnants of confidence left in me and I followed quickly behind.

The two of us continued where we left off at the Busch Garden theater. We talked, we drank, we danced, we even took some pictures together. All in all, we had a pretty good time together. We sat in a corner of the bar and just talked for a good hour or so. The night ended nicely enough. We were a little tipsy and all of a sudden the cops showed up in the parking lot. We scampered off to our cars. I gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and got her number. I figured it to be one of my more major accomplishments of recent memory. Not just because I got a girls number, but because I did it all alone. It was a first for me.

After that things soured as usual. Try as I could I could never get Jersey to meet up with me for a date or anything. I invited her over for my birthday party, but she never came. I figured she, just like every other girl I ever tried to get with, found somebody else, because that was the end of it all. I never got any rhyme or reason why, but Danny did mention that this particular girl was a tad trifling and she was the type to talk to numerous guys at the same time. That about did it for me and Jersey.

Once again I could not figure out where I went wrong. What did I do that messed things up with this girl? Why can't I ever close a deal? Where was that one special girl for me? I was tired of chasing a dream. I was tired of being treated like dirt. I never treated any girl with disrespect, and I did not deserve to be treated as such. I was over it all.

Our paths would once again cross, but at a much later date. It was something of a chance meeting too. I had not talked or thought about this girl in quite some time, but my string of bad luck with women was as bad as ever. Me and the guys were at a club for something that dealt with Yenly's sorority. I was pounding drinks at the bar when Danny mentioned that Jersey was on the other side of the Island bar and that she had been staring at me for awhile now.

I was completely over this chick by this time, and I had no intentions of going over and seeing her, but when I did glance over in her direction I could tell that me ignoring her was bothering her. So, I kept on ignoring her. I couldn't even begin to fathom how many times I called her and got no answer or call back. I was not about to inflate this girl's ego any further. She stayed on her side of the bar, and I stayed on mine. I had a great time, it was apparent that she was not.

By the end of the night she actually text me saying that she knows I noticed her sitting there by herself and wanted to know why I had not gone over and said hi to her. At this point I felt vindicated for some reason. I went over to her and performed some sort of small talk. My attraction to her had long since left, but I threw out the obligatory, "It was good seeing you again. I will call you," line.

I didn't mean it, and I am sure she knew it also.

But i know that I will think twice before messing with another jersey girl from that point on.

Cat

Short for Catherine, or something.

These were my college days when I would travel around more frequently. This story takes place in the cities of Tallahassee, Orlando, Sarasota, and of course Tampa.

Cat was a friend of a friend of a friend who I became acquainted with because I was big into anime at the time. She was also into anime, but made me like like a choir boy when it came to the subject. Then again, I am glad I never got that addicted into that genre. The people are wierd. Anyways, we all were animaniacs and my group of friends would go to these anime conventions and stroll around the centers and mock the people in costumes or we would stalk some of the nicer eye candy at the shows. There were good costumes and then there were not so good costumes.

Cat was one of the girls that came along with us to these anime conventions. Actually she was usually working the cons at one of the shopping booths. I can not believe we did not get any special discounts from her. For a long time the two of us were friends, but every now and then she would throw a flirt my way or hint at some weird sexual innuendo. I could never read her. Still, I never pursued her. For one, she lived all the way in Tallahassee at the time, and the other is that she was in a relationship for a long time.

Still whenever I would visit, she would have some sort of flirtatious conversation with me every time I would visit. She was not really my type, but I usually played along. It was only words anyways. She soon became single, but even then I never really took the initiative with her. She was too far away and I was (and still am) lazy.

I do not remember how it came to be, but one time while I was visiting my friend AJ, the flirting became blatantly obvious. This girl just always seemed like a natural flirt, but even so, it was kinda obvious she was hinting at something more this time around. My friends assured me that was just how she talked with guys, but i was not buying it. I was getting a vibe from her this time around and I was not getting anywhere with any of my other attempts anyways. I somehow found out she would be in Sarasota for the summer and that is where the story heads to next.

Sarasota has soem nice beaches. Cat invited me to go visit her because she was planning a trip to one of those beaches. I did not have anything better to do, so I decided to take her up on her offer. Who knows, maybe she was looking for a booty call or something. Lord knows I could have used that pick-me-up.

The day before I was hanging out with my good friend Andy. I told him about it, and since Cat told me she would be going to the beach with one of her friends, I invited Andy to tag along too. He gleefully accepted. We spent the night before getting hammered drunk at one of Andy's friends houses in Spring Hill. I remember because we woke up rediculously early the next day still feeling the effects of the alcohol. The two fo us were passed out on the floor of whoevers house we were partying at. At the time, seconds thoughts of driving all the way to Sarasota started surfacing in my head, but somehow or another we both decided to go over and see what came of the day.

The drive was one long headache. The trip was one huge waste. The beach was fun, but right from the get go I could tell Cat was being distant. She eventually told me that she was seeign soem guy at the time. My time was wasted, my trip was pointless. Still me and Andy made the best of the situation. We did what any duo would do when we had no shot with the women, we got to drinking! The best way to get over a hangover is to drown it with even more beer. It sounds crazy, but it works.

We got our share of booze in our system and then we made some fake ass excuse to leave as soon as we could. Cat wanted all of us to go to the movies later, but we never made it. We were half way back to Tampa by the time she turned around. I know when to cut my losses short.

Hooters Chick

Honestly, I can not for the life of me remember this girl's name! I will refer to this entry as HC for short.

So this HC chick was a friend of my cousin Isabel. When the two of us were going to the same college we started hanging out. Naturally, being single, this meant the opportunity for me to try my luck with all of her friends. I met HC when my cousin met up with me at the Hyde Park Cafe one night. We did not hit it off or anything, but through my cousin's influence i got the girl's number and we started hanging out.

Lucky (or unlucky I suppose) for me she had a lot of friends attending the University of Tampa. I got to experience the UT version of dorm parties while I was hanging out with this chick. Honestly, she was not the cutest girl on the block, but she had huge knockers, and she seemed interested in me. I figured I might as well give it a shot.

We started hanging out a lot. She was a college chick that loved to party and drink a lot, at the time that was right up my alley so we clicked for the time being. She was the first girl I ever kissed that had a tongue ring, so that was an interesting experience. The girl had a lot of single friends so before long, I had my whole crew there with me to see if anyone else would get some action.

Halloween came and a friend of mine was throwing a Home Depot costume party. Of course I was going, but I needed a date. HC was the obvious choice, because at the time she was the only girl who was answering my calls. Though even she was talking to me less, so as usual, I expected the worst.

As I picked her up I could tell something was up. She was acting weird, so I assumed she was talking to someone else. It was okay with me, my emotions were never tied to this girl so all I wanted out of her was someone who would rive my drunk ass home. Oh she dressed up like a girl who worked for Hooters, hence the name. I was a ghostbuster if anyone cares.

The party was tons of fun. Most everyone from work was dressed up in goofy costumes and having a great time. James, the person throwing the party was a great host and had tons of beer and food for everyone. His house was real nice too. I got to play some pool, do some crazy shots, danced and even wrestled my friend Pat for a little. By the end of the party I was wrecked, and so was my date, but that did not stop her from driving us home.

The drive home was scary, I will not lie. Not only was HC was driving real bad, but she told me that she was seeing someone else. So, that was the end of us. She was also swerving and speeding and looking like a drunken driver, which she was. The cops must have noticed too because they pulled her over in a vacant Publix parking lot.

Oh boy I thought to myself. This was going to be the second time I was driving with a girl and she was going to get a DUI, except that never happened. The cop pulled her over, saw that she was drunk and then called one of his friends over. Another cop showed up, told HC to get out of the car. Now, I want you to remember that she was dressed up like a Hooters girl so her boobies were all mashed up, and she was wearing those tight orange short shorts. It seemed as though the cops were just admiring her outfit, because after awhile they told me to call a friend to pick us up. We waited for the cops to leave and then she drove us home.

Can you believe that? If I was alone that would have been a DUI for sure. The cops got their sneak peak at some huge hooters and then went n their way. I guess being a girl has its perks every now and then.

Kriss

This one is a bit embarrassing, but it's one of the many mistakes I have made in the relationship game.

I once had a fake relationship with a girl in a MMORPG I played a long time ago.

Final Fantasy was my favorite RPG as a young boy. When I heard that the franchise was going to come out with a MMO, I knew I was going to have to give it a try. Final Fantasy XI was my first ever MMO experience. People say it was not the best MO out on the market, but for the longest time I was enamored with it. It took over my life. It was all that mattered. It was my escape.

Early on in my life inside FFXI I met this person who went by the name Kriss. We became friends early on and in the game we spent a lot of time together. In actuality I was not sure who this person was. It could have been a guy with a girl character, but I was determined to find out.

I've seen friends do weird things when they meet someone in a game like this. The craziest thing I ever saw was one of friends move in with a girl he had met online. I took that to heart and made sure to not ever get that caught up. Oh, by the way, their relationship did not last. I wonder why?
The two of us played the game a lot together. We would join up as a party, kill some monsters, farm loot, unlock new jobs, and all the while we would be getting to know each other better. As it turned out (or from what she told me) her real name was Kristine and she was Canadian living in that country as well. I would go home, jump on this game, and play with this girl for the rest of the night.

Still, I was not even sure if this was even a girl. So, I can say I am a tad bit more bold online. I asked her for her number, and she gave it to me. Hey, any time I get a girl's number I consider it a success, regardless of the situation!

So we talked on the phone, and lo and behold it was an actual girl! Wooot! From that point on we spent a lot of time together in the game. It sounds cheesy, but I was real lonely at the time. Spending time with this chick in the game relieved me of some of the loneliness I was feeling. We talked about everything, and before I knew it she asked me to be her digital boyfriend. I guess I was happy, but I was embarrassed too. She reminded me that it was just a game, and not to let my emotions get the best of me, because the two of us would never meet in real life. I agreed, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

This Kriss chick was something else. She did not ant me to get my emotions mixed into this fake couple thing, but she was a sexual freak. She liked for me to talk dirty to her and asked me what my sexual fantasies were. She told me about her sexual escapades and even started sending me pictures of her in risque outfits. Who knows if those pictures were actually her, but whoever it was, she was a blond bombshell. She also told me she liked getting choked during sex. That entire notion was new to me. I for one, enjoyed breathing. Silly Canadians and their crazy fetishes.

Beyond all the strange sexual conversations we exchanged we would travel around the digital world and experienced the games beauty together. I would by her flowers or rings or necklaces and the two of us would sit in some are and talk the night away. I know it was not a real relationship, but it was nice to imagine that it was. It was definitely my escape from the reality of being single.

The one thing I got out of this relationship that was not a swift kick in the gonads was that Kriss had good taste in books. She introduced me to the Sword of Truth series, and I went on to read the entire series (eventually) and pass it on to my friends and family. Nothing else from this experience lasted, so at least I had something come out of it.

We would set up times to meet and play together. I would grind extra hard and buy her items she wanted. She was a very needy in the game and wanted all the best and most expensive gear. She wanted certain gear, not because it was good for her, but because it was super expensive and she wanted to showcase owning that particular loot. I was her slave, but to some degree I was happy.

Then, something changed. She started doing things with other people, and started leaving me behind in the game. Other players were more adept at collecting money in the game then I was. Kriss started demanding gear I did not have the means to get at the time and that became a problem for her. What she wanted, she wanted at that moment and she did not want to wait for me to farm for a couple of days in order to acquire it. She started showing up with very nice gear and at first I thought it was cool that people were buying her gear, but then she started to play with me less and less.

I could not afford her in the game and she left me for someone who could. Ha! I even got dumped in a video game, how pathetic. Kriss had used me. I was upset, sure. But she told me that it was just a game and that she told me not to get my emotions mixed into to it all. I suppose, but that was a lot of time and energy I spent with her to keep her happy and for what?

After that FFXI almost became an embarrassment to me. I still played, but I avoided Kriss at all cost. It must not have worked out with her sugar daddy because she would every now and then try to talk to me, but I was done with her. I was not going to waste another minute on someone who treated me like that. Game or not.

As it turns out, after Kriss started to text and talk to me less and less it seems she was tired of the entire male species. She told me one last time before we stopped talking completely that she had turned bisexual and was dating some girl with a crazy body.

Sure, I looked at the pictures when she sent them, but come on...who wouldn't!

Victoria

Another childhood friend of mine. This story ends up much like the other, but then again I only realized how beautiful this girl was after it was too late.

If Acima was my school childhood sweet hart, I suppose Victoria could be labeled as my out of school childhood sweet hart. My mom and her mom were best friends so the two of us would always spend a lot of time together. I can remember always going to her house and playing video games or dolls (Yes, dolls) and sometimes we would set up Domino Rally up. We would try to make these crazy tracks and hope that the dominoes would trigger each and every one. Most of the time we were not successful, but I think we pulled it off once or twice.

In any case, we spent a lot of time together when we were younger. The more I think about it, when I was not in school the two of us would hang out a lot. I remember Halloweens were we would go over and hang out and then there was a couple of fairs we went to together. I did not like girls like that at that young of an age, but Victoria was one of my closer friends. I very much enjoyed her company.

Then middle school came around and we lost touch. I do not know what ti was with middle school and me losing touch with all these hotties, but it happened. I might have seen Victoria once or twice during my 6th through 8th grade years.

High school came around and I was once again given the opportunity to make up for lost time. I want to say it was Victoria's 15th or 16th birthday party. My mom had to plead with me to go. For some reason I was opposed to going to hang out with this girl and her family. I mean I was a boy into girls. It was a girl's birthday party. That meant there was going to be tons of girls there. Why would I not want to go? I wish I knew, but I did go. I wish I would have stayed home.

It was the first time I saw Victoria and noticed how beautiful she had become. She was a young woman, and when my mom reintroduced us I could tell she was super shy. I could not see why. We had practically grown up together and now she had to avert her eyes at the sight of me. Now, I did not handle this too well. For some reason I got all big headed and thought I was the beeze neeze. I acted real cocky around her and I did not even talk to her for the majority of the party. If I was smart I would have tried to rekindle an old flame or friendship or maybe asked her out, but no I was a jack ass and brushed her off. That was the end of any hopes I had with Victoria.

That was the last time I saw her for a long time. She invited me to her graduation party, but sadly it fell on the same day as my own so we missed each other on that day as well.

Late in the college years, facebook became all the rage. This was during my super lonely days and I would browse facebook and try to find all the old flames I tried to get with. I eventually came across Victoria's page and my goodness...she was simply stunning. She had grown into such a beautiful female I could hardly believe it. This was the same girl I used to play in her room, just the two of us.

Of course she was in a relationship. How could someone that sexy be single? Still, I did what any person would do. I befriended her and hoped for the best. Well I suppose the best happened. I got a second chance. She ended up breaking up with the d-bag she was with and was single once again. Woot! Now, all I had to do was somehow get us to start hanging out and make up for all that lost time. I got her number and I tried talking with her on the phone. I was never the smoothest conversationalist, but somehow I managed to get us to meet up at Whisky South.

This was an interesting trip. I picked up my two friends Andres and Steven up as I thought they would be good wing man for me. I had no idea how this girl partied or how this night was going to go, but I was just happy at the chance of having something happen.

Right when we get to the parking lot my car dies on me. It turns out that my transmission died on me that night.

Great. Well hopefully the rest of the night will be better then that. I was already thinking ahead to how much that was going to cost me. We get there and Victoria is surrounded by people. She seemed like the center of attention for the entire club. It was hard enough getting her attention and keeping it. She recognized me, which was good I suppose. We hugged and shared some small talk, but I was not part of her friends and they started to separate us. we took one shot together, then we got off one picture together and that was it. the crowds pushed us away and my two friends watched helplessly as I was unable to move in or get close enough to talk to her for the rest of the night.

Epic failure.

What's even worse is that since my car died. I had to call my mom to pick me up from the club.

Super epic failure!

If you can consider that a chance, it was my last with Victoria. She was in a relationship not long after with the supposed most eligible bachelor of Florida or something. The two then became engaged and followed it up with marriage.

The two live happily married to the best of my knowledge.

Annette

This girl really messed me up.

Just so you all know, this story spans almost a years worth of fail.

I met Annette a long time ago. We first met while I was still working at Publix. Back then, I really did not have an eye for her. First she was too young, and second, she had not yet developed. She was a shy girl and we never got around to talking much. I thought she was kinda cute, but I never acted on my initial thoughts, as usual of my old persona.

After I left Publix I did not see Annette for a good five years. It probably would have been better if I had never bumped into her again. As fate would have it, I would see her again at the church I used to frequent. It was some night where everyone was doing fun activities outside like basketball and kickball. I really did not go to church that often, but everyone else was going and they convinced me to go.

There, I ran into Annette again. The two of us shared a look, as if we knew each other, and then it clicked for both of us. A lot of time had passed. She was no longer the young teenager I last saw at Publix. She had grown into a very beautiful young woman. Surprisingly she recognized me too and we started to catch up that day. Still I am bad at these moments, but my friends coerced me to trouble her enough to get her digits. I did and that started one of the longest, most frustrating non-relationships I have ever dealt with.

Annette seemed like a nice enough girl. She was very attractive and I met her at a church, so that was good, right? But I did not know very much about her. We just worked together at a store half a decade ago together, but even then we were never really that close. At this point in my life I was really looking for that special someone in my life. I wanted a girlfriend, and I was really hoping she would be the one. She was Cuban, and loved to dance. I knew my family would love her.

So we started talking, a lot. We had a couple of things in common, or at least I thought we did. The closer I got to this girl, the more I noticed how much she needed some stability in her life. She had a very rocky relationship with her mother who she was living with at the time. She went to church that one day by chance, because one of her friends told her that she could use the visit. I believe it. Annette was not a bad person, but her problem was that she did not know what she wanted in life. I hope that is different now.

Our (non-committal) relationship started out nicely enough. I would pick her up and we wold go to clubs or sometimes my dads house and hang out. My dad loved her, by the way. I think it was her Cuban personality, personally. She mentioned how my father acted just like hers, and I guess that made sense.

My biggest problem with this girl was that she was starved for attention. She played it off by telling me no one ever talked to her when she was younger, and now that she had blossomed she kind of flaunted her new looks to get things she wanted. Typical. I was caught hook line and sinker by this girls act, but she insisted that that was not the case in our friendship. I really wanted to believe that. I wanted so much more out of her.

One thing she did was she had plenty of guys on stand by. She never really showed me much affection, but she always called me for help. I was her emergency contact. She could not rely on her family for help, but for some reason, she trusted me. Then, when I would come and help her, she would text and talk to these other guys while I tried to spend time with her. She never once took my feelings into consideration. there was always someone else who ignored her, all the while she was ignoring the only person who truly cared about her. She would constantly come to me with her guy problems, and I would complain to her that she is oblivious to the people who really cared about her and her life. I was never that guy. Oh, how I wanted to be that guy.

Annette had another problem. She was recently jobless, and her car was starting to give her a lot of trouble. Lucky for her I was such a nice and thoughtful guy. I helped her look for a job. I would take days off and pick her up and spend the entire day driving around trying to help her get her feet back on solid ground. It was very time consuming, but I chalked it up to me spending quality time with her. We worked on her resume, and I helped her pick out outfits for her job interviews. She was a very attractive person with a good personality, so she did well in her few job interviews.

Everyone once in awhile I would get a call from her at random times in the day. Most of the time she was frantic and panicking. It usually meant I had to go out of my way or stop what I was doing and go help her out. most of the time it was car troubles. I remember a couple times I had to pick her up because her car broke down on the side of the road. I had to push her car all by myself sometimes and move it out of the middle of the road. I was the guy she called when she needed help. Maybe it was because she trusted me, or maybe it was because she knew she could use me. Who knows.Fun times.

I was spending all my free time with this girl, but I was getting nothing back in return.

The one day that I almost had enough was when I got a call from some random number. It was a number that was unfamiliar so I ignore it. It called me again instantly, so I knew it was someone I knew. The odd number was from Orient Road Jail. Annette had been arrested for domestic violence. Apparently her mom had called the cops on her because she claimed to have been struck by Annette. Annette tells it the other way around. She told me that she called the cops because her mom had hit her, but when the cops showed up they arrested Annette instead. Whatever. I was just about done with this girl. She wanted me to bail her out of jail.

Ha!

I had helped this girl out for so long. I spent countless hours with her and had dropped so much money for her to eat and on gas and a bunch of other things. I could not take it anymore. I did not have the money to post bail. Besides, I had never done that before. I did not even  know how to bail someone out of jail. She was crying on the phone asking for my help again, but I just could not do it this time. I felt horrible. I wanted to help, and if I had the funds, I probably would have. Instead, I had an awful guilt trip for that entire day.

She called me the next day and told me she was getting out and that she needed a ride. This I could do, but there was one problem. I was at work when she called. I told my boss I had an emergency. I was very obscure with what I told him, but he sensed that I was needed elsewhere so he let me leave for an hour and I had to come back right when I was done.

I drove so fast to Orient Road. I must have broken a couple of speeding laws on the way there. Isn't that ironic? You want to know the messed up thing about this whole thing? When I got to the jail, she was not there! Turns out she had called both me and her neighbor to come pick her up, only that she never called me and informed me about the fact that someone else had picked her up. I don't know what i was feeling on my way there, but I felt anger and a little bit of betrayal on my way back to work. Again, I was wasting my time, money and patience on this girl.

Still, I could not help but feel sorry for her. She was not a bad person. She was down on her luck, she had almost no one to turn to, and it was about to get worse for her. After the fight with her mom, her family decided to move, and without Annette either. This left Annette homeless. How could I turn my back on this girl right now? I think her most vulnerable moment was when her family had moved out of the apartment they were staying at. She had no place to stay, but the bare apartment itself. There was nothing in the place, but she had the key for that one last night. She called me up in her cute, sad, desperate voice and told me she did not want to be alone that night. If I ever had an opportunity to make a move on her it would have been that night. But I could not find the strength to advance on a human being in such a state. That night the two of us spent the night on the floor of that cold apartment. She clung onto me and told me not to try anything. I obliged.

After that night things started to go better for her. She stayed with her friend for awhile and the two of us continued our job hunt for her. Eventually it paid off and she got a job. Her life started to head back in the right direction and before we knew it she had enough money saved up to start paying for a room at a house.

I wanted to show her the better side of life, so we also started going to this salsa studio. For the longest time, before I met her I had wanted a dance partner. I used to have one, but it was a weird relationship. I was still hopeful that Annette was start to see me the same way I saw and felt for her. We started practicing together and things started to look up. Annette was an amazing dancer. Much better then me. I was used to one specific style of salsa, but she was just talented in the art of dance. I loved dancing with her. I wished we did it more. She would always comment on how cute I looked during these times. I suppose she was just toying with my emotions.

When she got back on her feet, Annette started to go back to her old habits. Boys other then myself were still taking her for granted, and I would always get the short end of the rope. She would call me up and complain that she could never find anyone who truly cared about her.

REALLY?

The kicker here is that one day she told me that she wished she could find someone like me, who looked like me, and was as kind as me to be with her. I really thought she was just playing with my emotions at this point. I mean, who can be all that better then me? She specifically said she wanted someone EXACTLY like me, but not me? I just did not get her. She also told me that she thought my friend Gonzalo was cute. What is up with these girls liking Gonzalo and not me? I just do not get it.

One night we went out and she got a little drunk. She started acting real bitchy and while I was driving her home, she spent the entire car ride talking to some other guy on the phone. That really did not sit well with me. In fact it flatly pissed me off. When I got to her house I tried to talk to her, but she made the excuse that she was drunk. I wanted to know what she thought of me. She said she considered me a good friend and that was it. When I told her how I felt about her, she told me she was shocked and that she had no idea that I felt that way about her. If I was someone who had it in me to smack women, that wold have triggered my pimp hand to slap the shit out of her. The nerve of it all. What person would do all this for someone if they did not really care for the other person? I could not imagine her to be that ignorant to my feelings. It hurt.

Things started to fall apart after that. I could never talk to her about us again. She claimed to not even remember the conversation we had in the first place and assured me that she only saw me as a friend, but that maybe her feelings would change in the future.

Maybe?

Ugh. Who was I dealing with. I had to separate myself from this girl before I really started to hate myself. I had done a great thing. I had helped a human being in the brink of homelessness and depression. I had helped turn their life around. I did not want a medal, but some recognition for my contribution. I would get neither.

After awhile Annette started calling me less and less. When I tried to call her, I would usually just get her voicemail, and hardly ever a call back. For some reason I still had feelings for her. I was just plain dumb and a real hopeless romantic back in the day. Christmas time was coming around and I thought of her when I did my shopping. I bought some perfume I had heard her talk about. What I did would be the envy of most any women. She also mentioned that Cinnamon Toast Crunch was her absolute most favorite cereal in the world. I bought the cereal I methodically opened the bottom and made sure I did not rip or tear anything or leave any obvious markings of entrance. I cut the bottom of the plastic that holds the actual cereal open. After gift wrapping up the perfume, I stuck it inside the plastic, stapled the plastic closed on the bottom because no one takes the plastic out completely.  Then I used super glue on the outer box to seal it again, and voila the box looked un-tampered with. I then wrapped up the box in gift wrapping as well and was prepared to give it to her. Tell me that you would not think that would be something when you are pouring out your daily cereal and out comes an expensive bottle of perfume from within like one of those old prizes the cereals used to give away. Yeah, I know I am charming. That was sure to give me style points.

Christmas came and went and Annette did not even call me. I tried to get a hold of her, but I only got her answering machine. That was the last straw. I was done with her. All the time invested with and for her, I just could not take it any more. I even kept the gift wrapped for a long time, but after awhile I knew it was pointless and I gave it to my sister instead.

Annette later moved to New Jersey or something. I do not know what she is doing or what she has been up to, but I imagine she is still looking for someone or something she will never find. I can not say if I was at fault in this failed relationship attempt, but it was certainly not because lack of trying on my half.

Wow. This story was real taxing...