Ambiguous Labeling...

Missed what’s come to be my weekly blog entry because after class last night I met up with a ? for drinks. What’s the question mark? You know, everybody likes to label people… hi, this is my “husband,” ~ that’s a favorite once you snag one; or, hi, this is my “best friend,” ~ a favorite introduction of Mr. A's (who from now on will be known as Anthony, since we ~ the royal we ~ are now naming names), to whom I always throw an upshot eyebrow, (turns out, after much apologetic explaining, I’m one of three ‘best’ girlfriends, we never got ‘round to counting the boys); or how about, hi, this is my “partner” ~ to which I usually ask, “oh, what business are you in?” Duh, this is San Francisco… So back to my ? of last night…

We met last August at Carlos’ going away party ~ which is another story ~ Carlos drove halfway to New York and did a U-turn. So, Mr. ? and I hit it off and went on a couple of ‘dates’. What constitutes a date? Well, usually drinks and dinner are involved, leading to something more intimate, though not necessarily all in one fell swoop. However, on our third encounter he announces, admittedly abashedly, he has a ‘girlfriend’. Now, what’s a girlfriend, especially when you’re seeing another woman? In this case it was one being phased out; Mr. ? just didn’t have the heart to be the one to do the phasing since she was on her way out of the country, permanently. Since playing second fiddle isn’t one of my talents, we left it at that.

Advance three months and I get a surprise call to meet for drinks, which didn’t transpire because he got held up at work and was leaving for Iceland the next day. Advance four more months and now we’re playing the ‘let’s get together’ game ~ schedule, cancel, reschedule, cancel, schedule again… which brings us to Kezar, my (or in this case ‘our’) local watering hole, last night. Three stiff martinis later, he’s on my couch giving me a foot rub while trying to convince me that I really would enjoy a man sleeping with me. Wrong. I like my bed to myself… which may explain why I’m single.

So Mr. question mark ~ was never a ‘boyfriend’, but definitely potentially more than a ‘friend’. Does that make him a former ‘flame’? I like that… infers there was something smoldering that never ignited. Or does a flame mean it was already lit ~ a torch, albeit a small one, already burning ~ that simply fizzled out?

Ooh, now my system informs me that Marvelous Matt just sent an email… let’s see what he has to say.

“Booty call?”

Now, that’s a label I like ~ do we know how to say "boy toy"!