Have we met?

Dedicated readers of this blog might be under the impression that I am frequently asked out by complete strangers, particularly on public transit.

Please let me assure you that this is by no means the case.

(on a unrelated note: Hi Dad, welcome to my blog!)

There was one incident recently, however, that I think you all might appreciate:

I went out in Beacon Hill with some friends a few weeks ago and happened to run into an old coworker. I'm pretty awful about keeping in touch, but I was genuinely happy to see her, and feared it would be rude not to say hello.

We had only just begun exchanging pleasantries when someone interjected, "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

My former coworker looked a little taken aback, but proceeded to introduce me to this guy, let's call him Dave, whom I naturally assumed to be her boyfriend, or at least her date that evening.

After learning some bizarre facts about Dave (if he wins the lottery, he plans to pay off all of his friends' college loans), my coworker abruptly excused herself, saying she needed to catch up with her friends.

I turned back to my friends, assuming that:
a) this Dave character would leave with his date
b) my friends were still there

Neither of those things were true.

Suddenly, the pieces fell into place.

Having failed to make a positive impression on my old coworker, Dave had moved on to me. My attempt to reconnect with a colleague had just been crashed by Some Guy at a Bar.

There was a bit of forced small talk while I attempted to strike a balance between "polite" and "very much looking forward to going back to sit with my friends".

It is surprisingly hard to find middle ground between those two extremes.

Then, apropos of nothing, Dave announced:

"You're pretty awkward, aren't you?"

You have no idea.