Tales of Heartbreak, Vol. 1

Three months ago I went out on a date with a woman I’ll call Redacted. She’s a sweet gal, and pretty, and we had a pleasant two-hour conversation. But there were no sparks. Afterwards she sent me an email:

hey,

thanks again for meeting up with me last night, i had a great time.  🙂   and got some studying done afterwards.  🙂

redacted

And I replied:

Hey Red,

Thanks for coming all the way outside to hang out. It’s fun out here, isn’t it?

m

(I was teasing her because she claims she never goes outside anymore thanks to med school; she even lives in housing attached to the hospital.) To me, the simple exchange didn’t indicate any interest in continuing the correspondence on either of our parts. I thought that was that and I forgot about her.

But three weeks later, she writes me the following:

hey matt,

i’m sorry for not getting back to you sooner – i had a huge test last friday and it basically took up my life.  but i was glad to meet you for drinks and experience the Real World.  🙂

anyways… a while ago a longtime friend of mine told me he had feelings for me and i decided a couple days ago to see where it could go…  would you want to still be friends?  (i understand completely if you don’t!)

i hope you’re well,
redacted

Um, what? At that point, being friends would have been a step UP in intimacy.

But seriously, how adorable. I told her no worries and good luck with your budding romance.

Then I curled up in bed and cried myself to sleep.