2007-10-03 - 11:22 p.m.
Rich: "Hello?"
Me: "Hey, Rich. It's Ryan. You gotta minute?"
Rich: "Yeah..."
Me: "Bre, she's single, right?"
Rich: "Uh huh..."
Me: "I was wondering... you mind if I asked her out?"
Rich: "That's all you man. She doesn't work for you, it's all up to you."
Me: "Okay, cool. It's just that, she's your ASM and I didn't know if you wanted me messing with your store and stuff."
Rich: "What ever man. If you want to, it's all you."
Me: "Okay, thanks Rich."
it's amazing what kind of difference one day can make.
that conversation was monday...
to set up the story...
on sunday, i went to kahala to help with their inventory. the usual suspects were there, Blane (you all know blane already), Brandi (who runs the mililani store and is one of blane and rich's old friends), rich (the SM at ala's as well as the other person in the conversation above), matsuoka (moanalua's SM), daigle (the new SM at kahala), chelsey (the new ASM at kahala... i think), and bre (the subject of the story... plus rich's ASM).
so, at the inventory, everyone was doing their thing, scanning, counting, talking/bullshitting... so, at one point in the night, i was in the back scanning and bre popped in to scan something too and it was just the two of us. i wanted to talk to her because i had just found out that she was single too and well, i kinda like her. she seems like someone i could talk to. but back to the story...
so she comes in the back and asks me "ryan, how tall are you?" honestly, as soon as she asked that i figured she was asking because she was trying to see if i measured up to some kind of pre-determined measurement. she also gave me the "i've also been meaning to ask you where you went to school?" and so we talked a little bit. it felt like she was kind of interested into me.
so, after that i spent the rest of the night trying to play up my humorous side. i figure it's the part of me that will either make or break me. if she can't stand my humor at it's breaking point, then well, we've got no shot at working.
anyway... she seemed to be pretty into my jokes the whole rest of the night and it seemed just like she was digging me, but trying to be a little reserved on it too.
so that was sunday night... then there was the monday call where i got permission from rich to go ahead and ask.
i feel like i should explain that briefly too...
i called rich and asked for his permission because that's his store and his ASM, plus we're getting into the busiest time of the year too... that's why i asked him.
so, on monday night, i went down to the store to ask bre if she wanted to do something, but she wasn't working that night, but i found out that she was opening on tuesday, which happened to be my day off. yay!
on tuesday, i went in to ask bre if she wanted to do anything after work, and well, she seemed like she was kinda glad to see me: "RYAAAAN!!!" as she makes it sound. so i asked her, "hey bre, i was wondering if you wanted to do something after work?" she paused for a second and then said "okay!" so i stuck around for a while trying to see if we could come to a consensus on what to do, but it's ala moana and they were busy so i just left my phone number with rich to give to her and figure we'd just play it by ear. the whole time i was there though, rich was smiling at me like a little boy who knew a secret. he kept calling me a "stud" and other kinds of stuff with this real shit eating grin on.
so after that, i left the store, called donna to gloat and left messages on oki's and justin's phone.
after that... well, i went home and waited for her phone call. she called and we just agreed to hang out somewhere. so i went to meet her at ala moana and we ended up walking around ward warehouse, then we went to best buy for CD shopping, and then we ended up back at ala moana for dinner. at dinner we had a nice talk. we talked about all kinds of shit here and there... it was great. i felt like we made some kind of connection during dinner. i was even so bold to ask her "so, you said you're not the kind of person who seeks out new friends... what made you seek me to talk to?" i thought i was being sly about her liking me. her reply was that it was because we crossed paths through work and i seemed like a fun guy.
anyway, after dinner and a trip to wal-mart, we ended up back at ala moana where she went to spy on the guys working to see if they were still working. we ended up going in there and helping them out. all in all, it was a fun night for me and her.
and then, today...
:-(
last night i told her that i'd take some product from ala moana back to my store so i'd have something to sell and so they could get rid of some of their shit.
anyway... so rich told me to come down and grab it and he'd wait around for me. so i went down after work just thinking he wanted to hang out and bullshit. anyway, when i got there, matsuoka was there and he asked matsuoka to leave. rich ended up telling me that bre wasn't out to find a bf. she was only looking to make friends with me. in fact, he said that she was afraid she'd been giving me the wrong signs. and it was true... she probably was... so rich told me that he was afraid that i would fuck her up and he didn't think it was a good idea that i try to date her. we had a heart to heart about it. i told him that i understood his point and that was why i had called him the day before. i also told him that if she didn't want to date, then i would accept that fact. if it was friendship that she was looking for, then i would live with it. by the end of our conversation, rich was beginning to have doubts about what he'd told me. he was also sad because he felt like he'd crushed me and my spirits. he didn't though. i mean, if she didn't want a relationship, then who was i to question it? after all, she's the same age as dhyani. within a few weeks of her infact. if she'd rather just live and be young, then hey, she's at that age...
but yeah... i guess, i took it the wrong way. i could take it as "if it's not one thing, than it's always another." but i feel that that view is kind of me playing the roll of victim... i don't like that, so i've decided that i'll just take it for what it is.
but yeah... i told rich, i'm sorry, i know you don't want me to date her, or even try to, and i respect that. and i won't try to overtly. but if we end up liking each other, then hey... so be it.
anyway... after that, me, rich and matsuoka sat around and talked. matsuoka left soon after and so me and rich headed upstairs for drinks. we ended up talking for like two hours about all kinds of stuff. donna, bre, work, blane... rich likes me. he feels like i'm a young him. in his mind i am him. it's hard to explain, but i guess we bonded to an extent tonight. i think i convinced him too that he can trust me with bre if it ever comes down to that too.
i don't know... it just sucks that finally, i go out on what i think of as a date with a girl and i finally feel like there's a connection and it turns out she's not even looking at all. i mean, i really REALLY enjoyed my time with her i was already thinking about what we'd do the next time we went out. it was such a great night, i don't know how to put it, other than it was the first time i was looking forward to seeing someone again other than people i'd already known. god damn it... i feel like such a fool... i mean we made eye contact during dinner and everything. it all felt like it was going so well... god dammit...
rich said when he asked bre about it though today, that she said she had a lot of fun. she didn't feel any pressure about it even though she kinda knew i was interested in her. i guess my non-challance (which donna says is one of my assests when it comes to women), paid off. but rich also thinks she might just be blow smoke up his ass about not being interested in dating. i don't know what to make of it either... i guess it's a good thing i didn't call her today though... but maybe i should have a talk with her too. rich already said that he's going to talk to her about it because he's a nosy bitch though. i don't know... we'll see how it ends up. i guess i've got no choice either...
what a fucking difference a day makes, no?
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