Don't You Think That I'm A Runner?

It's New Year's!

The day that Mark told me he had moved on, I decided to move on too. Fuck it. Why not? He obviously didn't want to be with me. And I was making myself look like an idiot sitting around and waiting for him. I wanted nothing more than to be with him again, but I also didn't want to be alone and depressed. There was nothing I could do to force it to happen if it just wasn't going to happen. 

So I started to take advantage of my new situation and I started going out on a lot of dates. It was nice to have distractions and it was nice to feel wanted and appreciated again. I knew that most guys found me pretty attractive, so for the first time in my life I started to use that for my benefit. It wasn't hard to get asked out on a date, but that's as far as it ever went. The guys were alright, but I never liked any of them enough to talk to them again. None of them compared to Mark.

Until I met Mason.

He actually lived across the street from Ponsi's house, but I had never seen him before. The first time I did was after one of my dates when I was getting dropped back off at Ponsi's. The dude tried to kiss me, but I had no desire to kiss him, so I tried to be nice and pull him in for a hug instead. And then I exited the car as fast as I could and started to speed walk to the front door. I had the key in the door and was getting ready to turn it when a dog ran up at my feet and scared the shit out of me. I screamed. And then Mason came running from across the street. 

"I'm so sorry," he said. He pointed to the dog. "He's mine. I didn't realize my gate was open." 

"Oh. That's okay. He's cute, he just scared me," I laughed as I bent down to pet him. I loved animals.

He looked at the house behind me. "You live here? I thought the blonde guy lived here by himself. Uh...Pontius? Is that his name?"

"Ponsi," I corrected him. Pontius was his full last name, but everyone called him Ponsi. "I'm his friend. I'm staying here temporarily. He's never here, he pretty much lives with his girlfriend now."

"Ah, I see. I've met him once or twice in passing. I just live right over there," he pointed across the street. "I'm Mason," he held out his hand and I shook it. Then he looked at his dog, "And this is Wilfred."

"Wilfred, like the show?"

"Yeah," he smiled, "no one's ever gotten that reference before!"

"Really? I love that show!"

"I've only seen the first two seasons, but yeah, it's great."

"Are you serious!? You have to finish it!" We were still awkwardly holding hands after we shook and we both noticed at the same time. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself," I laughed. "I'm Chloe."

"I've seen you around," he nodded.

"What do you mean?" How had he seen me? I didn't spend any time outside really.

He laughed and looked away briefly like he didn't want to say. "Um, I don't smoke inside the house, so when I've been out on my porch having a cigarette, I've seen you get dropped off here quite a few times from different guys."

"Oh my God," I laughed. "I'm not a hooker or anything, I swear."

"Yeah, I saw the last one go in for a kiss just a minute ago and get rejected. Poor guy."

I didn't want him to think I was a slut or something, so I explained a little about how I had just gone through a breakup and was dating around for the first time. And much to my surprise, he didn't seem annoyed or freaked out, but actually interested in hearing about it. He asked me if I wanted to come over to his house for a beer and I said yes.

One beer turned into a few and the poor guy sat and listened to me bitch and moan about Mark, about his new girlfriend and about all of my bad dates. He laughed and let me rant as much as I wanted to. I actually really clicked with him. I really liked him and I was very attracted to him. This wasn't something I had felt since I met Mark.