Untitled, By Unknown

3: Something Happens

Writing time: 26th October 2016

'I know a guy...'- Falcon, Ant-Man/Captain America: Civil War, 2015/ 2016. One of the people I watched the former with thought the villain (Darren Cross, played by Corey Stoll) was black, not a relatively pale white... don't ask.

Two days after the final exam. A Sunday. Approximately 3pm.
I, along with a few other friends, were chatting on a PlayStation 4 party, enjoying our newly found freedom (aside from the Year 9 who still had two more years to suffer through. Sucked to be him). We'd hit a lull in the conversation, a moment where no topic had sprung to anyone's mind, and were left in a state of silence where everybody was instead left to their own devices- literally in my case, as I was scrolling through generic social media. Discussion would soon resume itself- and it did, in one of the most eventful of ways I had ever seen in an online chat. This particular line of dialogue came from the emo friend, the one I'd walked home with after the exam. She had also been literally left to her own devices, and had been messaging someone: a certain person who would have a rather profound effect on my life- for the next 28 days.
"_____?"- This was her, saying my name.
"Yeah?" - This was me.
"I've found someone to set you up with."

Ok, this sounded interesting. Better than another EU referendum debate. It had been slightly over a year since my last relationship, which had resulted in my first kiss (good) and her going psycho (less good). By the way, I'm not saying that in a typical guy way, like 'Oh, she just went mental on me, what a typical bitch, blah blah blah-', I mean actually crazy, as in one day just walked into Science and refused to talk to me while shooting me dirty looks. This continued for two days, and when I attempted to message her in an attempt at communication, I just got sworn at and told she had no idea why she hated me- certainly one of the most perplexing stream of texts I've ever received. Somehow, the relationship lasted an extra three days before she said it "wasn't working out". At that point, I'd stopped caring. Made it a lot easier, leaving me to spend the year frantically crushing on people I had no chance with, damn confines of sexuality. However, now somebody new appeared to be on the horizon...
"... Go on."
"His name's ______, he's a bit emo, likes Fall Out Boy and that, really into Doctor Who- here, I'll send you a picture of him."
And seconds later, I received a picture on generic social media of a cute, ginger guy staring up at the camera. Ok, not bad. Not bad at all. I was certainly intrigued.
The emo friend was still talking; I'd been listening to this guy's merits. I was also asked to reciprocate the picture. A few moments later, I was told this guy liked what he saw. That was a first. Then, she said something that could have ruined it:
"He's trans, is that ok?"
Erm.

Well, of course it was ok, but was it ok for me? This is where the doubt hit, because I'd previously said I wouldn't date a trans person. Not because I had any issues with them, but just... I wasn't pansexual. Bisexuality has its limits. I just didn't think I was really into the whole 'mismatching genitals' thing- no offence, even though me saying that somehow makes it sound so much worse. But then I thought: 'screw it. This guy sounds really nice, and I'm not going to let that get in the way'. In hindsight, maybe I should have. Or shouldn't. You tell me.
"...Yeah, that's fine."
I sent him a friend request on generic social media (ok, it was Facebook. Maybe I'm being slightly too vague with what I omit). He accepted. I opened Messenger, and just stared at that blinking cursor below his name. No messages came through. It looked like I'd have to be the one to get this started, as he wasn't messaging me (Ironic. It wasn't then, but would be later, as I've just realised).
I started with a flawless greeting:
"Hey."
Can't really go wrong with that. Then he replied:
"Hi."
Really inventive dialogue was taking place here.
"What are you doing?"
This was me. Not the worst topic. I mean, you've got to open slow; you can't just start with sexting. You've got to work up to that stage (I'm kidding. Well, mostly). He responded with something- can't remember what, then returned the question. During this time, the lull in the PS4 conversation had filled itself with a game of online Cards Against Humanity, so I could answer with that. This led to a discussion about the game, including favourite card plays (If you're wondering, mine is saying the Vatican had a shrine to Mohammad- in my first ever game, no less).
We talked way into the night, until the limits of human capacity forced me to finally say goodnight and go to sleep. We were only two days in to the summer holidays, and already this had happened. More eventful than anticipated, which was fantastic. Always nice to see the unexpected.

The next day, I was spending time with friends (in the real world, for once) but I was still messaging him; the afternoon spent fixated to my phone. Our group ended up staying the night at the emo's house, so once again the conversation was able to be continued until past midnight. It felt strange to be once again in this position after so long, to be concerned about each particular word or phrase I sent while not trying to talk someone out of suicide, instead trying to impress them- to make them like me. Having said that, it was a good strange. I had the giddy excitement of a nerd before a superhero film (which inevitably I am guilty of).
The best part came at around 3pm that day. I'd said something particularly brilliant (I assume) and he'd responded by saying:
"I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship."
Awkward. So, I tried to steer this where I wanted to go.
"You know (the emo) wanted to set us up?"
"Yeah."
"What do you think about that?"
Because I really liked him. I know it had only been one day, but we'd connected so well. I'm not able to describe in words exactly how, but if you talk to someone for eighteen hours out of twenty-four then you're bound to create some sort of link. He seemed practically perfect. Same hobbies, same humour, same everything. I mean, I wanted to ride it out a bit longer before making any commitments, but I still hoped he felt the same way. A short amount of time passed, then he responded with this:
"I would date you because you're adorable and your personality is amazing. However, at this point I feel I don't know you well enough. Let's just see how it goes."

Despite how well we were getting on, I still wasn't fully expecting that. Wow. I replied stating I felt the same, then after a few exchanges we changed topics once more to something less serious. As far as I remember, I told nobody about that conversation. No-one knows it got so close so fast. When the emo asked, I just told her it was going really well. However, I would soon discover this potential boyfriend status wasn't going to last...
(Which sounds sinister. Because it's meant to. But it isn't. Well- it's nothing bad yet.)